MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:More.Mosque's Daisy Khan Not Backing Down.Just as our profile of activist Daisy Khan, the woman behind the so-called ground zero mosque, was about to hit the newsstands, the controversy took another turn. On January 14, in what the New York Times described as a rift among the players behind the proposed Islamic community center, the project’s developer announced the appointment of a different imam—not Khan’s husband, the imam Feisal Abdul Rauf—as the center’s senior advisor (Rauf is still on the board). The developer, Sharif el-Gamal, also said the couple would no longer “be speaking on behalf of Park51, nor will they be raising funds for the project.” This change in the imam’s status came as a complete surprise to Khan, who says the couple was not told about it in private or in advance; she says they only learned of it when reporters began to call. And she insists that the couple’s plan for a large, interfaith, Muslim-run community center near ground zero “will still be realized.” "While we were traveling, the developer changed the name [from Cordoba House] to Park51. [But ours] is a big vision, not just an address,” Khan tells More.com, adding that while they may have their differences with el-Gamal—his focus is more local, theirs more global—“We can’t step down from our very own creation. We are the vision behind it.”Hmmmm...."He who has the money decides"Why not ask the new Imam for a statement?Read the full story here.

• HT:AtlasShrugs.World Premiere of AFDI/SIOA Groundbreaking Film at CPAC:The Ground Zero Mosque: The Second Wave of the 911 Attacks.Join us for the world premiere of the seminal, groundbreaking film produced by AFDI/SIOA at CPAC on February 11th at 3pm in the Maryland ballroom of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington DC, followed by a question and action and strategy session on stopping the mosque.We are rolling the film out nationwide and will have our our New York City premiere on Muhammad's birthday, February 20th, at the St. Lukes Theatre, 308 W 46th Street, New York.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:IPS.Sick Gulf Residents Beg Officials for Help.NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, Jan 14, 2011 (IPS) - In an emotionally charged meeting this week sponsored by the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, fishermen, Gulf residents and community leaders vented their increasingly grave concerns about the widespread health issues brought on by the three-month-long disaster."Today I'm talking to you about my life," Cherri Foytlin told the two commissioners present at the Jan. 12 meeting. "My ethylbenzene levels are 2.5 times the 95th percentile, and there's a very good chance now that I won't get to see my grandbabies…What I'm asking you to do now, if possible, is to amend [your report]. Because we have got to get some health care." Ethylbenzene is a form of benzene present in the body when it begins to break down. It is also present in BP's crude oil. "I have seen small children with lesions all over their bodies," Foytlin, co-founder of Gulf Change, a community organisation based in Grand Isle, Louisiana, continued. "We are very, very ill. And dead is dead. So it really doesn't matter if the media comes back… or the president hears us, or… if the oil workers and the fishermen and the crabbers get to feed their babies and maybe have a good Christmas next year… Dead is dead…I know your job is probably already done, but I'd like to hire you if you don't mind. And God knows I can't pay you. But I need your heart. And I need your voice." Commissioner Frances Beinecke, president of the National Resources Defence Council, vowed to convey her concerns to the White House. "We hear what you are saying," said Beinecke. "We will take these health issues and concerns back to the president." The commission, appointed by President Barack Obama, released its final report this week after a six-month investigation into the nation's worst-ever oil disaster.Dr. Rodney Soto, a medical doctor in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, has been testing and treating patients with high levels of oil-related chemicals in their bloodstream. These are commonly referred to as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Anthropogenic VOCs from BP's oil disaster are toxic and have negative chronic health effects. Dr. Soto is finding disconcertingly consistent and high levels of toxic chemicals in every one of the patients he is testing. "I'm regularly finding between five and seven VOCs in my patients," Dr. Soto told IPS. "These patients include people not directly involved in the oil clean-up, as well as residents that do not live right on the coast. These are clearly related to the oil disaster." Nevertheless, U.S. government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, along with President Obama himself, have declared the Gulf of Mexico, its waters, beaches, and seafood, safe and open to the public.Tom Costanza of Catholic Charities in the New Orleans area stated that the region is in the middle of a social service crisis and faced a claims process he said is fraught with problems. "People call me crying and dying," he said. "They need medical attention and support to get through this."LaTosha Brown, director of the Gulf Coast Fund for Community Renewal and Ecological Health, which works with 250 community groups, agreed that "the key concern expressed by the community in response to the report is the overwhelming need for access to health care." "Over and over, people exposed to crude and dispersants from the drilling disaster told stories of serious health issues - from high levels of ethylbenzyne in their blood, to respiratory ailments and internal bleeding - and expressed an urgent need for access to doctors who have experience treating chemical exposure," she said."There is bruising and skin lesions, not just with clean-up workers, these are residents not involved in the clean-up," Bradberry told IPS. "Just yesterday I learned of five people on Grand Isle who passed away…people who did not have health problems prior to this. Nevertheless, there has not been any talk of monitoring of these communities." Hmmmm....."We feel your pain"?Read the full story here.

• HT:AtlasShrugs.CAIR Hijacks Martin Luther King Day to Advance Islamic Supremacism Over All.It is not lost on me that the Hamas group CAIR would hijack the annual day of remembrance from the passionate zionist and anti-supremacist, Dr. Martin Luther King. They have no shame and no respect for anyone or anything except advancing Islam and the sharia in the West.CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator and Muslim Brotherhood proxy in the largest Hamas funding trial in US history. Acccording to a captured internal document entered into evidence in that trial, their stated goal is "eliminating and destroying western civilizartion from within."CAIR is vulger, debased and utterly morally bankrupt, but they know that the corrupt black leadership like Sharpton and Jackson will go along, because they are demagogues as well. Dr. King would despise them. The treatment of black people in Islamic societies is abhorrent -- they are abid, slaves.Hamas group CAIR has chosen a close confident and "beloved" mentor of the new Ground Zero imam Abdullah Adhami, Siraj Wahhaj, terrorist supporting, unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, as their keynote speaker.How anti-King.Hmmmm.....I think the following comment says it all"To spoil the anniversary of MLK, a Christian Zionist Minister who through scripture and his personal intellect and charisma achieved what no other civil rights advocate has in history, by Islamic prayers in DC is an insult akin to the Ground Zero Mosque. It took decades for African Americans (and advocates of civil rights) to create this statutory holiday honoring Dr King, one who died at the hands of his enemies. For Cair to attach this Islamic push to that holiday is the most callus, cynical and calculated attempt to further shield Jihad with the cover of race using African Americans as the sand bags behind which they will shoot us with their newly geared Jihad. It is sick and expected from the Imperialist Fascist Muslim Brotherhood. To divide and conquer and to sever our society from peaceful co-existence into their Fitna which turns a holiday celebrating unity, reconciliation, forgiveness and remembrance into a an agitation for division, strife, indignation and promotion of a dark oppressive and deceitful utopia."Not mentioning that Muslims enslaved half of the African continent in the course of history!Read the full story here. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rosa Parks must be rolling over in her grave!She was a African Methodist the motto of the Church is "God Our Father, Christ Our Redeemer, the Holy Spirit Our Comforter, Humankind Our Family" Derived from Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's original motto "God our Father, Christ our Redemeer, Man our Brother", which served as the AME Church motto until the 2008 General Conference, when the current motto was officially adopted.

• House panel wants Homeland Security documents.WASHINGTON – A House committee has asked the Homeland Security Department to provide documents about an agency policy that required political appointees to review many Freedom of Information Act requests, according to a letter obtained Sunday by The Associated Press.The letter to Homeland Security was sent late Friday by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It represents an early move by House Republicans who have vowed to launch numerous probes of President Barack Obama's administration, ranging from its implementation of the new health care law to rules curbing air pollution to spending in Iraq and Afghanistan.The Associated Press reported in July that for at least a year, Homeland Security had sidetracked hundreds of requests for federal records to top political advisers to the department's secretary, Janet Napolitano. The political appointees wanted information about those requesting the materials, and in some cases the release of documents considered politically sensitive was delayed, according to numerous e-mails that were obtained by the AP.The Freedom of Information Act is supposed to ensure the quick public release of requested government documents without political consideration. Obama has said his administration would emphasize openness in providing requested federal records.The agency's directive said political appointees wanted to see FOIA requests for "awareness purposes," regardless of who had filed them. The AP reported that the agency's career employees were told to provide political appointees with information about who requested documents, where they lived, whether they were reporters and where they worked.According to the directive, political aides were to review requests related to Obama policy priorities, or anything related to controversial or sensitive subjects. Requests from journalists, lawmakers and activist groups were to also to be examined.Under a new policy last summer, documents are given to agency political advisers three days before they are released, but they can be distributed without those officials' approval.Hmmmm......Obama "Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency"Snakeoil deluge?Read the full story here.

• Obama's EPA devotes another $7 million to 'environmental justice' campaign.Not even sure what the "Environmental Justice" noted in the headline above might be about? It's likely that neither are most other Americans but that doesn't prevent President Obama's EPA administrator, Lisa Jackson, from sending $7 million of the taxpayers' money to dozens of groups mounting academic and propaganda campaigns organized around that theme.Judicial Watch reports that Jackson's agency announced late last week that the $7 million will be awarded "to study how pollution, combined with stress and other social factors, affects people in 'poor and under-served communities.' The agency refers to it as cumulative human health risk assessment research and the goal is to rid under-served communities of extensive pollution-based problems."Environmental Justice is a left-wing activist concept in which poor communities are assumed to be more heavily affected by pollution because they are politically defenseless against polluters, and therefore it is up to the government to step in and provide assistance to redress the alleged imbalance.Obama hasn't made environmental justice a front-line theme of his administration to date (though a White House forum on the issue held last month suggests could change in 2011), but EPA has been steadily earmarking federal tax dollars to provide supportive funding to groups associated with the concept.Hmmmm.....It's all about the money,money the Obama administration desperately needs.Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.Be A Watchman.When I was young, someone told me the following: "Life is like a coin - you can spend it any way that you want, but you can only spend it once." So how are you spending your life? Are you just "killing time" and watching world events go by or are you actively trying to make a difference? When your life is over, will you be proud of the legacy that you have left, or will you be ashamed of what you have done with the time that you were given? None of us can go back now and change what we have done in the past, but the future stands unwritten before us. The remaining chapters of your life can be a beautiful thing - but only if you are courageous enough to seize the day. One way that you can make a difference in this world is by being a watchman. So exactly is a watchman? Well, in the ancient world they did not have any of the modern forms of communication that we take for granted today, so the only way a city would know that a threat was approaching would be to post watchmen on the city walls. A watchman would stand at his post for endless hours, watching intently for any threats that might be headed for the city. If the watchman did spot something troubling on the horizon it was his job to sound the alarm - thus buying the residents of the city precious time to prepare. If the watchman did his job correctly, it could potentially deliver the city from total disaster and literally save the lives of thousands upon thousands of people.Our founding fathers were watchmen. The founders relentlessly warned their countrymen about the dangers of British tyranny, and when the time came they rallied them together to oppose it.Who can forget the actions of one of America's most famous watchmen - Paul Revere? In the days leading up to April 18th, 1775 Paul Revere had told Robert Newman that he was to use lanterns to signal to the residents of Charlestown the direction that the British army was attacking from. This is where the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea" came from. One lantern would signal that the British were attacking by land, but two lanterns would signal that the British were attacking by sea.Well, on the night of April 18th at about 11 PM two lanterns were held up in the Old North Church and Paul Revere began his famous "midnight ride" throughout the countryside to warn his countrymen what was taking place. Well over 200 years later we are still talking about his bravery.If you had lived back then, would you have just accepted that British tyranny was inevitable, or would you have risked life and limb to be a watchman for the cause of freedom?Read the full story here.

• India and Pakistan on the brink - David Ignatius | The Washington Post.The Indians watch Pakistan's political instability with grim resignation. The root problem, they argue, is that the Pakistani military is unwilling to sever its links with Islamic terrorists. Until the Pakistanis break this insurgency, they will be at its mercy. Dialogue with India won't make any difference, they insist.NEW DELHI: Everything is going right these days for India, except for one big problem: It is living next to a Pakistan that is coming apart politically, and Indian leaders insist with a tone of resignation that there's nothing they can do about it.Starting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, top Indian officials know that their booming democracy is endangered by the growing chaos across the border. They say that they're willing to revive back-channel negotiations with Islamabad to resolve the long-festering problem of Kashmir. They favor confidence-building measures to reduce the risk of war between these two nuclear-armed nations.And then, in the next breath, Indian officials insist that such positive steps won't make any difference. The Pakistani military doesn't want any reduction in tensions, they argue. The civilian government is crumbling and incapable of making a deal. Even Singh, long an advocate of better relations with Pakistan, is said to have concluded that hopes for better relations are "wishful thinking."A few hundred miles away in Islamabad, you'd hear the same bleak message from Pakistani military and political leaders. Yes, they know that the immediate threat to Pakistan is from Islamic militants, not India. Yes, they know that restoring a back-channel dialogue with New Delhi might ease tensions. But no, they don't see any way to step back from the brink. The Indians, in their view, are conspiring to undermine Pakistan.Welcome to the world's most dangerous zero-sum game. The sad fact is that India and Pakistan, separated at birth in 1947, are locked in what seems like a blood feud. You hear the same language of suspicion in prosperous New Delhi that you do in embattled Islamabad.Hmmmm......How much safer the world got thanks to the Obama administration's "Outreach to Muslims"?Read the full story here.

• Iran’s Fuel Blockade Raises Food Prices, Tensions in Afghanistan.Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Afghan protests over Iran’s month- long near blockade of cross-border fuel shipments spread to the western city of Herat, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Iranian consulate and set fire to that country’s flags.Traders were among those who took to the streets yesterday, angered by fuel shortages and the resulting sharp increases in transport and food prices, Shafiq Behrozian, the spokesman for Herat province, said in a phone interview. “If Iran doesn’t allow the tankers to cross, people will continue to demonstrate,” he said. In similar outbursts last week in Kabul, protesters threw eggs and stones at the Iranian embassy, the independent, Kabul-based Pajhwok News Agency reported.As many as 1,900 tankers have been unable for the past month to cross the Iranian-Afghan frontier since the government in Tehran said it was stopping shipments because U.S.-led forces were using the fuel to fight the Taliban. While Iran cooperated for a time with the U.S.-led coalition that ousted the Taliban following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, former U.S. President George W. Bush in 2002 branded Iran part of an “Axis of Evil” along with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and North Korea.With no oil refinery of its own, Afghanistan has seen gasoline and diesel prices rise 35 percent in Kabul and up to 60 percent in western Herat province, Economy Minister Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal said by phone Jan. 14. In one of the world’s poorest countries, “more than 37 percent of the Afghan people earn less than $2 a day, and it’s very difficult for them to buy fuel and necessities,” the minister said. “The increase in prices is due to the actions of the Iranians.”“Transport by bus and car and food has become more expensive this winter by 50 percent,” 38-year-old Qader Ahmadi, a student at Herat University, said in a phone interview. Gasoline now costs 60 afghanis ($1.32) a liter, Arghandiwal said, up from 42 afghanis. Flour and cooking oil prices have risen 35 percent in the last month.Read the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.Governor Christie's Dirty Islamist Ties.New Jersey, the Garden State, has just taken its first step toward becoming the Sharia State, with Governor Christie's nomination of Sohail Mohammed, an attorney to detained terrorist suspects, to a Superior Court judgeship in Passaic County. The Sohail nomination continues Christie's unfortunate pandering to the American Muslim Union and the Islamic Center of Passaic County.Passaic County has the second largest Muslim population in the country. And the Islamic Center of Passaic County is the state's largest mosque, and it's the only one run by an an Imam who was a member of the Hamas terrorist organization. But when the United States government attempted to deport Mohammed Qatanani, New Jersey's pols and wannabe pols like Christie, quickly came to his aid. Despite the fact that Mohammed Qatanani was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that is behind both Al Qaeda and Hamas, despite his own guilty plea to being a member of Hamas, and despite the fact that even in the United States, he had defended a charity that provided funds to children of suicide bombers (this is done as an incentive to reassure terrorists that if they die their families will be taken care of), Qatanani was not deported. This is less a sign of his innocence, then of the power and influence wielded by Qatanani and the American Muslim Union. There was hardly a top New Jersey public official who did not come out for Qatanani. And that included both of the major candidates in the governor's race, Governor Jon Corzine and Chris Christie. Christie called Qatanani, "a man of great goodwill" and "a constructive force" and allowed Charles McKenna, one of his associate attorneys to testify on behalf of Qatanani. Afterward Christie tapped McKenna to head New Jersey's Department of Homeland Security. McKenna had spent a good deal of time on Muslim "outreach" and made numerous statements echoing their talking points.Read the full story here.

• "The War on Christianity".Iraq - Christian doctor assaulted in Mosul.Another targeted attack against Christians in Iraq. On the afternoon of 15 January a group of unidentified criminals entered the Rabi'a hospital, a private clinic in the Sukar district in Mosul and shot a Christian doctor who worked there at point blank rabge. The gun had a silencer, and the doctor was fortunately only seriously wounded. Nuyia Youssif Nuyia is a specialist cardiologist, very well known in the region. He was the private physician of the late Msgr. Faraj Rahho and many priests and religious. Formerly a military doctor and professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Mosul, Nuyia is married with four children. Those who know him said that Nyuia is a Chaldean Catholic, very attached to his faith and his Church. Those responsible for the incident remain unknown for now. Meanwhile, the Christian community in Iraq has again denounced Western indifference to their plight, despite the Dec. 31 massacre of Copts in Alexandria and the cathedral in Baghdad: "The West can not do anything for Christian, because the West denies its Christian roots and is indifferent to all religions. And another thing that the West does not understand is that in these Muslim countries 'democracy' means 'chaos'. "Hmmmm....Christians fleeing towards Iraq?Big mistake!"Don't even hope that the Obama administration will protect you!Iraq is allready being devided by Iran and Turkey,no room for Christianity!Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.The War Against the Christians.Imagine if Muslims in Europe were being arrested for nothing more than peacefully practicing their religion. Imagine if Muslims in South America were being sentenced to death for "insulting" Jesus. Imagine if mosques were being bombed and burned by terrorists in a growing list of Christian-majority countries.Now here's what you don't need to imagine because it is all too real: In recent days, Christian churches have been bombed in Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, and the Philippines. In Indonesia a mob of 1,000 Muslims burned down two Christian churches because, according to one commentator, local Islamic authorities determined there were "too many faithful and too many prayers." In Iran, scores of Christians have been arrested. In Pakistan, a Christian woman received the death penalty for the "crime" of insulting Islam; the governor of Punjab promised to pardon her -- and was then assassinated for the "crime" of blasphemy.I could provide dozens more examples of the persecution and, in many cases, "cleansing" of Christians in what we have come to call the Muslim world. If the situation were reversed, if such a war were being waged against Muslims, it would be the top story in every newspaper, the most urgent item at the U.N., the highest priority of all the big-league human-rights groups.What we have instead is denial. I cited some of the above examples on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Power and Politics program last week. In response, Prof. Janice Stein of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto insisted that these dots do not connect. The assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, she said, should be viewed as the consequence of Pakistan's "terrible distribution of wealth." Class conflict, not religious extremism, she added, is the correct explanation for the tragedy.Professor Stein spoke, too, of the "conflict" between Muslims and Christians in Egypt as though both were equally to blame when, in fact, it is clearly Egypt's ancient but diminishing Coptic community that is under siege with little means to defend itself, much less to wage a campaign of reciprocal oppression.I offered a similar analysis on Sean Hannity's program on Fox last week, prompting Media Matters and several other left-wing blogs to accuse me of attempting to start a religious war. These bloggers failed to mention that those attacking Christians call themselves "jihadis" -- meaning warriors who fight for Islam. The crowds that gathered in front of the destroyed Egyptian church shouted "Allahu Akbar!" -- "Allah is greatest!" Is this message really so hard to interpret?If we in the West fail even to speak up for them, can we really expect moderate Muslims to do more?Hmmmm.....Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• Canada synagogues, school vandalized.Windows smashed, swastikas painted on walls as vandals attack Jewish institutions in Montreal. Jewish community not surprised by attacks, vows not to be intimidated.Four Synagogues and a Jewish school in Montreal were defaced by anonymous vandals Sunday night, the Montreal Daily Gazette reported.According to the Canadian newspaper, the vandals smashed the windows of the Jewish institutions and caused thousands of dollars worth in damages. The institutions which were hit include: Beth Rambam, Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem and Beth Zion synagogues in Côte St. Luc and Dorshei Emet synagogue in Hampstead. The Yavne School was also vandalized. Montreal's Jewish community called the attack “an organized and systematic attack on Jewish institutional life". The community's rabbi, Rabbi Reuben Poupko promised that the people who use the buildings on a regular basis would not be intimidated by the vandals. According to the rabbi, "the reason it’s so troubling is that was not an isolated affair. There have been similar incidents over the past few months that haven’t garnered any attention. It’s increasing in intensity and frequency.” Hmmmmm.....Now who would do such a thing?Read the full story here.

• 1,500 Britons face machete mobs in Tunisia: Fury as BA flies tourists INTO war zone despite official warning.Anger and terror was growing last night among 1,500 Britons left to their fate in revolution-torn Tunisia.With gun battles raging, an army curfew in place and machete-wielding mobs roaming the streets, they pleaded for more flights to take them home.Among them were holidaymakers who were actually flown into the North African country by British Airways on Friday, when the violence was at its height and the Foreign Office was warning Britons to leave.Although package operators such as Thomas Cook and Tui, which owns First Choice and Thomson, laid on emergency flights to bring all their passengers home as soon as violence flared, BA has said it cannot change its schedule and the next flight home will not be until Wednesday.At Gatwick airport yesterday, those who had managed to escape sobbed as they described their ordeal.Mother-of-two Laura Gibson told of seeing bodies in the street and having her luggage slashed open by armed police who suspected her of carrying weapons.The 27-year-old from Dunfermline was visiting her Tunisian husband Mouez Jraidi, 21, in Kasserine. The couple married in September. ‘One of my husband’s neighbours was shot in the head in the street and they just left his body there as the riots carried on,’ she said. ‘It was awful. We locked ourselves in the house but you could hear screaming and shouting outside the house. You could see his body when you looked out of the window. I was desperate to get home to my children. My husband and his brother and father drove me to the airport but we got held up at gunpoint by the police on the way. They dragged us all out of the car and made us put our hands in the air. Then they slashed open my suitcase to look for weapons.‘Eventually they let us go but then we kept getting stopped by gangs of youths who said they were protecting their local area from looters. ‘They had sticks and knives and searched the car for weapons. We got stopped every 50 yards or so. I thought I would never get home.Read the full story here.More here.

• Stuxnet virus attack: Russia warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'.Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.Russian nuclear scientists are providing technical assistance to Iran's attempts activate the country's first nuclear power plant at the Gulf port. But they have raised serious concerns about the extensive damage caused to the plant's computer systems by the mysterious Stuxnet virus, which was discovered last year and is widely believed to have been the result of a sophisticated joint US-Israeli cyber attack. According to Western intelligence reports, Russian scientists warned the Kremlin that they could be facing "another Chernobyl" if they were forced to comply with Iran's tight deadline to activate the complex this summer. After decades of delays over the plant, which was first commissioned by the Shah in the 1970s, Iran's leaders are demanding that scientists stick to the schedule set last year. They argue that any delay would be a blow to Iran's international prestige. Bushehr is due to produce its first electricity for Iran's national grid this summer after Russian technicians started loading the first nuclear rods into the reactor last October.The Russian scientists' report to the Kremlin, a copy of which has been seen by The Daily Telegraph, concludes that, despite "performing simple, basic tests" on the Bushehr reactor, the Russian team "cannot guarantee safe activation of the reactor". It also accuses the Iranian management team, which is under intense political pressure to stick to the deadline, of "not exhibiting the professional and moral responsibility" that is normally required. They accuse the Iranians of having "disregard for human life" and warn that Russia could find itself blamed for "another Chernobyl" if it allows Bushehr to go ahead. Read the full story here.

• US firm Sikorsky Aircraft sweetens Turkey helicopter bid.A senior official from Sikorsky Aircraft told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review that his company would guarantee that Turkey would do repair and maintenance work worth $1 billion on S-70i Black Haw International helicopters belonging to third countries.A top Sikorsky official said in October that his company had a fourfold benefit package worth billions of dollars to offer to Turkey. "If Turkey selects us for the 109 helicopter program, we will buy another 109 to be manufactured in Turkey and export them to third countries," Steve Estill, vice president for strategic partnerships at the Sikorsky President's Office, said at the time.Sikorsky is also proposing to buy $1.3 billion-worth of Turkish-made helicopter components, set up a regional Black Hawk support base in Turkey and invest in a future Turkish project to build a light utility helicopter, Estill said.Hmmmmm....Now this will surely help American unemployed get jobs?"Change you can see and Feel"!The Obama way of creating jobs,only it's not in America!Read the full story here.

• U.S. anger over BP 'getting into bed with KGB' over £5bn Arctic oil deal.BP faced a mounting backlash on both sides of the Atlantic last night over its controversial deal to sell a £5billion stake to the Russian government.The oil giant’s chief executive Bob Dudley announced on Friday that Russia’s state-owned energy firm, Rosneft, will gain a five per cent chunk of BP’s shares.The surprise deal, in which BP gets 9.5 per cent of Rosneft shares, will see the Russian government take an important foothold in Britain’s biggest oil company.One diplomat yesterday suggested BP was ‘getting into bed with the KGB’.The firms have also agreed to co-operate in drilling for oil in the largely untapped Arctic shelf, where Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has promised to give BP ‘the most favourable tax treatment’.But while the company’s shares are expected to soar, politicians are warning of wider repercussions.So why has Dudley, who took over from sacked BP chief executive Tony Hayward last autumn, turned to Russia now? It can only mean that as an American, he felt BP has been so badly damaged in the United States by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill it will never be allowed to engage in the kind of experimental deep-water drilling which has offered it a new lease of life as energy reserves which are easier to access run out. So far BP has had to pay $10billion of damages to private claimants in the U.S. whose livelihoods allegedly were ruined. But that may just be the tip of the iceberg. President Obama’s Justice Department is preparing both criminal and civil charges which could result in tens of billions of further fines.Hmmm......BP needs to drill in order to make money,Obama forbids drilling and slams legal suits on them result : As i said yesterday,goodbye Pres Obama we'll take Russia anyday.Read the full story here.

• HT:Imra.Sunni vs. Shiite in Saudi Arabia. On December 16, the Saudi city of Medina witnessed severe clashes between Sunnis and Shiites at the time of the annual Ashura gathering, when Shiites commemorate the martyrdom of Husayn, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.Wahhabism, the leading stream of Islam in Sunni Saudi Arabia, is extremely anti-Shiite, since certain Shiite practices conflict with Wahhabi Islamic practice. Shiites, who constitute 10-15 percent of the Saudi population, have suffered greatly under Saudi rule. Depredations have included killings, arbitrary arrests, job discrimination, and forbidding of their religious ceremonies.With Shiite Iran on the cusp of nuclear arms, and with demonstrated victories by Iran's proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip, the Saudi rulers cannot afford to be seen coddling local Shiites. Saudi Sunnis expect their leaders to defend the honor and position of the Sunni majority within and without Saudi Arabia, lest Shiite victories generate a sea change and reverse the age-old dominance of the Sunni sect of Islam.The Shiites are not numerous enough to constitute a threat to the regime, but they do constitute an actual and potential arm of Iranian influence.The sense is that if King Abdullah had his way, he would end discrimination and fully integrate the Saudi Shiites. But the king faces an ongoing dilemma: if he appeases the Shiites, he risks the wrath of Wahhabi extremists and the religious establishment; if he doesn't, the Shiites will remain a thorn in his side.The royal family feels keenly its role as a leader of the Sunni world, and local Sunnis are pressuring the regime to support the Sunnis in Iraq. In the face of the regional Shiite ascendancy marked by Hizbullah's performance against Israel, a possible Shiite state in Iraq, and a powerful Iran, it is likely that Saudi Shiites will continue to pay the price of being the ultimate "other," sacrificed on the altar of the Wahhabi legitimacy on which the regime is so dependent.The Shiites are not numerous enough to constitute a threat to the regime, but they do constitute an actual and potential arm of Iranian influence. The sense is that if King Abdullah had his way, he would end discrimination and fully integrate the Saudi Shiites. But the king faces an ongoing dilemma that presents no immediate solution: if he appeases the Shiites, he risks the wrath of Wahhabi extremists and the religious establishment; if he doesn't, the Shiites will remain a thorn in his side.The exponential growth in Iranian influence in the region makes Abdullah's task that much harder. Beyond the struggle for regional hegemony between Tehran and Riyadh, Abdullah's Shiite problem has grown because Iran is contesting the leadership of world Islam. And within the kingdom, Iran pushes Saudi Shiites toward confrontation. No wonder Abdullah urged the U.S. to "cut off the head of the snake."Read the full story here.

• Hu Jintao provoking the US by suggesting yuan replace dollar as reference currency. Beijing – Chinese President Hu Jintao called for an end to a "zero sum" cold war relationship with the United States and proposed new co-operation, but refused to appreciate the yuan. He called instead for a new international currency system.Hu, who will start a US visit tomorrow, chose to outline his views in an interview with two US newspapers, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.On the currency issue, he said China would not comply with Washington’s request. For the United States, the Chinese currency is undervalued, a situation that is giving China an unfair price advantage in international trade, contributing to the huge US trade deficit. Beijing has rejected US demands to protect its production and jobs.For Hu, the international currency system dominated by the US dollar is a "product of the past". For this reason, China was taking steps to replace it with the yuan, its own currency. Hu acknowledged though that it would be a "fairly long process".China, with foreign exchange reserves of US$2.85 trillion, is the largest holder of US debt.Experts note that China’s offer to buy the sovereign debt of struggling European nations could open a privileged channel with Europe, moving Beijing away from its focus on the United States alone.Hmmmm....China's message to America"Yu So Phukt"?Read the full story here.

• WikiLeaks: Iran searching for nuclear bomb materials.Norwegian report based on US diplomatic cables reveals Iran working through more than 350 companies in over 30 countries to acquire technology, equipment and raw materials needed to build nuclear bomb.Iran has been developing contacts in more than 30 countries to acquire technology, equipment and raw materials needed to build a nuclear bomb, a Norwegian newspaper said on Sunday, citing US diplomatic cables.Aftenposten said that according to the cables, obtained by WikiLeaks, more than 350 Iranian companies and organizations were involved in the pursuit of nuclear and missile technology between 2006 and 2010.Iran says its nuclear program has purely peaceful aims but the West suspects is designed to develop a weapons capability."For years, Iran has been working systematically to acquire the parts, equipment and technology needed for developing such weapons, in violation of UN sanctions against the country's nuclear and missile program," Aftenposten said.Aftenposten has said that it has all 250,000 US cables leaked to WikiLeaks, most of which have not yet been published, and is gradually releasing them.It cited sources as saying Iran is racing to develop nuclear weapons before its already crippled economy succumbs to the sanctions. "A race exists between the bomb and financial collapse," the daily cited a cable quoting a French nuclear expert."Iran's limited domestic supply of uranium makes it practically impossible to supply the nation's current and future nuclear power plant capacity," said a US State Department note from February 2009."Consequently, the Iranians are likely to be forced into dealing with foreign suppliers to get uranium for their domestic nuclear industry," it added.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said earlier this month that the sanctions had set back Iran's nuclear program, giving major powers more time to persuade Tehran to change tack.Hmmm....We didn't need Wikileaks for this info.Read the full story here.

• Canada - Quebec Muslim immigration consultant arrested in fraud ring.TORONTO — The RCMP has arrested a Quebec immigration consultant accused of providing Canadian citizenship documents to hundreds of people in the Middle East so they could collect benefits and tax refunds from Ottawa.Ahmad El-Akhal, 62, was arrested Thursday morning following a 2-1/2-year investigation by the RCMP’s Immigration and Passport and Commercial Crimes sections. His wife was also arrested as well as a suspected accomplice in Mississauga.The alleged fraud ring is accused of securing immigrant status and citizenship for more than 300 residents of Lebanon and other Middle East countries and then helping them bilk the Canadian government of hundreds of thousands of dollars.“Once they received documents this guy would fill out the tax returns and documents to get benefits back in the names of these people,” said RCMP Sgt. Marc LaPorte. “They were getting tax refunds, Goods and Services Tax rebates, child credit tax benefits, so the whole gamut.”Mr. El-Akhal, who lives in L’ile-Bizard, Que., has been charged with 58 counts including forgery and fraud. His wife Tahani Mohamad Hassan El-Akhal, 53, was charged with possession of proceeds obtained by crime in the amount of $155,000. Also charged was Mississauga resident Hassan Ali Saif, 44, who faces three charges under the Citizenship Act. “He was the leasor of some of the residences. And also he forged lease agreements and created mail addresses for these people. He actually collected the mail and gathered the information and sent it back to Montreal,” Sgt. LaPorte said.All three are to appear in court in Brampton on Friday.Hmmmm...."The Mounties allways get their man"?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelSeen.The Shepherd Hotel in Perspective – Arlene Kushner-(Part1).This is another point of view about the controversial demolition of the Hotel in Jerusalem. We feel it is important to here all sides of this issue instead of all the hysterical rhetoric from radical voices in Israel and abroad. Thanks to Israel Behind the News.“The Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem is not the Plaza Hotel. It is a dilapidated neighborhood eyesore that has been abandoned since the 1980′s. No one lives in the Shepherd Hotel, a grim ugly fortress surrounded by barbed wire, that remains behind as a legacy of the Mufti of Jerusalem, who championed Hitler and helped recruit Muslims to serve in the SS. But with its demolition, people might actually begin to live on that spot. Children might actually play on ground that had been previously fenced off by barbed wire. And the worst thing of it all is that those people and their children will be Jews.“…In her statement, Hillary Clinton said the United States is “very concerned” about the demolition of a Nazi collaborator’s abandoned hotel. In a world where North Korea and Iran are racing ahead to build nuclear weapons, Russia and China are racing to outstrip the United States in weapons development and the economy is on the brink– that is what the Obama Administration is “very concerned” about. That 20 Jewish families will be able to have homes in the capital of their own city.“Hillary Clinton chose to attack Israel from Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, a totalitarian regime whose own construction boom was built on slave labor imported from India. Where there are no political freedoms and where non-Muslim foreigners have few rights, if any. Where a video showed the brother of the ruler of Abu Dhabi torturing a man in ways too horrifying to describe, with the approval of the police and the judicial system over a debt. Where 42 percent of the prisoners are there for being indebted. The UAE is essentially a slave state, built on the backs of mostly non-Muslim migrant workers with no human or legal rights.“While in Abu Dhabi, Hillary Clinton might have called on its rulers to open up the system to democratic elections. She might have raised the issue of Western women who are raped in Dubai and then sentenced to jail for being raped. Or the case of Roxanne Hillier, who was sentenced to jail for just being in the same room as her male boss. It certainly would have been appropriate for Hillary Clinton to have challenged the UAE on its abusive treatment of female visitors and tourists. But none of that happened.According to The Independent (London), Secretary of State Clinton told her aides confidentially that her tour to the Middle East was an “apology” tour, to mend relationships after damage done by WikiLeaks. She’s not about to criticize UAE, then, is she?This, by the way, is not the first time members of the Obama administration have criticized Israel from an Arab country.A follow up to the original article.The entire subject — not just of the Shepherd Hotel — but of all of eastern Jerusalem is of great importance because of the issue being made, both by Palestinian Arabs and by their left-wing sympathizers, with regard to Jews living there.There is, of course, the attempt to represent eastern Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state. (Although, actually, if you watch the words of the Palestinian Arabs carefully, you will notice that frequently they refer to their right to “Jerusalem.” Make no mistake about it, in the end they want it all.)Read the full story here.

• Obama family attends church services at Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in D.C.Last year President Obama stood in the pulpit and delivered a five-page address on Martin Luther King, but after a week in which he attempted to console a nation after the mass shootings in Tucson, the president visited an African American church Sunday as a worshiper. Rev. Ronald E. Braxton and the members of Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in Northwest Washington made sure the Obama family had a regular, downhome service complete with announcements, the passing of the collection plates and plenty of foot-stomping gospel music.Right Rev. Adam J. Richardson, presiding bishop of the Second Episcopal District, welcomed the president to the "national cathedral," of the 3 million-member, predominately African American denomination. But it was elementary school student, Addy Hebou, who offered perhaps the best words to the president in honor of the King holiday: "Dr. Martin Luther King said let no man pull you low enough to hate him."Even though he never mentioned politics, Braxton compared Obama's present plight to the low days King experienced in the civil rights movement. Braxton sought to encourage the president saying: "Sit up, get up, you will get weak and tired at times, but God has singled you out."While Rev. Braxton was focused on the president, his wife, assistant pastor and professional counselor, focused on encouraging the first lady. During the service, Michelle Obama stood while the church sang Happy Birthday and was presented her with a gift.Hmmmm.....the church sang "Happy Birthday"?Is Obama Baptised?And again the Dr.Martin Luther King Hijack?Good move but you can't fool all the people all the time!Read the full story here.

• Turkish President Abdullah Gul And Iranian President Ahmadinejad hold telephone conversation.Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a telephone conversation.The officials discussed prospects for development of cooperation between the two states, ILNA agency reports.Iran’s President also talked on phone with Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said Al Said.Hmmmm.....Getting his orders on how to deal with Lebanon and Iraq?Get Turkey out of NATO NOW!Read the full story here.

• Related:Ahmadinejad, Erdogan discuss Lebanon.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held a telephone conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday to exchange views about the recent developments in Lebanon, leading to the collapse of Saad Hariri’s government. Ahmadinejad and Erdogan said it is necessary that different Lebanese groups make prompt decision to settle the issue and not allow politically motivated moves or foreign intervention aggravate the situation. Ahmadinejad also said, “The Zionist regime is seeking to take advantage of the current situation to undermine this country (Lebanon) and deal a blow to the (regional countries), so the regional countries should cooperatively try to find a solution to the current issues facing Lebanon.” The Turkish prime minister said regional countries should make joint efforts to help establish stability in Lebanon. “Iran and Turkey along with other regional countries are able to play a role” in helping the Lebanese to control crisis in their country, Erdogan said.
  Hmmmm....Erdogan the "Echo" of Ahmadinejad?Read the full story here.

• Turkish Foreign Minister arrived in Baghdad.On January 16, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu arrived in Baghdad.The Turkish Minister will meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Anadolu agency reports.Davutoglu will also hold meetings with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi and Iraqi political leaders, including Al-Iraqiyah Party Chairman Ayad Allawi, who is set to assume the presidency of Council of National Strategic Policies of Iraq.Davutoglu’s visit will be the first after the new Iraqi government was formed last month. The Turkish FM and his delegation will leave for Syria after completing talks in Baghdad.Hmmmm.....Syria....Damascus.....Hezbollah, another "Friend" of Turkey,anyone against Israel is a friend now?Read the full story here.More here .

• HT:Memri.British Salafi Abu Waleed: Aafia Siddiqui Will Be Released over the Dead Body of Barack Obama.Hmmm......"Islam is a religion of Peace".Read and see the full story here.Transcript here.

• Turkey - Children of prison guards aspire to be judges.İstanbul’s Silivri Prison houses many of the suspects in critical cases that we hear about most nights on the news, such as Ergenekon and Sledgehammer. The prison consists of eight closed blocks and one open block and houses up to 10,000 prisoners. But are the inmates the only people in this isolated place? Not quite. Close to the Silivri Prison courtroom is the Silivri Fatih Primary School. What sets this school apart from other schools is that most of its 320 students are the children of prison guards. The rest are the children of prison wardens and military personnel. Some students have both parents who work as prison guards.These students live their lives on the prison grounds. Their school is located there, their homes are located there and their parents’ workplace is located there.Among the people they encounter on a daily basis are low security inmates. Inmates who are nearing the end of their sentence and have shown good behavior are allowed to work in certain areas around the prison grounds such as the market and the barbershop. This is where the children may occasionally come into direct contact with some prisoners.Seventh grader Muhammet Aşut has already made up his mind about what he wants to be when he grows up. With his eyes sparkling, he eagerly says he wants to become a judge. His mom and dad are both prison guards. They work in shifts. His mother has been working nights since he was very young. His father takes care of him while his mother is at work. Aşut says he’s used to it now but when he was younger he didn’t like it when his mom left to go to work in the evenings. “The working hours for judges are set. My parents work under difficult circumstances. Plus judges make decisions about cases. They have a say in important issues on behalf of the country. I want to get a good education and be someone who can make fair decisions as well,” he says.Ümit Can Orhan is another student at the school. Both of his parents are prison guards. After listening to the stories of young inmates of how they ended up in prison and witnessing their life in prison, Orhan’s father works hard to provide his children with a good education. He believes it’s important for parents and teachers to always communicate with each other.School Principal Hasan Şen explains that students spend most, if not all of their time on the prison grounds and grow up listening to stories about what goes on in the prison. To prevent children from being negatively affected by the stories of prisoners, the school organizes programs with guidance counselors on a regular basis. Noting that the teachers frequently visit students at home, Şen says: “We speak with parents privately during these visits. We ask that they don’t share stories about the prison with their children so that they are not affected by them. We don’t want them to be fearful and suspicious of everyone.”Most successful school in district.The Silivri Fatih Primary School is very well equipped, and the average class size is around 20 students. Math teacher Esin Bilge Sadioğlu notes that math classes are supplemented by software from the University of Cambridge, which helps teachers present geometry and math lessons visually and more effectively. The school guidance counselor, Mediha Özkorkmaz, meets with each student privately on a regular basis. This support contributes to the school's success. According to statistics on middle school placement exam results, Silivri Fatih Primary School is the best public school in the district of Silivri. Many of its students have gone on to win scholarships from private schools.Hmmmm.....Somehow i get that gut feeling something isn't right.Drilled in to be Judges from kindergarden?Like you create future Imams?I wonder would it be Sharia law?Read the full story here.

• Turkey - The blind remain locked up, but attitudes are changing.This past week was Blind Awareness Week in Turkey, with many organizations for the blind reiterating familiar statements from previous years, complaining about the joblessness rate and limited or no access to education in the case of the blind, as well as the excruciatingly insufficient municipal infrastructure in Turkish cities that makes leaving the home an adventure many are often more than happy to avoid. The problems are always the same, and nothing seems to change for Turkey’s sightless population. According to data from the Altı Nokta Association for the Blind released last week as part of a statement to mark the week, there are 40,000 blind people in İstanbul, with 38,000 of these people not being able to leave their homes. Altı Nokta İstanbul branch President Murat Demirok says there are about 8.5 million disabled people in all of Turkey, with about 700,000 of these being visually impaired.“The percentage of the blind that can get an education or find a job is about 1 percent of the total number of the visually disabled. We want to bring this up to at least 90 percent,” Demirok said.Many other associations pointed to similar problems. Turkey chooses to lock up people with disabilities who might otherwise be very successful, as is proved by the many blind lawyers, engineers and teachers who have managed to get somewhere in spite of their disability. What beats most experts is why municipalities still implement zoning plans -- despite many laws and regulations that have been passed to provide accessibility to the disabled -- that leave people with disabilities out. So has there been no change at all regarding the state of the disabled, and particularly the blind?According to Lokman Ayva, the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) İstanbul deputy and the only handicapped member of Parliament as he is vision-impaired, there are already some positive changes in attitudes toward the disabled. In a phone interview with Sunday’s Zaman, Ayva said there have been some positive developments. He said that in the past few years, the most important change regarding the blind and those with other disabilities was the change in people’s perceptions of them.there have been significant increases in the number of blind children attending schools. “This is very important, the number of blind students increased to 216,000 as of 2010. This number stood at around 50,000 in 2005. And there have also been some graduates, so the actual figure should be around 300,000. There is also an increase in the number of the disabled in politics. In 2002, the number of professional athletes with disabilities was 2000. Today, it is around 26,000.”Ayva said the visibility of the blind has also been increasing. In the past two years, the Ministry of Education hired 1,000 teachers with disabilities. Ayva noted that blind people could not be appointed to schools as teachers under old legislation as recently as five years ago. “In addition to this, the Ministry of Education hired about 4,000 disabled officers as public servants. Recently, 14,000 civil servants with disabilities started serving in the environment and health ministries,” he added.The device might be helpful, but without proper signalization, it will still be challenging for a blind person to find her way. A wheelchair still cannot move easily along an İstanbul street, and that situation is no better in most other provinces of Turkey. The AK Party’s Ayva says this is bound to change once financial penalties for those who disregard the legislation on ensuring accessibility for the disabled start being issued. He notes that in 2012 -- the deadline for property owners and managers to make the necessary changes to provide accessibility -- those who have ignored the disabled will start getting fined. He added: “Another problem is that architects do not know how to plan for these. They need special education in that. The Chamber of Architects should organize such courses, but it doesn’t.”Read the full story here.

• HT:JenniferRubin.Hannah Rosenthal and U.S. efforts to combat anti-Semitism.We then discussed alleged "Islamaphobia" and how it compares to anti-Semitism in the U.S. (The latter, according to a recent F.B.I. report, is on the rise.) Rosenthal said that she stays away from the U.S., dealing with anti-Semitism as a foreign policy matter. Internationally, then, is the extent of Islamaphobia exaggerated at the expense of attention on more prevalent anti-Semitism? She said her approach is very "strategic," meaning that her goal is to get Muslims and other non-Jews to speak out against anti-Semitism. Likewise, she said she is gathering statements from Jewish groups condemning Islamaphobia. She described with great pride an international conference in which she and the State Department representative to Muslim communities, Farah Pandith, "traded scripts," with Pandith reading the statement on anti-Semitism and Rosenthal reading the one on Islamaphobia. That really woke them up at the meeting, she said. She diplomatically replied to my question as to whether anti-Semitism isn't a whole lot worse: "I respectfully disagree that [Islamaphobia] is non-existent." (I didn't ask if it was "nonexistent.") She continued, "It needs to be condemned." She contended that what's important is to get groups that are "hated" to condemn the haters and not each other. The price, it seems, for getting Muslim co-operation is to draw equivalence between Islamaphobia and anti-Semitism. And what do we do about Muslim groups that themselves are propagating anti-Semitism?As for Israeli ambassador Michael Oren, Rosenthal said they enjoy a very collegial relationship. Any animosity between them, she said, "is not only behind me... but was made up." (Speculation arose when Rosenthal condemned Oren's decision not to attend the leftwing J Street conference.) Will she advise administration figures not to attend (as former National Security Advisor James Jones did in 2009), this year's J Street conference if it features groups or individuals who go over the line into anti-Semitism? Rosenthal, a former board member of J Street, deflected the question, saying that her focus is outside the U.S. Besides, she said, she thinks she'll be in Vienna then. (I guess she is at least following the schedule.) The U.S. really has no effective policy to combat anti-Semitism.Hmmmm.....Correction the Obama administration has no effective policy to combat anti-Semitism,but is deploying a strategy to combat Islamophobia?Read the full story here.

• "Life or Death in Iran's Prisons"Human Rights Violations Report | Part 2: Week of January 10, 2011.Read the full report here.

• "Life or death In Iran's Prisons".The Iranian Regime Executed Hossein Khezri in Secret.January 15, 2011 - 28 year old Hossein Khezri, an Iranian Kurdish political activist was hanged this morning in Orumiyeh central prison. According to reports by HRANA, on January 2, 2011, a team was sent from Tehran to Orumiyeh central prison to perform Khezri’s execution over night. However, due to unknown reasons, prison officials decided to postpone the implementation of the sentence.Hossein Khezri was born in 1983 and sentenced to death by branch 1 of the Orumiyeh Revolutionary Court under the charge of acting against national security. His sentence was later upheld by branch 10 of the Appeals Court in the Western Azerbaijan province and then by branch 31 of the Supreme Court.Khezri was transferred to solitary confinement in Orumiyeh central prison sixteen days ago. After several inquiries by his family, Khezri was allowed to meet with his brother for the last time, then he was transferred back to solitary confinement.Although Khezri was executed early this morning in Orumiyeh prison, his family and lawyers were unaware that he had been secretly executed.In a letter given to HRANA, Khezri described the abuses he endured during interrogation:

1. He was beaten for several hours a day.
2. He endured psychological and physical pressure during interrogations.
3. He was threatened during interrogations that his brother and brother-in-law would also be charged with illegal activities if he did not accept the terms of the interrogators.
4. He experienced bleeding and swelling in various parts of the body as a result of being kicked repeatedly over a period of 14 days.
5. He experienced 8cm laceration in the right leg as a result of being kicked viciously by an interrogator.
6. He endured repeated beatings by batons.Link to Iranian Human right website righthand side of this website scroll down.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:NiceDeb.The Tucson Massacre’s Hall Of Shame: Liberals Who Used Tragedy To Smear The Right.The massacre in Tucson was a horrendous tragedy. Everyone in the country, of every ideological stripe, should have been allowed to mourn the victims’ deaths and injuries without the imposition of having to defend people who had nothing at all to do with it. But where normal people saw tragedy, the far left saw opportunity. They jumped at the chance to implicate an entire movement, and their leaders, (most notably Sarah Palin) as accessories to the crime. They did this before anything was even known about the assailant. They did it because of their own visceral hatred for their political enemies.Now, that it is known beyond a shadow of doubt, that Jared Loughner was not inspired by right-wing rhetoric, the tea party, Sarah Palin, or any other conservative notable, I think it’s useful, and frankly cathartic to name the names of the despicable vultures who swooped in and engaged in this contemptible behavior.Here they are, all in one place, for you to hoot, jeer, boo, cat call, heckle and throw virtual (as in not real) rotten fruit at.Hmmmm....."Together we thrive".Read and see the full story here.

• HT:RefugeeResettlementWatch.Office of Refugee Resettlement,ORR! Where is the Annual Report to Congress?With each passing month that the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) continues to break the law and not send an Annual Report to Congress it sends a clear message— they are hiding something. The ORR is now two years behind having only produced Annual Reports up to fiscal year 2007, here.This is the law:Section 413(a) of the Immigration and Nationalities Act states:Sec. 413. [8 U.S.C. 1523] (a) The Secretary, shall submit a report on activities under this chapter to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and of the Senate not later than the January 31 following the end of each fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year 1980.So, in just a few weeks, on January 31st, ORR will be behind three Annual Reports. They already have broken the law for FY 2008, FY 2009 and soon they will be due the FY 2010 report!What are they hiding? My guess is that they don’t want Congress and the public to know the horrible employment rate for refugees, the increasing use of public assistance and the huge amounts of tax dollars going to the program via grants and contracts to federal contractors (here are the federal contractors, called VOLAGs*) during the great recession.*VOLAG stands for voluntary agency which is such a joke because you are paying for the resettlment programs of many religious organizations.Hmmmm......What is the Obama Administration Hiding?Read the full story here.

• Artillery systems located near our capital are pointed at us - Saakashvili.In the course of his visit to US, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili delivered a speech at a conference held at the famous American Enterprise Institute, Novosti-Georgia reports.He spoke of the economical situation in Georgia and corruption control and touched upon the sore point - relationship with Russia.Saakashvili underlined once again that Georgia is rapidly growing economically and boasted of being frequently consulted by the officials from the post-Soviet countries."Georgia is a country that managed to achieve a double economic growth indicator over the last several years", - Saakashvili reported.He also explained why the country is governed by young people, many of whom may be called competent in the issues they deal with."We are a young country; we've got young ministers, journalists... The main point is that we are trying to set up meritocracy, which is a large element of a mental revolution. This is difficult but when we achieve our goal it will surely be appreciated", - Saakashvili stated.As for relationship with Russia, which the Georgian president could not fail to mention, Saakashvili made it clear that this is a very tender point for Tbilisi and for him personally."I had a conversation with a relatively new member of Congress who was not aware of the details of the current situation. I explained to him that 20% of the Georgian territory and two thirds of the Georgian seacoast are occupied. Artillery systems located near our capital are pointed at us; our enemy would not recognize our frontiers and is not going to fulfill the cease-fire agreement, threatening to hang me "by certain parts of the body". And this man asked how it is possible that you've escaped and still exist", - Georgian president said.Read the full story here.

• HT:pibillwarner.Ground Zero Mosque Imam Abdallah Adhami links to Anti-American Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid and Terror Supporter Imam Siraj Wahhaj.Imam Abdallah Adhami voluntarily undertook to design the Masjid At-Taqwa where terror supporter Imam Siraj Wahhaj is the Imam. Ground Zero Mosque Imam Abdallah Adhami links to terror supporter Siraj Wahhaj.Imam Abdallah Adhami, 44, links to a series of prior address’s in the USA such as Rego Park NY near Queens Blvd., Santa Ana CA, Englewood NJ, Teaneck NJ and East Northport NY on Long Island, there is also another name linked to his Social Security Number which was issued in New York State in 1983 (appears he changed his name). There are also some legal problems Imam Abdallah Adhami encountered while in Orange County CA. From a background check of Imam Abdallah Adhami there is a phone number linked to his name that appears to be the phone number for the Queens College Muslim Students Association (MSA), see MCN Community Directory – Mosques and Islamic Centers – Jan 14 : 718-592-8126. Queens College MSA. Student Union. 65-30 Kissena Blvd. Flushing , NY 11367.Hmmmm.....The main contact for the Deen Intensive program is Nazim Baksh. By the end of 1998, Deen Intensives had already taken place in New Mexico, Toronto, New Haven, New Jersey, England, Michigan, and California.These programs are designed to attract impressionable youth yearning for knowledge and religious fulfillment. They attract young Muslims to “traditional” Islam and retreats to secluded. Some of the rihlas that were organized in the past include:1998 – Fez, Morocco that included Jamal az-Azahabi, Abdullah Adhami, Hamza Yusuf and the teacher of Hamza Yusuf from Mauritania. Last known residence Damascus, Syria, with his wife and son.Co signer of the Amman Message as quote “Islamic Missionary and Scholar”."We do not want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• HT:PI.BillWarner.Muslims Against Sharia and Khalim Massoud Give Fake Interviews On FrontPageMagazine.com with Jamie Glazov.Muslims Against Sharia a made up group and the phony “President” Khalim Massoud Give Fake Interviews On The Internet They Are False Posters on FrontPageMagazine.com. Why is Khalim Massoud wearing a Russian Army uniform in the old undated photo above. “Khalim Massoud’s” interviews are all conducted on FrontPageMagazine.com by Jamie Glazov, born Yakov Glazov, Russian: Яков Глазов, 19 August 1966, in Moscow, Russia, he has Canadain citizenship, he is not an American. The “Muslims Againsnt Sharia” website www.reformislam.org and editor Khalim Massoud have been shut down by the EnterNet web hosting company after repeated complaints about the content of the website.After thorough investigation into the activity of Muslims Against Sharia and the “President” Khalim Massoud corroborated with an agent for the US Secret Service in Omaha NE, there is no doubt that in fact Muslims Against Sharia was not a Muslim advocate group for moderate Muslims, it is in fact not a Muslim Group of any kind and the President of Muslims Against Sharia, the king of the false posters, Khalim Massoud, is using a phony name as there is no such person in the USA.Muslims Against Sharia and the “President” Khalim Massoud have become the focus of a IRS and USPS criminal investigation into where the donations went.Read the full story here.

• HT:AmnonAndJonathan.Muslim Education Center Calling for Action ( MECCA ).“Islam requires that every Muslim observe and live under___Divine Law,yet many cultures are not receptive to ___this life. Many Muslims are prohibited from governing themselves under the__principles of their own faith. We must combat intolerance to spread ___acceptance of Sharia across the world. “Read and see the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Couple floating on sexdolls rescued on Melbourne's Yarra River.A COUPLE floating down Melbourne's Yarra River on inflatable dolls have been rescued after getting into trouble. A couple floating down Melbourne's Yarra River on inflatable dolls have been rescued after getting into trouble.Police say the 19-year-old couple had just passed Pound Bend Tunnel at Warrandyte North when the water became turbulent and the woman lost control of her grip on the doll about 4.30pm (AEDT) on Sunday.The woman grabbed hold of a tree that was floating in the river.The man stayed with her and they yelled for help, police say.A passer-by contacted triple zero and police and SES went to the scene.A kayaker took life jackets to the pair and the SES attended with a boat and rescued the pair.They were checked by ambulance officers but did not require medical attention.Police say the fate of the sex dolls is unknown.Read the full story here.