MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• HT:crockettlives.Obama’s Coup D’état.Over the past year, it has become obvious that what leftists cannot win at the ballot box, they will accomplish via bureaucratic dictate. After the U.S. Senate in 2009 rejected the massive cap-and-tax scheme on carbon credits, the Obama administration rode to the rescue of global-warming fanatics.“Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool.” –Paul Begala, as quoted by the New York Times.Fast forward to 2011, and Barack Obama (a man who doesn’t merely list to port–he’s already as far to the left as you can get), is faced with a similar threat to his planned imposition of socialism upon these formerly capitalistic United States. A House populated by the increasingly flinty-eyed (well, except for an often leaky Speaker) representatives of a grass-roots uprising of fed-up Constitutionalists, and a Senate nearly evenly divided between Republican and Democrat is not likely to advance the President’s “progressive” agenda legislatively. Stalemate. Ergo, the coup d’état currently being undertaken by Obama’s bureaucratic minions. And make no mistake–that is exactly what we are witnessing.Hmmmmmm.....America finally waking up?Read the full story here.

• HT:HotAir.Russian Duma to link missile defense to START limitations.The Russian Duma delivered two embarrassing blows to the Obama administration over the holidays on the START treaty, one of which may end up scotching the deal altogether. First, the Russian legislature refused to do what Barack Obama insisted of the US Senate, which was a quick ratification. More importantly, however, the Duma will do what Senate Republicans wanted, which was to amend the treaty to clarify the relationship between START and missile defense. However, the Duma’s changes will link the two and recast START into a de facto anti-missile defense pact.The Duma might in fact reinvigorate START opposition in the Senate, and at the worst possible time. Any alteration to the treaty will force a new ratification vote, and clearly Obama would have lacked the signatures in the last session of Congress for missile-defense restrictions. With his 18-seat majority reduced to six seats, the new session of the Senate won’t approve it either, and it won’t even be close. If the Duma follows through on this threat, then Obama will suffer an embarrassing defeat on foreign policy, essentially conducting a rerun on more substantial grounds of the “reset button” embarrassment from two years ago.Even if the Duma doesn’t formally alter the treaty, though, Obama’s credibility will be shot. They will have been publicly caught arguing one thing to the Senate while apparently agreeing to its opposite with Russia. The next time Obama brings a treaty of any consequence and controversy to the Senate, don’t expect the Senate to just accept Obama’s word ….and don’t expect it to pass ratification, either.
  Hmmm......Obama ....Transparancy....Hahahahaha!Another Obamination.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aim.Times Helps Muslim Rep. Ellison Obstruct Terror Probe.In an editorial titled “Homeland Blather,” The New York Times said that it agrees with Rep. Keith Ellison that it is “very scary” that the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, wants to investigate the “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” The editorial, however, failed to note that Ellison, “the nation’s first Muslim elected to the House,” comes from a district that includes young Muslims recruited to go to Somalia to participate in plots to kill Americans.The problem of radicalization, as we pointed out in another column about Ellison’s resistance to the probe, has been examined by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The topic was addressed by Andrew Liepman, Deputy Director of Intelligence of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). “FBI Watching Somali Muslims In Minneapolis” was the headline over a CBS News story about the danger.Investigations into this continuing problem are clearly warranted, especially in relation to the Muslim problem in Minneapolis—Ellison’s district. But perhaps Ellison, the newly elected co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, fears being probed as well. After all, the radicalization of American Muslims is personified in his own transformation from radical leftist to advocate of Muslim causes.An Ellison speech on behalf of Olson, in which he called the terrorist a freedom fighter, has been eliminated from most websites, including one devoted to her legal defense, but a Minneapolis blogger who followed the case saved and posted it. One notices the lavish praise that Ellison bestows not only on Olson, also known as Katherine Soliah, but to Bernardine Dohrn, the former leader of the communist terrorist Weather Underground. Ellison also praised cop-killers Mumia Abu-Jamal, on death row in Pennsylvania, and Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur), who escaped the U.S. and is now living under the protection of the Castro dictatorship.In an article for The Weekly Standard, entitled, “Louis Farrakhan’s First Congressman,” Scott Johnson of PowerLine blog examined Ellison’s radical record, including his involvement with the Nation of Islam, and how the local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, tried to keep this information from the voters.Now we know why Rep. Ellison wants to obstruct a probe into radical Islam. But why would The New York Times want to conceal this information?Hmmmm....As i said before you would think they have something to hide?Read the full story here.

• America needs a new national debate on the Constitution.It might seem unlikely that a lone law professor could spark a national discussion about the kind of government Americans want in the 21st century, but that's exactly what Georgetown Law School's Randy E. Barnett hopes to do with his modest proposal known as the Repeal Amendment. You can read Barnett's description of the plan and his response to critics of it like the New York Times here.Under the plan, measures approved by Washington could be repealed if both houses in two-thirds of the state legislatures vote to do so. Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is among the proposal's most significant supporters, which means it will receive serious attention during the 112th Congress convening this week. Whatever one's view of the propriety of amending the U.S. Constitution in the manner proposed by Barnett -- and for the record, we think the Repeal Amendment is a dandy way to restore the proper balance to our federal system -- the professor's idea could not be more appropriately timed.Comparing the words of the Constitution to the actions of our leaders in recent years will surely make clear the enduring wisdom of James Madison's warning that "there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." Talking seriously about this condition is the first step to remedying it, just as Madison and the rest of the Founders intended.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGoverment.Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011.The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts (much to my dismay, my prediction from last January was correct).Similarly, GOP control of the House of Representatives does not automatically mean less government and more freedom. Heck, it doesn’t even guarantee that things won’t continue to move in the wrong direction. Here are five possible bad policies for 2011, most of which the Obama White House can implement by using executive power.Hmmmm.....Which all of them he will impliment by using executive power?Read the full story here.

• Darrell Issa reveals list of investigations.Rep. Darrell Issa is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months of what promises to be a high profile chairmanship of the top oversight committee in Congress. According to an outline of the committee’s hearing topics obtained by POLITICO, the House Oversight and Government Reform is also planning to investigate how regulation impacts job creation, the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis; recalls at the Food and Drug Administration and the failure of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to agree on the causes of the market meltdown.Hmmmm....."Barking dogs don't bite"?Lets meet again in a year and look back.Read the full "story" here.

• HT:Judicialwatch.New House Watchdog Lets Obama Slide On “Criminal Event”.During a public relations campaign touting upcoming probes of the Obama Administration, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the president won’t be investigated for a bribery scandal because his party is guilty of the same crime. This astounding example of bipartisan corruption was actually delivered on national television over the weekend. California Republican Darrell Issa, the federal lawmaker responsible for scrutinizing presidential misconduct, did the Sunday talk-show rounds to promote a wasteful spending inquiry of “one of the most corrupt administrations,” and assure Americans that his committee will identify $200 billion in waste. In the process, Issa confirmed that he’ll let President Obama slide on one of his most serious offenses so far.Issa didn’t buy it and over the weekend confirmed it “was a criminal event under the law” yet he won’t pursue it, though he’s obligated as the head of the congressional watchdog that investigates all matters with federal policy implications. The reason is because Republicans have in the past committed the same crime, according to Issa, who openly acknowledged the Sestak scandal “is in fact an example of misconduct.”Hmmmm......"His bark is worse then his bite"comes to mind.Read the full story here.

• Drilling Is Stalled Even After Ban Is Lifted .More than two months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well there. Experts now expect the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps into 2012.The administration says it is simply trying to enforce new safety rules adopted in the wake of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Environmental groups say the administration is right to take its time because the Gulf disaster exposed the risks of offshore drilling.But the delay is hurting big oil companies such as Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which have billions of dollars in investments tied up in Gulf projects that are on hold and are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a day for rigs that aren't allowed to drill. Smaller operators such as ATP Oil & Gas Corp., which have less flexibility to focus on projects in other regions, have been even harder hit.The impact of the delays goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region's fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13% this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6% in 2011. The difference: a loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day. Hmmmmm....Is the Obama administration restricting on purpose  the US oil companies?If so what's Obama's goal?Read the full story here.More here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.States Will Push Tough Immigration Laws In 2011.Fed up with the federal government’s perpetual failure to secure the southern border, state legislators across the country will begin the New Year with aggressive efforts to curb illegal immigration.Dozens of state lawmakers throughout the nation have already started drafting measures designed to contain the devastating impact of illegal immigration, according to several news reports. Local governments are so desperate for relief that the possibility of a costly legal challenge is not deterring them from their campaign to crack down on illegal immigration.Elected officials in at least six states have already confirmed plans to introduce bills similar to Arizona’s, which bans “sanctuary city” policies, makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. without proper documentation and requires police to check the immigration status of people stopped for questioning. Others have announced measures to limit access to public benefits for illegal aliens and to punish employers who hire them.Oklahoma may enact a measure that allows authorities to seize and keep the vehicle of anyone who harbors an illegal immigrant and Missouri, Mississippi and Nebraska are among states where legislators will offer bills similar to Arizona. In several other states, lawmakers plan to push for laws that require employers to verify the immigration status of their workers.Hmmmm.....The "Dream" is turning in to a "Nightmare" for illegals?Read the full story here.

• Egypt on high alert ahead of Coptic Christmas.Egypt was on high alert on Monday ahead of the Coptic Christmas holiday following a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 people as investigators raced to identify those behind the attack.Police cancelled leave for top officers and were tightening surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation. Security was also to be beefed up at churches for Christmas which Copts celebrate on Jan. 7.The clampdown comes amid fears of new protests by Copts following overnight clashes at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral - headquarters of Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III - during which 45 policemen were wounded.The protesters pelted with rocks a minister who had come to visit the pope and heckled other government officials while other demonstrators blocked off four main streets in Cairo before police dispersed them.Coptic Christmas will fall on Friday - the weekly Muslim day of prayer and rest - and Shenouda said he intended to say mass as usual on Christmas Eve. "Not praying would mean that terrorism has deprived us of celebrating the birth of Christ," the official Al-Ahram newspaper quoted him as saying.Hmmmm.....Can't wait to hear Obama talk again about Muslim victims.Read the full story here.More here.

• Ex-Lebanon Leader: Christians Target of Genocide.Extremist groups are waging a "genocide" against Christians in the Middle East, a former Lebanese president said Monday, after a New Year's suicide bombing of a church in Egypt killed 21 people. Amin Gemayel, a Christian who served a six-year term as president in the 1980s, cited the attack in Egypt and recent violence in Iraq as he urged leaders to give Christian communities a larger political role. "Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only because they are Christians," said Gemayel, who leads Lebanon's right-wing Christian Phalange party. "What is happening to Christians is a genocide," he said.Egyptian newspapers warned on Sunday that "civil war" could break out unless Christians and Muslims close ranks.Hmmmmm.....And who would profit from this may i ask?Read the full story here.

• "The War on Christianity".Russia: Church set on fire in Caucasus.Unidentified attackers set a church ablaze with a grenade in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus late on Sunday, media reported, in the latest act of violence in a region where Moscow is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.No one was hurt in the attack on the Russian Orthodox Church, state-run RIA news agency reported, which took place at 9.30 p.m. in the town of Ordzhonikidze, in the impoverished Ingushetia region which borders Chechnya.Though rare, vandalism of churches belonging to the small Christian communities in the North Caucasus has increased over the past year.Read the full story here.HT:IslamInEurope.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Ground Zero Mosque Update.From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:Mayor Bloomberg’s Office Spearheaded Drive for Ground Zero Mosque, New Docs ShowOn July 2010, Mayor Bloomberg outrageously told reporters it was “un-American” to investigate the individuals behind the Ground Zero Mosque. Now we know why he wanted no one to look into the controversy.Read the full story here.

• HT:StrategyPage.Did you know that Islam approves of men who dress in women's clothes? Sort of. Islamic scripture details several incidents where the prophet Mohammed protected men who preferred to dress as women. Thus it should be no surprise that, in Saudi Arabia, major clerics been conspicuous in not condemning the use of women’s clothing by terrorists. There have been several publicized (and many more unpublicized) incidents where terrorists were caught in drag.The Saudis regularly catch terrorist suspects using this kind of disguise in an attempt to get past police checkpoints. Most of these incidents end in an arrest, not gunfire.This type of disguise is frequently used by terrorists and criminals. While most Islamic clerics do not condemn such cross-dressing, the Koran comes right out and says this should not be done. Despite Mohammed's lenient attitudes in this area, he was not condoning such practices, but simply trying to help these men to mend their ways and dress right. Pro-terrorist clerics take the position that, while on a Mission From God, anything is permissible.Hmmmm......"The devil wears .....Burkas"?Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.30 Reasons Why 2011 Is Going To Be Another Crappy Year For America’s Middle Class.Do you think that 2011 will be a good year for America's middle class? Well, you might not be so optimistic after you read the 30 statistics posted below. The truth is that 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America's middle class, and there is not a whole lot that you or I can do about it. Sadly, what we are facing as a nation is not just a short-term economic downturn. Rather, there are some very serious long-term economic trends that are absolutely ripping apart the U.S. middle class. For example, did you know that even though our population has been growing at a brisk pace we have lost about ten percent of our middle class jobs over the past decade? The vast majority of jobs that have been created have been low paying service jobs. We now have hordes of highly educated young people that are waiting tables and that are welcoming customers to Wal-Mart. Without good paying jobs there is no middle class, but today American corporations are actually creating more jobs overseas than they are inside the United States. This has helped pad the profits of the big corporate fatcats, but it has been devastating for middle class communities across the United States. Every time a factory gets closed down in America and gets set up in some other country instead, it means that the U.S. middle class is shrinking just a little bit more. The new "global economy" has been good for the bottom line of the largest U.S. corporations, it has been great for countries like China and India, but it is absolutely wiping out the U.S. middle class.If you still have a good paying middle class job you should be very thankful. The total number of those jobs is rapidly decreasing. Millions of those that have lost their jobs over the last several years have been forced to take lower paying jobs or even part-time jobs in an attempt to fill the void. Millions of others have not been able to find a job at all.Meanwhile, the price of everything is going up. Have you been to the supermarket lately? The price of food is going up substantially. Many analysts are already talking about $5 a gallon gasoline in 2010. Utility bills are going through the roof. Health care premiums are soaring. Many state and local governments are seriously hiking up taxes and fees.The following are 30 reasons why 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America's middle class....Read the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.The Muslim Elephant in the Room of Tolerance.Headlines in New York papers are blaring once again that Islamophobia is up. Up and rising. Statistics released by the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services reveals that Islamophobic bias attacks are up by a whopping 15 percent.15 percent that does sound like a lot. And by a lot, I mean that they've gone up from 8 incidents in 2008 to 11 in 2009. That's right, that whopping "15 percent" is actually an increase of 3 incidents. To put this into context, in 2008 there were 219 attacks targeting Jews. And in 2009, that number went up to 251. And here's some more context. That same report shows that Anti-Multi-Religious Groups attacks went up from 3 to 11 incidents in that same year. That's a much steeper spike which brings us to the same number as the so-called Islamophobic attacks. And yet you don't see the media trumpeting those numbers. But when there are more bias attacks by people who can't figure out which religion they hate more, than anti-Muslim attacks, it's safe to say that there is no Islamophobia crisis.News reports typically misrepresent Muslim attacks on synagogues as hostility to Israel spilling over into Anti-Semitism. But in reality it was always Anti-Semitism. Muslim hostility to Israel springs out of a hatred for Jews. An attitude that goes back to the days of the Koran and the founding of Islam. If this was really about Israel, then why attack synagogues? Particularly synagogues that are often non-political. Sometimes downright liberal. So too Muslim violence against Americans is supremacism spilling out. It's not really about the War in Iraq, or any war, those are only excuses for Muslim violence against people they consider to be subhuman. There's over a thousand years of history for this sort of thing. And it isn't going away any time soon.Targeting synagogues and churches is a clear example of a religious war. A religious war has political components, but it is religious first and political second. Muslim violence is part of a religious war. It's not a mistake or a misunderstanding. There's no confusion on the subject. It's a religious war guided by the scriptural verses and tenets of the Koran. Yet while we frantically collect scraps of Islamophobic crimes, we have never defined the sheer body of hate crimes by Muslims.And our leaders take to the air to urge us to be more tolerant. Because while tolerance may not stop bombs or bullets, it does stop you from thinking. And to our leaders who promote Tolerance Uber Alles, thinking is a thousand times more dangerous than bombs or bullets. Bombs and bullets kill, but thoughts bring change.Read the full story here.

• Turkey asked US to take astronaut in return for Boeing sale.Turkey’s aspirations are not limited to its region, or even the globe, according to a recently released document that says the Turkish president sought to cut a deal to put a Turkish astronaut into outer space.President Abdullah Gül asked his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to let a Turkish astronaut participate in a NASA space flight in return for buying Boeing jets, said a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by the New York Times from the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.Commenting on how the meeting went, Jeffrey said in the cable that assisting Turkey’s aviation and aerospace agencies could be mutually beneficial in and of itself and merits further study. “We probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit, but there are programs we could undertake to strengthen Turkey’s capacity in this area that would meet our own goals for improved aviation safety in the region,” he wrote. “In any case, we must show some response to the minister’s vague requests if we want to maximize chances for the sale.”Hmmmm.....One might think they heard of "NASA's outreach to Muslims"?Read the full story here.

• Demise of Iraqi water park illustrates limitations, abuse of U.S. funding program.BAGHDAD - In the spring of 2008, Gen. David H. Petraeus decided he had spent enough time gazing from his helicopter at an empty and desolate lake on the banks of the Tigris River. He ordered the lake refilled and turned into a water park for all of Baghdad to enjoy.The military doctrine behind the project holds that cash can be as effective as bullets. Under Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq at the time, that principle gained unprecedented emphasis, and it has become a cornerstone of the war effort in Afghanistan, now under Petraeus's command. But today the Baghdad park is nearly waterless, more than two years after a U.S. military inauguration ceremony that included a marching band and water-scooter rides. Much of the compound is in ruins, swing sets have become piles of twisted steel, and the personal watercraft's engines have been gutted for spare parts. The troubled history of the venture speaks to the limitations and mishandling of a program that has provided U.S. military commanders with $5 billion for projects in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past six years. The program has given officers enormous flexibility to address urgent needs with few bureaucratic hassles. But in many cases, such as that of the Jadriyah Lake park, the investments under the plan, known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program, have created no more than a temporary illusion of progress. They have also shown a lack of U.S. foresight and highlighted the shortcomings of an Iraqi government the Americans were trying to boost.Hmmmm.....Another "Obamination"?Read the full story here.

• French police probe Copt churches threat.French police are investigating threats made against Coptic churches in France in the wake of a deadly attack on one in Egypt, a security source said Monday.The Paris anti-terrorism squad launched a probe on terrorism-related charges after a church leader filed a complaint, the source said.A priest at the Coptic church of Saint Mary and Saint Mark in the Paris suburb of Chatenay-Malabry told AFP on Monday that he had made a complaint to police.The priest, Girguis Lucas, said a worshipper at his church had seen "threats made on the Internet by Islamic mujahedeens who announced other attacks in Europe and in France in particular, and who mention our church.""These threats are not a fantasy," said Lucas, who estimated there are 250,000 Coptic Christians in France. "Here people are free. We cannot accept these threats."Germany's Coptic Christians have also received threats of attack by radical Muslims and asked for protection, a bishop said in comments published by a newspaper on Sunday."The Internet is full of threats of this kind against us. The police have alerted us several times against attacks by radical Muslims," Coptic Bishop Anba Damian said in a report on the Bild's online edition.Hmmmm......"The War on Christianity" First they came for the Copts?Read the full story here.

• HT:DailyCaller.Obama to increase engagement with Africa in 2011.President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.Expectations in Africa spiked after the election of an American president with a Kenyan father. But midway through his term, Obama’s agenda for Africa has taken a backseat to other foreign policy goals, such as winding down the Iraq war, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and resetting relations with Russia.Obama aides believe those issues are now on more solid footing, allowing the president to expand his international agenda. He will focus in Africa on good governance and supporting nations with strong democratic institutions.The White House says Obama will travel to Africa again and the political calendar means the trip will almost certainly happen this year, before Obama has to spend more time on his re-election bid. No decision has been made on which countries Obama will visit, but deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said stops will reflect positive democratic models.Rhodes said the White House understands that U.S. involvement in African politics can be viewed as meddling. But he said Obama can speak to African leaders with a unique level of candor, reflecting his personal connection to Africa and that his father and other family members have been affected by the corruption that plagues many countries there.Hmmmmm......Another trip and as soon he's there his first words will be "Islam is a great religion"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : British Salafi "Abu Mounisa": We Should Attack David Cameron, Attack the Law and Order, and Make the Entire System Bow Down to Allah.Hmmmm....."We do not want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iraqi Christians in Karbala Report Looted Churches, Desecrated Graves.Reporting from Karbala, Iraq, journalist Fadhel Rashad says that Iraqi Christians are not only subject to killing and deportation, but that their churches, cemeteries, and historical artifacts are being targeted for desecration and looting by organized criminal gangs. In the province of Karbala, 108 km (67.5 miles) south of Baghdad, officials confirmed that the legacy and history of Christians have become a target for destruction. Karbala, Fadhel wrote, is not just a city for Shi'a Muslims; it was inhabited by people of various sects and religions throughout history, and there is a great deal of archeological evidence to indicate that Christians had built churches and performed religious rites in the city.In one church, he wrote, Aramaic writing on the walls suggests that the church was in existence in the fifth century CE. Read the full story here.

• United Arab Emirates, Etihad offering Canadians visas at under $70.Travellers can bypass embassy route where visa charges have been increased substantially.Canadians travelling through Dubai can obtain a short-term visa of four days for $61.5 (Dh225.9), provided they are travelling with Emirates airline.Similarly, Canadian citizens, holding a valid residency in the UAE and wanting to bring their parents and immediate relatives on a visit, can do so by booking tickets on Emirates airlines.The visa charges are now $74.5 (Dh273.6) for a 30-day visa extendable by another 30 days.A 90-day visa only for parents or in-laws travelling by Emirates is available for for Dh1155.The facility is only available to passengers of Emirates airline irrespective of the nationality,” said an Emirates official at the Dnata office on Sheikh Zayed Road."Canadian travellers can now apply for and purchase UAE visas online via www.emirates.com. All ticketed Emirates customers, regardless of whether their ticket was purchased via a travel agent, online via www.emirates.com, or directly from an Emirates call centre or retail shop, may log-in to ‘Manage a Booking’ on www.emirates.com and access the application tool. Both 96 hour and 30 day visas are available and these will be issued via email within 3-4 working days," said a statement isued by Emirates airline.Meanwhile, Etihad airways is offering visas for Canadian citizens at $68 (Dh249.7) for 96 hours, $83 (Dh304.7) for 30 days and $365 (dh1340) for 90 days.Passengers can also apply for a 14 days entry permit for $103 (Dh378.2) . However the passenger has to enter UAE within ten days of the issuance of the visa.Effective from 02nd January 2011, “Visa on arrival” facility has been withdrawn for Canadian Nationals and are thereby requested to apply for visa in advance.Hmmmm........Why do i get the feeling that landing rights have something to do with this?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different ! What's next to die in Arkansas? Now 100,000 dead FISH are found washed up... after 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky.Residents of Arkansas must be wondering what they are going to find next.More than 100,000 fish have been found washed up on the banks of the Arkansas River - as 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in the nearby town of Beebe.The bizarre incidents appear to be unrelated but many locals will be contemplating whether the piles of animal corpses provide an eerie omen for the New Year.Environmental experts believe disease killed the fish while the violent storms that swept that state over the weekend may account for the fallen birds.The dead drum fish were discovered by a tug boat operator on the river banks on a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, near Ozark. on Thursday.David Price, who spotted the fish from his parents' Roseville house, located on the banks of the river, pointed and said: 'Over from down here at the bottom of the rocks, out maybe 40 or 50 feet, there were just thousands of fish along the shorebanks all the way around the river here. 'This is kind of amazing because the the fish were about a pound and a half a piece.'Travis Harmon of the Department of Environmental Quality said: 'Barges reported passing up river and churning up dead fish from the bottom of the river. 'A single species is killed, and we don't know the cause. If it was toxic, other species would be affected.'Hmmmm.....Flying....Swimming ....What's next in line?Note to secretary cancel that Arkansas trip !Read the full story here.More here with video.