MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• What's In The 2012 Budget Plan? NPR Breaks It Down.President Obama is proposing a budget that calls for $3.7 trillion in government spending in fiscal 2012, down from the $3.8 trillion he proposed a year ago. The budget projects a massive gap between spending and tax revenue that produces a budget deficit of $1.1 trillion. Still, that's an improvement from the record budget deficit projected for the current fiscal year: $1.65 trillion.The president's 2012 budget includes a five-year freeze on "non-security discretionary" spending projected to save just over $400 billion in the next decade. The freeze covers most domestic spending but excludes the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security. As a result, the freeze applies only to about 12 percent of the total federal budget. Entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are untouched.On taxes, the president calls for an indefinite continuation of the tax cuts for the middle class originally passed in 2001 and extended for two years last December. But Obama would end tax cuts for wealthier Americans beginning in 2014.The president has also proposed a major cut in the federal program that provides energy assistance to the poor and elderly. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program would be cut in half, from about $5 billion to $2.6 billion, the level it was in fiscal 2008. The National Energy Assistance Directors' Association says this would mean that about 3 million households out of more than 8 million now served would be cut from the program. The president's budget notes that energy prices have gone down since the program was expanded and it will consider increasing aid if prices spike again. Foreign Aid. As Obama unveiled his new budget request, a State Department official summed up the foreign aid proposal this way: "We can't fund everything, everywhere, any longer." The budget includes $47 billion for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, slightly down from last year's request.For the next fiscal year, U.S. assistance would be cut by 15 percent to countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Fourteen countries, including many wealthy Gulf states, would lose funding for military training programs run by the State Department. The savings are small, but officials say they have to start somewhere.The belt tightening stops at the so-called "front line states." The 2012 budget request includes $3.3 billion in economic assistance to Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Obama administration wants to give Yemen $120 million, up $53 million from 2010. It also proposes maintaining $3.1 billion in military assistance to Israel and $1.3 billion for Egypt.Hmmmm......In what country exactly"energy prices have gone down" ?And the $1,3 Billion for Egypt is according to the Muslim Brotherhood website increased to $ 1,57 Billion,but then they may have a more direct info? Read the full disaster story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Israeli MK: Obama can go to hell.An Israeli MK had some nasty words for President Obama. "After the exposure of lies from the US, we must say frankly to Obama: You no longer scare us and you can go to hell."“Obama cannot be trusted. We knew his promises were lies. The time has come to spit in the face of the Americans.”"...he is no longer wanted in the Middle East and that he can go to hell""...world should persuade the US to change its Middle East policies by any means necessary, including by use of economic pressure.”Is that any way to treat our 'best friend'?Read the full story here.

• House votes 244-179 to kill U.S. funding of IPCC.Just before 2 a.m. on February 19, the war on climate science showed its grip on the U.S. House of Representatives as it voted to eliminate U.S. funding for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The Republican majority, on a mostly party-line vote of 244-179, went on record as essentially saying that it no longer wishes to have the IPCC prepare its comprehensive international climate science assessments. Transcript of floor debate follows.Hmmmm......."Global warming"?Start looking at the longterm(500.000 years) graphs.Read the full story here.

• Extremist cleric to lead White House protest calling for Muslims to 'rise up and establish Islamic state in America'.A hardline Muslim cleric who sparked anger across the U.S. with his anti-American comments in a television interview this month is to hold a protest outside the White House.British extremist Anjem Choudary - who once said 'the flag of Islam will fly over the White House' - has announced he will lead a demonstration calling on Muslims to establish the Sharia law across America.The rally, planned for March 3, is to take place just weeks after his on-screen row with Fox News presenter Sean Hannity. Mr Choudary, 43, called Americans 'the biggest criminals in the world today.'The former leader of outlawed group Islam4UK told the Daily Star 'we expect thousands to come out and support us.'Mr Choudary said the March rally was organised by the Islamic Thinkers society, an extremist group based in New York.Two other British extremists, Abu Izzadeen and Sayful Islam, have also been asked to speak at the demonstration.Izzadeen is the hate preacher who caused fury last year when he called British soldiers 'murderers' the day he was released from jail after a three-and-a-half year sentence for inciting terrorism.Mr Choudary told the newspaper: 'The event is a rally, a call for the Sharia, a call for the Muslims to rise up and ­establish the Islamic state in America.The East London-based cleric's anti-American stance is well-documented. Last year he led protesters in burning the American flag outside the U.S. embassy in London on September 11.'We are going to address ­corruption in the Senate, corrupt foreign ­policy, the mayhem around the ­Muslim world, the drug and ­alcohol culture, ­promiscuity and the pandemic of crime in America. 'It is only right the call is made in the heart of Western ­civilisation in front of the biggest pharaoh that ­exists today, which is Barack Obama.'Hmmmm........Obama : "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:Examiner.US Gov. Software Creates 'Fake People' on Social Networks to Promote Propoganda.The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites and create the illusion of consensus on controversial issues.The contract calls for the development of "Persona Management Software" which would help the user create and manage a variety of distinct fake profiles online. The job listing was discussed in recently leaked emails from the private security firm HBGary after an attack by internet activist last week.According to the contract, the software would "protect the identity of government agencies" by employing a number of false signals to convince users that the poster is in fact a real person. A single user could manage unique background information and status updates for up to 10 fake people from a single computer.The software enables the government to shield its identity through a number of different methods including the ability to assign unique IP addresses to each persona and the ability to make it appear as though the user is posting from other locations around the world.Included in HBGary's leaked emails was a government proposal for the government contract. The document describes how they would 'friend' real people on Facebook as a way to convey government messages.Other documents in the leaked emails include quotes from HBGary CEO Aaron Barr saying, "There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas... Using hashtags and gaming some location based check-in services we can make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise, as one example."Additional emails between HBGary employees, usually originating from Barr, discuss the vulnerability social networking causes.The creation of internet propoganda software is only one of HBGary's controversial activities. According to Wikileaks competetor and occasional collaborator Cryptome.org, several other progressive organizations were intended to be targeted including anti-war activist, anti-torture organizations and groups opposed to the US Chamber of Commerce.Hmmmmm.....Dictatorship or democracy?Read the full story here.Related here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.The UN and the Obama Administration on the Wrong Side of History.By Anne Bayefsky.Serving up Israel when the going gets tough is what Arab dictators and demagogues do at regular intervals. The United States should not join them.The spectacle of the UN Security Council engaged in one more Israel-bashing exercise, while the the Iranian and Arab world burns, is a stark example of the organization’s moral turpitude and irrelevance for the 21st century. The Council is set to convene this afternoon to consider a resolution condemning all Israeli settlements built on what Arabs claim is their land. The Obama administration is doing everything possible to placate Israel’s foes, and may well decide to refuse to exercise its veto power, though the resolution promotes a grossly one-sided distortion of fact and law. The wrong side of history is close at hand.Despite the talk about the president, the secretary of state, and the director of national intelligence being in the dark on most things going on in the Middle East, like the “secular” Muslim Brotherhood, there is nothing mysterious about today’s events. Serving up Israel when the going gets tough is what Arab dictators and demagogues do at regular intervals. Since the same bunch dictates virtually all outcomes at the UN, but for the Security Council, it is also what the UN does. If the president decides to join them, therefore, he is betting against democracy with his eyes wide open.Iranians are rioting today against a vicious government that stones women for alleged adultery, murders homosexuals for the crime of existing, amputates limbs by judicial decree, brutalizes anyone wanting free speech, and is currently holding two Americans hostage for hiking. Is there a Security Council resolution in the works on the dying and the dead in Iran? Bahrain? Libya? Tunisia? Egypt? Algeria? Not the slightest possibility.The only thing on the table at the UN is a statement that it is illegal for any Jew to live on any land that is claimed by Palestinian Arabs. Not only is this a racist recipe for an apartheid Palestine, it is also a direct violation of the American and UN-sponsored “Middle East Roadmap.” The Roadmap states that the settlement issue will not be finally resolved until final status negotiations – “Phase III:… a final, permanent status resolution . . . on borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements.” This Security Council resolution is intended to take the settlements issue off the table and pre-determine the outcome without having to negotiate or actually live with Jewish neighbors.It is a familiar pattern. The Obama administration has repeatedly used the UN to do its diplomatic dirty work of backstabbing an ally while assuring voters of the reverse. Last May, it agreed to Arab demands to hold Israel up as the world’s gravest nuclear threat at a major 2012 international meeting. Last August, it foisted upon Israel a UN Secretary-General investigation over nine Turkish extremists killed on a boat while attempting to pave the way for an Iranian port on the Mediterranean. In 2009, it joined the UN Human Rights Council, the most notorious anti-Israel UN body of them all, immediately lending it undeserved credibility. And it is still refusing to pull out of the UN’s latest “anti-racism” bash known as Durban III — scheduled for New York City in September — though demonizing the Jewish state is the meeting’s raison d’etre.Last week UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay held a news conference in Jerusalem to make it clear that her first priority was to condemn Israelis for building and living, not Arab states for destroying and killing.We know the UN is on the wrong side of history. To watch America go down the same path is heartbreaking.Some months back, Obama via Susan Rice caused Canada to be ejected from the Security Council, replaced by Portugal.Canada, led by the conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is currently Israel’s most reliable ally. Weakening Canada’s influence at the UN was crucial to the international community’s anti-Israel agenda.Hmmm......Nobody can convince me that Obama is this stupid ,he's delibaratly moving towards the destruction of Israel and the demise America as a beacon of freedom.Read the full story here.

• Libya: Doctor says at least 200 dead in Benghazi.Witnesses say special commandos, foreign mercenaries, Gaddafi loyalists assaulted demonstrators in Benghazi with knives, assault rifles, heavy weapons. Doctor: Why is the world not listening?A doctor says Moammar Gaddafi's forces have killed at least 200 protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi as it tries to crush a rebellion that has spread to more than a half-dozen cities across the country. Witnesses told The Associated Press a mix of special commandos, foreign mercenaries and Gaddafi loyalists assaulted demonstrators in Benghazi on Saturday with knives, assault rifles and heavy weapons. Those protesters were burying 35 marchers who were slain Friday by government forces.The Benghazi doctor said his hospital, one of two in Libya's second-largest city, is out of supplies and cannot treat more than 70 wounded who were hit in the attacks and need attention. "I am crying," the doctor said. "Why is the world not listening?" The doctor spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, as did several other witnesses in Libya."Everything is behind that (Gaddafi) compound; hidden behind wall after wall. The doors open and close and soldiers and tanks just come out, always as a surprise, and mostly after dark," he said. The mourners were chanting: "The people demand the ouster of the regime," which became a mantra for protesters in Egypt and Tunisia.Hmmmmm........Obama too busy caoching his daughters basketbal team?Read the full story here.

• HT:NationalReview.Obama Turns His Back on Israel.The Obama administration has been seeking a way to avoid vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel. It has floated the idea of meeting Israel’s critics halfway with a U.N. “presidential statement” calling Israeli settlements “illegitimate.” Whether or not such a statement is actually issued, the very idea is a mistake. Indeed, we have here in this single idea a display of multiple foreign-policy failures of this presidency. Let us count the ways the administration’s proposed action has already injured Israel and the United States.The harm wrought by the Obama administration’s diplomatic decisionmaking is doubly driven home by the fact that it is taking place in that chamber of double-standards, the United Nations. For decades the U.N. has been the epicenter of the worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel, a campaign that has often devolved into naked anti-Semitism. Democratic and Republican administrations alike have long resisted this vicious business. It was Daniel Patrick Moynihan who in 1975 denounced the U.N.’s “Zionism Equals Racism” resolution as an obscenity, and it was Pres. George H. W. Bush who in 1991 won its repeal. The Obama administration is abysmally remiss in departing from our proud tradition of standing by a democratic ally when the world’s most unsavory regimes gang up on it.Finally, the episode reveals a strategic failure that transcends mishandling of the Israeli-Palestinian problem alone. For its first two years, the Obama administration downplayed the importance of promoting democracy around the world. Reflexively shunning the foreign-policy approach of its predecessor, it sought to engage adversaries like Iran and North Korea, coddle autocratic allies, and distance itself from democratic friends.True, over the last few days the administration has belatedly recognized that, in the wake of the revolutions sweeping the Arab world, supporting aspirations for human freedom might be important. It has finally, for example, issued strong statements condemning the Iranian ayatollahs for their violent suppression of the democratic opposition. But one step forward, two steps backward. President Obama’s decision to lean hard on Israel has the U.S. once again currying favor with dictators and distancing itself from democrats.Putting forward a misbegotten U.N. statement as a compromise was a tactical, strategic, and moral mistake. The administration may conceive of its action as a low cost, split-the-difference gesture, but it has harmed an ally, sent a dangerous signal of inconstancy to allies and adversaries alike, and betrayed basic American principles. That’s three mistakes in one.Read the full story here.

• 'Israel's isolation may affect financial ties with Europe'. State officials warn of political isolation following European nations' support of Palestinian bid to condemn settlement construction in Security Council. 'Every tender for settlement construction distances us from Europe. Some countries boycott Israeli goods and things can deteriorate,' one official says.State officials said Saturday that the US veto which prevented a UN condemnation of settlement construction is not a reason for celebrations. "Israel is becoming increasingly isolated from West European countries which consider settlements a red rag," one element said. The senior officials said they do not rule out financial consequences as a result of Israel's isolation. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU foreign affairs chief Catherin Ashton publicly opposed the continuation of settlement construction and the existence of settlements. Germany, Britain and France were among the 14 supporters of the Palestinian proposal in the Security Council vote Friday. "Every time Israel issues another tender for construction in the settlements it distances the friendly European nations. We have a very serious problem and the fact that there is no peace process makes it harder to get Western European nations to support Israel. Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are angry with Netanyahu and do not accept the fact that the prime minister did not extend the freeze for an additional three months," the state official said.After their draft was blocked in the Security Council, the PA threatened to take their draft to the General Assembly which may also discuss recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry said that despite tense relations with Europe, Israel will try to form a group of 20 or 30 European countries to vote against the Palestinian draft in the General Assembly. "It's clearly obvious the Palestinians have an automatic majority but we're currently trying to secure the support of Eastern European nations and possibly some Western states," one Foreign Ministry official said. "Should the Palestinians present a harsher statement it will make it easier for us to get England or France on board. But should the statement be in the same format as it was in the Security Council it is possible that Israel will suffer another condemnation, which has no practical consequences." Read the full story here.

• Massacre in the Middle East: Horrific video captures Bahrain troops gunning down peaceful protesters in the street.This is the horrifying moment troops open fire on innocent protesters on a day when the number killed across the Middle East reached almost 120.Dozens of demonstrators chanted as they marched towards tanks in Bahrain but they fled seconds later as the clatter of bullets ricocheted through the street.Two protesters lay motionless with blood spilling onto the road while as many as 50 others walked away wounded in the attack in the country's second city of Manama.The shocking scenes resembled dozens of similar protests in Libya, Yemen and Jordan where citizens demanded democratic reform in a 'Friday of Rage' sweeping the crisis-hit region.Hmmmm......Where's the UN outrage?Ah yes it's reserved for Israel.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:BigGovernment.Doctor Explains Fake ‘Sick’ Medical Note.In this video from Josiah Cantrell, a licensed physician explains that his medical note is all the individual will need when he reports back to work. He also says that, if the person’s employer asks what specifically was wrong with him, it is “none of their freakin business.” We have to believe the state medical board is going to be interested in the doctors freely handing out fake ’sick’ excuse forms.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Investigativeproject.Turkey, Israel Feud as New Flotilla Looms.The Turkish-based organization behind the deadly confrontation with Israel in the Mediterranean Sea last spring pledges to have its second Freedom Flotilla reach the Gaza strip by the end of May, according to an article from a Hamas-affiliated website.Muhammad Kaya, head of IHH's Gaza branch confirmed the plan during a meeting with Hamas minister of transport and communications Osama Al-Aisawi. Kaya added that the flotilla of ships would come from various European countries.Kaya, who works with Hamas on behalf of IHH, assisted with the logistics of last year's deadly flotilla. In December, Kaya said that IHH would continue to provide financial and moral support to Palestinians, including through the group's willingness to "sacrifice their lives and shed their blood." The Investigative Project on Terrorism has documented IHH's extensive ties to Hamas here.An IHH delegate was part of a meeting for the second flotilla, held in Madrid, Spain from Feb. 4-6. The meeting drew delegates from Canada, Scotland, Algeria, Spain, France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.On Tuesday, Turkey insisted that Israel issue an apology for the killing of the nine activists on the Mavi Marmara. "We expect that the UN investigation will be balanced, and that Israel and Turkey will get out of it what we are seeking. An apology and compensation, however, constitute a red line for us," a Turkish diplomat told journalists.Hmmmm.......Turkey.....Iran......Jew hatred.Read the full story here.

• Disgusted Allen West to Dems: Grow Up!Rookie U.S. Rep. Allen West delivered a stinging indictment of his colleagues in a letter to constituents in which he rails about House members’ “ignorance, belligerence, and dishonest rhetoric.” Without naming names, but clearly implying that he was including President Barack Obama, the Florida Republican also decried Washington’s interference with Wisconsin’s budget turmoil.“Over this past week I have watched and listened to members of the House of Representatives from across the aisle.“I am appalled at their ignorance, belligerence, and dishonest rhetoric filled with empty emotional platitudes. Have they no shame in realizing that their inept, incompetent failures are the reason why we are debating this continuing resolution. They failed to pass a budget during the 111th Congress.“Have they no honor in realizing that their fiscal irresponsibility over the past four years has resulted in our standing on the precipice of a fiscal canyon from which we may not recover.“Also troubling are the events in the state of Wisconsin which mirror those that happened in Greece several months ago. We are witnessing the abject hostility of a unionized entitlement class that is being lauded by the liberal left, seemingly to include our President.“It is such a critical time for our Republic, yet there seems no visionary leadership — it is as if America stopped producing adults. I have never seen a greater assembly of petulance and sophomoric behavior as what I have witnessed this week on the floor of the House of Representatives. “To those across the aisle, please explain to the American people how your economic policies have created a better environment for long-term sustainable growth.“Rest assured that I will do everything in my ability to stand firm and lead on the principles that make America exceptional.”Read the full story here.

• HT:WeaselZippers.President Obama: “Everyone Must Sacrifice”.The First Lady is sacrificing by going skiing in Vail. Plugs’ sacrifice consists of catching some rays in the Florida Keys. The President stayed in D.C. to coach Sasha’s basketball team.First lady Michelle Obama is among the Presidents Day weekend crowd. Obama arrived Friday night for a weekend of skiing in Vail and Beaver Creek, according to local sources.A motorcade of about a dozen vehicles, including 15 state and local law enforcement officers, traveled from the Eagle County Regional Airport to Vail on Friday night, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Roads were temporarily blocked to make way for the motorcade in Eagle.The motorcade entered an underground garage beneath the Sebastian hotel in Vail Village shortly after 9:30 p.m.It won’t be the first lady’s first time on skis. She took daughters Sasha and Malia for a quick trip to Liberty Mountain Resort, in Carroll Valley, Pa., in February 2010. It was the first time on skis for the first daughters, according to Anne Weimer, marketing director at Ski Liberty.During an interview posted by Liberty Mountain, the first lady was asked about some her favorite hot spots. Instead, she talked about a cool spot. “We discovered skiing. My girls had never been skiing,” she said. “With a couple hours, you’re skiing.”“You can go from 60- and 50-degree weather to being on a slope. Not too many places in this country you can do that and still be at the seat of power. It’s kind of cool,” she said in the interview.Obama has made health and fitness one of her primary causes, and skiing burns up to 400 calories an hour, ski-industry sources say.Hmmmm......With all the calorie burning she does ,she sure must have a serious calorie intake?Read the full story here.

• OIC urges Turkey to take the lead in $1 trillion halal food market.The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have asked Turkey to take the lead in respect to halal food, investing special efforts to boost the $1 trillion market. Turkish Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün paid a visit to Saudi Arabia at the invitation of the OIC last week. In Jeddah, he held important talks with about 300 wealthy Saudi businessmen, and OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, who is also a Turkish national, discussed with him the importance of the halal food business. In that regard, Saudi businessmen conveyed to Ergün that they are ready to buy all the food products Turkey produces.Noting that the international halal food market has expanded to $1 trillion over the years, İhsanoğlu asked Turkey to concentrate on improving it further, assuming a leading role in producing food bearing an internationally recognized halal certificate and also stimulating Muslims' awareness in consuming halal food. He explained that even countries such as China, India and Taiwan, home to Muslim minority populations, produce halal food for Muslim countries while Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country and a major food producer whose influence among OIC members has visibly increased, particularly over the past few years, may take the lion's share of this market.He advised Turkish producers to comply with halal food specifications in their exports to Muslim countries. Stressing that Muslim countries tend to do on the spot inspections of foodstuffs produced for them in predominantly Christian and Buddhist countries, İhsanoğlu said Turkey may soon grab a great share of the market without passing through such a test.Ergün also discussed with the OIC secretary-general the adoption of the Charter of the Standards and Meteorology Institute for Islamic Countries (SMIIC), which the OIC decided to establish in 2010. The OIC asked Turkey to ratify it as soon as possible and share its experience on this matter with other Muslim countries as well.Hmmmm.........."Halal"?Read the full story here.

• HT:BlazingCatFur.Ottawa Funded Muslim School "Israel is the Official State Of Terrorism, Racism & Crimes Against Humanity".Your Tax Dollars At Prayer Part 3: Ottawa has used $53,540.00 of your tax dollars to fund École Ali Ibn Abi Talib in Montreal under the SIP, Security Infrastructure Program, the purpose of which is to "Improve and enhance the safety of Canadian communities at risk of hate-motivated crime through the enhancement of their security infrastructure."A bit about the school: "ALI IBN ABI TALIB SCHOOL strives to preserve the culture and languages of the international Muslim community by seedling into the children a pride in their heritage. We put a great emphasis on Qur'anic teaching and a proper Islamic conduct. As well we enable children to master the Arabic language to provide access to the original sources of Islamic knowledge." Oooo! That's nice and MultiCulty."l'invasion israelienne qui a permis a l'etat israelien de gagner le trophee de l'etat officiel du terrorisme de racisme et de crimes contre l'humanite" Roughly translated "The Israeli invasion has won (Israel) the trophy as the Offical State of Terrorism, Racism & Crimes against humanity""...elle fait maintenant l'objet d'attaques criminelles continuelles par les soldat de l'armee d'occupation israelienne qui mene un nouveau genocide contre les enfants et les civiles rappelant les massacres de kana,sabra, chatila..." Rough translation "...the Israeli army is conducting a new genocide against children..." "...notre celebration cette annee prend une autre dimension a cause des evenements tragiques qui a resulte le terrorisme zionnistes racistes" Rough translation "our celebration this year takes another dimension because of the tragic events due to the terrorist racist zionists"More fun with your tax dollars. This is rich. Saudi Arabia has removed Muslim Brotherhood Books from schools because they preach violence and extremism. Ottawa, perversely, funds Muslim Brotherhood schools.Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• HT:UpPompei.The Halal epidemic within the UK.The spread of Halal meat and other products in the UK is truly alarming, indeed most of the chicken in our supermarkets is actually halal, we all know that it is not labeled as such.The Halal market is worth about £1 Trillion per annum and the OIC (organization of Islamic countries) want this to grow especially in the European market, the OIC have approached Turkey to further this cause, why Turkey? well it is the main food producer to the Islamic world and there is still a possibility that Turkey may gain entry into the EU which would facilitate the further spread of Halal products throughout Europe. OIC urges Turkey to take the lead in $1 trillion halal food market.Here in the UK there are many suppliers of Halal foods - here are a few of them - just click on the links to see who they actually are.This stuff is being pumped into our food chain, and its not only food that is being surreptitiously forced upon us, there are halal medicines and pharmaceuticals, are any of these labeled do we actually know what we are taking?Manufacturers don't want to draw too much attention to their products being halal, in case they scare the kuffar customers off .So the squiggle may be small and inconspicuous and the English lettering 'halal' might be omitted.Even though I’ve seen it done thousands of times, you never really get used to watching animals being killed. But as long as we eat meat, it has to be done. And it is our duty as a society to ensure that the procedure is carried out humanely and with as much dignity as possible.Society also has to respect religious freedom and rituals, and I don’t have a problem with that. I am, however, uneasy that the laws that require humane killing of animals for meat – particularly that they must be rendered insensible before being slaughtered – do not apply to Jews for their kosher meat and Muslims for halal foods.It is a fudge we have all lived with, however uneasily, for years, feeling safe in the knowledge that this is very much a niche market. Only last week the Office for National Statistics reported that just four per cent of the British population was Muslim.Surely, if you want halal or kosher meat, you go to a specialist butcher and everybody else can be confident their meat is produced to more humane standards?Well, actually, no. That choice has been scandalously taken away from us. Not only are we deliberately not informed if our meat is produced according to religious ritual, many retailers do not even know.‘Some of the other bigger poultry factories who are supplying the supermarkets claim the chicken they produce is halal – but it’s not really.‘Instead of using a Muslim man as the killer, they use an automatic circular saw and a tape recorder to play the prayer.‘They can’t do it properly because of the sheer volume of chickens they have to kill to meet demand. Some of the factories are doing one million birds a week.’There is another side to this story, the previously mentioned OIC has a vested interest in the spread of Halal products in non Islamic countries, we all know that Immigration is one of the weapons in the Islamic assault on Europe, therefore it makes sense that infrastructures are in place within Dar ul Harb that will support the incoming migratory armies of Islam.The fact that slaughter houses in the UK are now prepared to revert to stone age methods of slaughter which are completely inhumane,this tells us that the attack on our food chain is well advanced and we knew nothing about this at all, it was just done to us.Can you imagine the row that there would be if the situation were reversed,Little Switzerland is not afraid of that row, Nestle' s is a Swiss company and they have just banned the production of Halal sausages-The food group Nestle decided Tuesday to suspend the production of halal brand Knacki Herta, for an indefinite period. "Further testing conducted at the end of production line, allowing us to assure our consumers that our products are 100% without pork, are not compatible with mass industrialization, explains Valérie Bignon, spokesman Nestlé Group.Hmmmm.....As a Christian i want to be informed on what i eat.Read the full story here.

• HT:allvoices.Sri Lanka maid kept as slave for 17 years in Saudi Arabia.The Sri Lanka Emabassy in Riyadh has rescued a lanka house maid that has been kept slave by her employer for 17 years , paying no salary and preventing her from communicating with her relatives back home. Local Saudi papers have reported that this is one of the many cases of notorious house maid market in Saudi Arabia .The maid , Kusuma Nandini, 56, came to Riyadh in 1994 from Sri Lanka and was kept in the house of her sponsor for 15 years before she was transferred to the house of the brother of the employer who kept her for another 2 years but paid her meagre salary.The case was discovered after the daughter of the maid who lives back home in Sri Lanka informed the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry that her family had not been in contact with her mother for 17 years.Sunil Wijesinghe, labor welfare officer at the Sri Lankan Embassy said that the case is being raised with the concerned Saudi authorities to release the maid and pay the outstanding salary of SR54,000.The report added that the maid does not have a passport or a residence permit to prove that she was working in the country. Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Obama's Czars In Trouble.President Obama’s unconstitutional czar-fest may come to a screeching halt now that the U.S. House has voted to block funding for the officials—many of them radical leftists—he assigned to run government without congressional approval. In all, the president has appointed 41 czars who have enormous power to regulate and control the American economy and government without any sort of oversight. The czars answer only to the president even though they manage crucial areas of national policy and that violates the constitutional system of checks and balances and its separation of powers, according to the longest serving U.S. Senator in history (Democrat Robert Byrd).Before passing away last summer Byrd, a nine-term senator who twice chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee, blasted the president’s czar appointments as unconstitutional and a clear attempt to evade congressional oversight. He referred to Obama’s “czar strategy” as an unprecedented power grab centralizing authority in the White House.Obama has appointed czars to oversee everything from healthcare to energy, science, terrorism, education, diversity, AIDS, Medicare, technology and cyberspace, among others. The president even assigned the family’s personal cook from Chicago (Sam Kass) to be Health Foods Czar. The Windy City gourmet chef's official title is actually “Senior Policy Adviser for Healthy Food Initiatives.”Although he’s an important administration wonk, Kass’s salary is excluded in the Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff because he’s considered “residence staff” and those salaries don’t need to be disclosed.Judicial Watch has been a frontrunner in probing Obama’s czars and has requested public records on all of them in an effort to reveal their actual mission and how much taxpayer money and government personnel they have at their disposal. As part of the ongoing investigation, last fall Judicial Watch uncovered U.S. Treasury Department documents that revealed “Pay Czar” Kenneth Feinberg got a six-figure salary to establish executive compensation at bailed out companies even though the administration said Feinberg was performing his duties for free. Czar compensation is a big issue because the House amendment (Sunset All Czars Act) that passed Thursday night defunds their offices and, as we all know, none of them are working pro bono. The measure passed 249-179 with the support of 13 Democrats. The Louisiana Republican who introduced it says its time to end Obama’s practice of creating a “shadow government" run by officials with cabinet-level powers who circumvent the accountability and scrutiny that comes with Senate confirmation required by the Constitution. Hmmmmm......."Behead the hydra one head at the time?"Read the full story here.