MFS - The Other News

                      Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 20. Here .(AlJazeera)And here (BBC). Latest here.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world ,lots of seismic activity globally today! More info here.

• Updated : The wind directions over Japan. Here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 51.On 21.03.2011 at 09:52 GMT+2
  
  Grayish smoke was seen billowing from a building that houses the No. 3 reactor of the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station on Monday, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. After the smoke was spotted at the southeast of the building around 3:55 p.m., TEPCO said it had temporarily evacuated its workers from the site as it assessed the situation. The amount of smoke later decreased, TEPCO added. Following a magnitude 9.0 quake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, cooling functions of the No. 3 reactor were lost and its core is believed to have partially melted. At present, coolant water is pumped into the reactor and a pool for spent nuclear fuel. The roof and upper walls of the building that houses the No. 3 reactor were blown off by a hydrogen explosion last week. On Sunday, pressure in the No. 3 reactor's containment vessel temporarily rose, but it later stabilized.
  
  
  Situation Update No. 50. On 21.03.2011 at 07:00 GMT+2
  
  The pressure in reactor three of the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant is going up and experts are debating releasing it by opening the valves. Opening the valves, however, would lead to increased radiation. Reactor three sustained the worst damage from the devastating 9 point on the Richter scale earthquake and 10-meter tsunami that hit Japan on March 11. Meanwhile, power was restored to the least damaged reactors five and six and they are stable. Before that the two reactors were powered by emergency diesel generators. Engineers are also fighting to cool the overheating reactor two and restart its temperature and pressure control functions along with the system of air filtration which will stop radioactive materials from reaching the control room and will improve the work environment inside. Experts further say the water that soaked in the dirt during attempts to cool the reactors in not that much to make it radioactive. Thousands of tons of water were poured on reactors three and four during the cooling effort.
  
  Situation Update No. 49. On 20.03.2011 at 17:44 GMT+2
  
  The No. 5 and No. 6 reactors at the quake-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant went into stable condition on Sunday, after a successful cold shutdown, reported on Sunday. The reactors at the power plant, whose nuclear reactor buildings were crippled after being hit by the catastrophic quake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, went into cold shutdown following restoration of cooling functions late Saturday.Source.

• HT: Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Japan - What is in the cloud?We see then that Strontium 89, with a known rate of radioactivity – 27,800 curies per gram (Glassone and US ADTSR) is released into the biosphere if the noble gas krypton 89 is permitted at any time to vent from a nuclear reactor. And we know this occurs because US NCR monitoring data of emissions from US nuclear reactors operating normally confirm its presence. In amounts officially treated as “trace amounts.” We have seen the Englishman Dr Grimes respond to a direct question from Tony Jones on ABC Lateline. What is in the Fukushma plume? Grimes lists 2 fission products. To state what is in cloud requires an explanation as to how the contents lifted.One cannot determine the cloud contents without accounting for the modes of release and modes of lift. So, though I believe a full range of fuel and fission products from the reactor fuel rods (operational and stored) to be present as hot particle flecks in the cloud, I need to proof with which to contradict Grimes. We know that there were fires among the fuel rods. But the reactors generate krypton only during fission. They have been shut down for days. However, as I have previously reported, Canadian TV has reported the presence of Iodine, Krypton and Xenon in a reactor. Pressure release was postponed to prevent radioactive release. It is not too late to calcium boost the diets in the affected areas as a protective measure. There has been over a week of delay. Obviously the use of contaminated milk, the big mistake of the atomic weapons test era, is out. Use imported milk, milk powder or calcium tablets. That is my opinion. For what it is worth. That’s all I wanted to say. I strongly believe that Dr Grimes is incorrect in his assertion that only Iodine and Cesium are present in the Fukushima cloud.Not medical doctors. Dr Grimes was simply asked what the composition of the Fukushima plume was in respect to radioactive content. There are over 250 radioactive substances in fuel rods subjected to fission. Dr Grimes came up with a list of 2. He might be right and over a series of posts I have submitted that there might be more than that.Where’s Alice Stewart when she’s needed? Long passed. She lives on in her papers and books, which undermine the currently taught positions on radiological safety.“Dr Alice Mary Stewart (née Naish) (4 October 1906–3 June 2002) was a physician and epidemiologist specialising in social medicine and the effects of radiation on health. Her study of radiation-induced illness among workers at the Hanford plutonium production plant, Washington, is frequently cited by those who seek to demonstrate that even very low doses of radiation cause substantial hazard.”1 gram strontium 89 = 27,800 curies. How much is in the cloud?The radio ecology course at Imperial sounds interesting.Hmmmm......Chernobyl revisited?Read the full story here.

• Workers Removed From Japanese Nuclear Plant As Smoke Rises.Fukushima, Japan (AP) - Plant operators evacuated workers from Japan's tsunami-stricken nuclear complex Monday after gray smoke rose from one of its reactor units, the latest of persistent troubles in stabilizing the complex after it was damaged in a quake and tsunami.Smoke rising from the spent fuel storage pool of the plant's Unit 3 prompted the evacuation, Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Hiroshi Aizawa said. The problem-plagued Unit 3 also alarmed plant officials over the weekend with a sudden surge of pressure in its reactor core.The toll of Japan's triple disaster came into clearer focus Monday after police estimates showed more than 18,000 people died in the quake and tsunami, and the World Bank said rebuilding may cost $235 billion.The safety of food and water was of particular concern. The government halted shipments of spinach from one area and raw milk from another near the nuclear plant after tests found iodine exceeded safety limits. But the contamination spread to spinach in three other prefectures and to more vegetables -- canola and chrysanthemum greens. Tokyo's tap water, where iodine turned up Friday, now has cesium. Rain and dust are also tainted.The disasters have displaced another 452,000, who are living in shelters.Read the full story here.

• “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.”— Senator Barack Hussein Obama, December 20, 2007.The constitutional law professor has had a convenient change of mind.

Barack Obama’s QA

1. Does the president have inherent powers under the Constitution to conduct surveillance for national security purposes without judicial warrants, regardless of federal statutes?

The Supreme Court has never held that the president has such powers. As president, I will follow existing law, and when it comes to U.S. citizens and residents, I will only authorize surveillance for national security purposes consistent with FISA and other federal statutes.

2.In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? (Specifically, what about the strategic bombing of suspected nuclear sites — a situation that does not involve stopping an IMMINENT threat?)

The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.

As Commander-in-Chief, the President does have a duty to protect and defend the United States. In instances of self-defense, the President would be within his constitutional authority to act before advising Congress or seeking its consent. History has shown us time and again, however, that military action is most successful when it is authorized and supported by the Legislative branch. It is always preferable to have the informed consent of Congress prior to any military action.

As for the specific question about bombing suspected nuclear sites, I recently introduced S.J. Res. 23, which states in part that “any offensive military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly authorized by Congress.” The recent NIE tells us that Iran in 2003 halted its effort to design a nuclear weapon. While this does not mean that Iran is no longer a threat to the United States or its allies, it does give us time to conduct aggressive and principled personal diplomacy aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

3.Does the Constitution empower the president to disregard a congressional statute limiting the deployment of troops — either by capping the number of troops that may be deployed to a particular country or by setting minimum home-stays between deployments? In other words, is that level of deployment management beyond the constitutional power of Congress to regulate?

No, the President does not have that power. To date, several Congresses have imposed limitations on the number of US troops deployed in a given situation. As President, I will not assert a constitutional authority to deploy troops in a manner contrary to an express limit imposed by Congress and adopted into law.

4.Under what circumstances, if any, would you sign a bill into law but also issue a signing statement reserving a constitutional right to bypass the law?

Signing statements have been used by presidents of both parties, dating back to Andrew Jackson. While it is legitimate for a president to issue a signing statement to clarify his understanding of ambiguous provisions of statutes and to explain his view of how he intends to faithfully execute the law, it is a clear abuse of power to use such statements as a license to evade laws that the president does not like or as an end-run around provisions designed to foster accountability.

I will not use signing statements to nullify or undermine congressional instructions as enacted into law. The problem with this administration is that it has attached signing statements to legislation in an effort to change the meaning of the legislation, to avoid enforcing certain provisions of the legislation that the President does not like, and to raise implausible or dubious constitutional objections to the legislation. The fact that President Bush has issued signing statements to challenge over 1100 laws — more than any president in history — is a clear abuse of this prerogative. No one doubts that it is appropriate to use signing statements to protect a president’s constitutional prerogatives; unfortunately, the Bush Administration has gone much further than that.Hmmm......Dictatorship or Democracy?Can we start the impeachment procedure now?Read the full story here.

• NATO approves plan to enforce Libya arms embargo. NATO's top decision-making body approved late Sunday a military plan to implement the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, but failed to agree on a plan for the alliance to enforce the no-fly zone over this north African country,after NATO traitor Turkey vetoed No fly zone!NATO's top decision-making body approved late Sunday a military plan to implement the U.N. arms embargo on Libya, but failed to agree on a plan for the alliance to enforce the no-fly zone over this north African country.Diplomats said Turkey's opposition to any NATO intervention in Libya stalled the approval of plans to launch aerial patrols over Libya to prevent the government air force from attacking civilian targets, which were drawn up by NATO's military staff.Both actions will require a separate "execute directive" by the North Atlantic Council, which requires the consensus of all 28 alliance members. Diplomats said this could be issued on Tuesday at the earliest.NATO members France, Britain and the United States have been carrying out strikes on Libyan targets since Saturday. But they have acted as individual nations rather than members of the alliance.Hmmmm.....One more proof that NATO can't count on Turkey GET TURKEY OUT OF NATO NOW! Their allegiance is to the Koran!Read the full story here.

• ContentionsTurkey Vetoes NATO No-Fly Over Libya.While not in the English-language press yet, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s prime minister, has announced that under no circumstance would Turkey allow NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. Erdoğan has traditionally been a fan of Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi and just a few months ago accepted the Qaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. Erdoğan’s actions now suggest that his selection was $250,000 well spent by the Libyan strongman.Given Turkey’s secret war games with China, its nuclear defense of Iran, the fact that perhaps as many Turks are fighting against us in Afghanistan as are fighting for us, and now Erdoğan’s funny business with Qaddafi, it may be time to cast aside the increasingly surreal discussion about whether Turkey belongs in the European Union and focus instead on whether Turkey belongs in NATO.Hmmm....I've been saying this for the last 11 months!Read the full treason story here.

• [ANALYSIS] US military takes lead on Libya but for how long? WASHINGTON -- A wary US military, stretched thin by almost a decade of war, hardly wanted to be the face of another coalition strike on another Arab nation. But just hours after US warships and submarines launched a massive volley of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libya, the big question at the Pentagon was not whether the United States was effectively in the lead but when it might hand over the reins to an ally.Yes, French warplanes made the first, initial strikes in Libya. Indeed, British forces also were involved and a British submarine joined the United States in launching cruise missiles at the Libyan coast. But the Pentagon acknowledged the strike on Libya -- the biggest military intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 invasion of Iraq -- was being spearheaded initially by the United States.”We are on the leading edge of coalition operations, where the United States, under Gen. [Carter] Ham in Africa Command, is in charge. He’s in command of this at this point,” said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the US military’s Joint Staff. But Gortney cautioned that “in the coming days we intend to transition it to a coalition command.” So far the coalition also includes Britain, Italy, France and Canada. Qatar said it will participate and other Arab allies are expected to join.Mission creep in Libya is not an option for the United States. It faces a tough fight in Afghanistan, is still winding down in Iraq and is engaged in a massive relief mission in earthquake-hit Japan. Arab nations in North Africa and the Gulf face unprecedented unrest.Some of the Tomahawk missiles used in Saturday’s strike were far more advanced than necessary to evade Gadaffi’s defenses, including the ability to “loiter” in the air before being instructed to their final target. That capability was not utilized in the strike on Libya. “In this particular mission we used [the new missiles]just as one of the older Tomahawks,” Gortney said. Soon the US military aims to send in advanced drone aircraft -- the Global Hawk -- to provide some of the battlefield imaging commanders are accustomed to. Retired Army Lieutenant General James Dubik, a former top US commander in Iraq, is skeptical of the mission but acknowledged the United States had some abilities crucial for the fight.“We have some unique [surveillance and intelligence-gathering] capabilities and some unique anti-radar capabilities and of course we are the lead nation in the world with respect to Tomahawk missiles,” he said. Still, Dubik asked whether a no-fly zone would be sufficient to really protect civilians. What about Gaddafi’s militias -- a question asked by many in Washington.“I understand the moral desire, the moral legitimacy, but I’m unconvinced at this point that the strategic aim can be actually achieved with the means selected [a no-fly zone],” he said.Hmmmm.......Especially with this 'vacationer-in-chief in command.Read the full story here.HT:WZ.

• HT:BigPeace.The Gaddafi Precedent.There are many reasons to be worried about the bridge-leap the Obama Administration has just undertaken in its war with Muamar Gaddafi. How it will all end is just one of them.What I find particularly concerning is the prospect that what we might call the Qaddafi Precedent will be used in the not-to-distant future to justify and threaten the use of U.S. military forces against an American ally: Israel.Here’s how such a seemingly impossible scenario might eventuate:

It begins with the Palestinian Authority seeking a UN Security Council resolution that would recognize its unilateral declaration of statehood. The U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, one of the prime-movers behind the resolution that authorized the use of force against Gaddafi and a vehement critic of Israel, urges that the United States abstain, rather than veto the Palestinians’ gambit. She is joined in that recommendation by a kindred spirit at the Obama National Security Council, Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs Samantha Power, and by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose unalloyed sympathy for the Palestinian cause dates back at least to her days as First Lady.

This resolution enjoys the support of the other four veto-wielding Security Council members – Russia, China, Britain and France – as well as the all of the other non-permanent members except India, which joins the United States in abstaining. As a result, it is adopted with overwhelming support from what is known as the “international community.”

Suddenly, substantial numbers of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli citizens are on the wrong side of internationally recognized borders. The Palestinian Authority (PA) insists on its longstanding position: Its state must be (to use Hitler’s term for ethnic cleansing) judenrein – requiring the removal of all Jews from the sovereign territory of Palestine. And, thanks to the international affirmation of the so-called 1967 borders, the PA’s Mahmoud Abbas and Company need no longer accede to one of the anticipated solutions of the “peace process,” i.e., the relinquishing by Israel of territory in the Negev, so as to accommodate the permanent presence of Jewish communities (a.k.a. “settlements”) on land claimed by the Palestinians.

For its part, Israel refuses to evacuate the oft-condemned “settlements” on Palestinian land or to remove the IDF personnel, checkpoints and facilities it rightly sees as vital to protecting their inhabitants and, for that matter, the Jewish State itself.Turkey, which is technically still a NATO ally despite its ever-more-aggressive embrace of Islamism, joins forces with Britain and France, applaud this initiative in the interest of promoting “peace.” They call on the UN Security Council to authorize such steps as might be necessary to enforce the Arab League’s bidding.

Once again, Team Obama’s leading ladies – Mesdames Clinton, Power and Rice – align to support the “will of the international community.” They exemplify, and are prepared to enforce, the President’s willingness to subordinate U.S. sovereignty to the dictates of transnationalism and his hostility towards Israel. They appeal to his sense of history and his oft-expressed sympathy for the Palestinian right to a homeland to trump his political advisors’ concerns about alienating Jewish voters on the eve of the 2012 election.Accordingly, hard as it may be to believe given the United States’ longstanding role as Israel’s principal ally and protector, Mr. Obama acts, in accordance with the Gaddafi Precedent. He warns Israel that it must immediately take steps to dismantle its presence inside the internationally recognized State of Palestine lest it face U.S.-enabled “coalition” military measures aimed at neutralizing IDF forces on the West Bank – and beyond, if necessary – in order to fulfill the will of the international community.For one thing, the mere fact that the United States is no longer seen as guaranteeing Israel’s security would probably prove a sufficient inducement to war for those like Iran, Syria, Hezbollah’s Lebanon and Hamas’ Gaza itching to finish the job of eliminating the hated “Zionist entity” in their midst. The same might well prove to be the case for other states in the region if, as seems likely, the Muslim Brotherhood fills yawning vacuums of power in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen and possibly Saudi Arabia and Libya.

How much more irresistible would such temptation be if the United States were actually raining down cruise missiles on Israeli targets in the West Bank, as it has done on Libyan ones at the behest of the Arab League and UN Security Council? Suffice it to say, Israel’s back would surely be against the wall in short order, facing the sort of existential threat it has not known since 1973 and that most Israelis only expected to eventuate when the Iranian mullahs at last got the Bomb. Under such circumstances, we must expect that Israel would employ its own nuclear forces, with devastating and unknowable consequences.

Needless to say, I hope the Gaddafi Precedent 1.0 will work out better than seems likely to be the case in Libya. Even more importantly, I am praying that Barack Obama and his anti-Israel troika of female advisors will not take us all down a road that seems ripe for another, ominous application of this precedent, with truly horrific repercussions – for Israel, for the United States and for freedom-loving people elsewhere. A Congress that was effectively sidelined by Team Obama in the current crisis had better engage fully, decisively and quickly if it is to head off such a disastrous reprise.Hmmmm........Every day a step closer to Hitler's dictatorship, history repeats itself unless you learn from it!Read the full story here.

• HT:NewZeal.Biden to Union Socialists: You Keep "Barbarians from the Gate".If you have any doubt at all that the Obama Administration is siding with the labor unions, listen to Vice President Joe Biden on an AFL-CIO phone call March 16, 2011.Hmmmmm..........Hitler's 1934?Read the full story here.

• Nation of Islam fundraising: Selective enforcement or protected speech?Eighteen-year Las Vegas police officer Laurie Bisch keeps running for sheriff against her boss, Doug Gillespie. She says her independent attitude sometimes makes her feel "like a woman without a country" when she goes to work -- though officers have been known to approach her in private and thank her for raising issues others fear to confront.A few weeks ago, she responded to a call: A driver had complained some men were out in the street at the corner of Rancho Drive and Charleston Boulevard, aggressively soliciting funds from motorists and blocking traffic when the light changed.She drove there, asked the three men whether they had a permit to be in the street aggressively selling their Nation of Islam newspapers to motorists stopped at the red light, determined they had no permit and wrote them citations for violating NRS 484B.297, which specifies: "A person shall not stand in a highway to solicit ... any business from the driver or any occupant of a vehicle. A person shall not, without a permit ... solicit any contribution from the driver or any occupant of a vehicle."While Bisch was writing her citations, the three men did not seem chagrined, she reports. They were laughing. Indeed, while she was there, her cell phone rang. It was an officer from her station house, informing her "there's a deal" under which members of the Nation of Islam are not cited for selling their newspapers, nor for soliciting and collecting funds from vehicles stopped in the streets at red lights.Bisch issued the tickets anyway.Later, she says, "I was told 'This is political. We don't mess with them,' and 'When it comes to the Nation of Islam guys, we have a hands-off policy.' " Bisch says one of her superiors explained that when there are crimes in predominantly black West Las Vegas, members of the Nation of Islam step in and help police solve them.Bisch says she asked for an example, but her superior could not immediately provide one.In addition, Bisch says she was told there was no sense issuing the tickets to members of the Nation of Islam because Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic wouldn't prosecute them.She called that office, identified herself and asked if all this were true. She says Assistant City Attorney Ben Little told her if she were the only officer ticketing these aggressive panhandlers, who appear to all be black men, her actions might be interpreted as racist.Hmmmm.....Why does this remind me of the new black panters case?Read the full story here.

• Public Megillah reading held at Iranian mission to the UN.By: Fern Sidman."Ahmadinejad: Remember What Happened to Haman" was one of the many signs held aloft on Sunday afternoon, March 20th, as close to 500 Jews gathered on Purim day for a public reading of Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther) that was held outside the Iranian mission to the United Nations on Manhattan's east side. Organized by Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI), Amcha - the Coalition for Jewish Concerns, Z Street and the Jewish Political Education Council, the reading was held as a symbolic representation of the indefatigable nature of the Jewish people and G-d's intervention in their survival throughout the millenium."Purim is a day that we celebrate the survival of the Jewish people against evil rulers who sought our complete annihilation in the city of Shushan in Persia. In every generation the names of our oppressors and their countries of origin may change, but they are driven by one common denominator and that is visceral hatred of the Jew", intoned Larry Domnitch, a freelance writer and designated reader of the megillah."Today we will read about the plans for mass extermination of the Jewish people designed by the prototypes of evil, namely Achashveirosh and Haman. We are gathered here today to remind the modern day Haman who resides in Iran named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that we will not be silent while he creates his plans to "wipe Israel off the map". As in the days of Queen Esther, we will raise our voices to G-d, seeking His divine intervention and we will boldly speak out against a regime that is not only a nemesis to Israel but to the entire free world," he added.Glenn Richter, long time Jewish activist and former leader of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, introduced the leaders of the sponsoring organizations as the crowd held specially made Purim groggers with the face of Ahmadinejad and a red line cancelling it out, along with other signs and Israeli flags. "The Obama administration is willfully deluding itself by touting the line that the source of all the problems in the Middle East is due to Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria", he declared. "It is clear that the source of anti-Western and anti-Israel terrorism today emanates from Iran; the very same government that sought to destroy us centuries ago", he added.Sending a strong message to President Obama, Rabbi Avi Weiss of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale declared, "When you weaken Israel, you weaken the United States. When the United States ambassador to the United Nations states that Jewish settlements are illegal you create an atmosphere in which the gruesome murders of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar can take place", he intoned.Hmmm.....The source of the world wide hatred towards the Jews right now is the Obama speech in Cairo and his frequent "Islam is a great relgion" declarations.Why do you think Obama doesn't speak up to Iran,if he were pro Israel?Read the full story here.

• HT:DaledAmos.Obama Adviser Publicly Applauds CAIR.The four pieces of evidence the government relies on, as discussed below, do create at least a prima facie case as to CAIR’s involvement in a conspiracy to support Hamas; however, even if the proverbial “cat was let out of the bag” at trial, there is an ongoing injury that will persist as long as the public has ready access to the Government’s list of unindicted co-conspirators.U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis, July 1, 2009Not if Valerie Jarrett has anything to say about it!The Daily Caller writes that senior advisor and assistant to Obama, Valerie Jarrett, thanked CAIR publicly for doing such a great job:White House officials have applauded advocacy efforts by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, even though top FBI managers refuse to meet its leaders, the council has been judged by courts to have been associated with the Islamic terror group Hamas, and several of its employees and members have been jailed or expelled for jihadi-related terrorist offenses since 2001.CAIR was publicly applauded at a Mar. 10 White House event by Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement, for its work with MTV to counter “bullying.” “Bullying can be prevented if we all take action,” said Jarrett, as she cited the MTV project, and named CAIR as a partner.Apparently, Jarret thinks that one way of handling bullying is to associate with the bullies--“There’s no controversy,” said Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR’s press secretary. To advance CAIR’s causes, including “cyber-bullying,” he said, “we do what we think is necessary…what other people do is up to them.” [emphasis added]Very reassuring.CAIR is connected with Hamas through its director, Nihad Awad, who was a co-founder in 1994 of the Islamic Association for Palestine. Documents subsequently presented in court by the federal government showed the IAP was the U.S. propaganda and advocacy arm of Hamas, according to data provided by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, founded by journalist Steve Emerson. In turn, the IAP was one element of a larger circle of organizations founded by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood.You can view a copy of Judge Solis's ruling here.All this of course is meaningless to the Obama administration.Apparently with all the unrest in the Middle East, the Obama administration is finished kowtowing to Muslim dictators there and is now concentrating on honoring the local variety.Hmmmm....."They don't trust me because of my middle name?"Read the full treason story here.

• Petrobras told it can use deep-water vessel in Gulf.Petrobras has received final approval to operate the Gulf of Mexico's first floating production, storage and offloading vessel, clearing the way for the Brazilian oil giant to start pumping oil from two deep-water fields, federal regulators said Thursday. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement took the "final regulatory step" in green-lighting the project, with the approval of a production safety system permit and a supplemental deep-water operating plan, the bureau said in a statement.The floating production, storage and offloading vessel, or FPSO, has a daily production capacity of 80,000 barrels of oil and 16 million cubic feet of natural gas. The ocean energy bureau said with the latest approvals, production at the Cascade and Chinook deep-water fields is expected to begin soon. The fields are in more than 8,000 feet of water about 165 miles off Louisiana, in an area called Walker Ridge.After missing previous targets, Petrobras officials said in January that production at Cascade-Chinook was set to begin by the end of March. A spokesman in the company's Houston office said Thursday he was still studying the government approval and could not yet say how it may affect the project's timeline.Hmmm.....If he wanted to destroy the American industry would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Sarah Palin visits Western Wall.Controversial Republican politician lands in Israel, tours Jerusalem area, plans dinner with PM. Meanwhile Ynet learns Obama may also visit this summer.The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, landed in Ben-Gurion airport on Sunday afternoon for her first ever visit to Israel."As the world confronts sweeping changes and new realities, I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the key issues facing his country, our ally Israel," Palin said in a statement.Meanwhile Ynet has learned that US President Barack Obama may be planning a visit to Israel as well, this summer.The visit may be scheduled to coincide with the Israeli Presidential Conference, which is set to take place June 20-23, with the participation of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. No official confirmation has been given for the report.Rabinovitch mentioned that Palin shared her views on United States-Israel relations, saying she believes there are no disagreements between the two countries. She also voiced her "absolute" support of Israel. "We're happy to accommodate Jews and non-Jews visiting the Western Wall. You could feel Palin's love towards the people of Israel and her great interest in the story of Purim," said Rabinovitch. Palin has come here for a shot visit in preparation for a longer official visit planned for later in the year. She is expected to tour the Jerusalem area, have dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and meet politicians from the Likud Party and the right-wing as well as officials in the Christian community.Hmmmmm....Obama ....visiting Israel....but is Israel ready for this,cause wherever he go's revolution and unrest follows.Read the full story here.

• IDF to track foreign anti-Israel groups.New section in Military Intelligence Directorate to collect data, passively probe groups from overseas, Gaza, West Bank aiming to delegitimize Israel.Israel's Military Intelligence has launched a new section that will be responsible of tracking foreign organizations located overseas, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which aim to delegitimize the State of Israel.The IDF was planning to form the new section, inside the Research Department, headed by an officer in the rank of a major, prior to the Gaza-bound flotilla last may, with the intention of collecting information on the Turkish group that organized the sail.The new section will not track Israeli leftist organizations such as Breaking the Silence and Machsom Watch, which regularly criticize the IDF and government policies, and will not engage in active investigations or summon interrogees to Israel.Instead, the division will be responsible for collecting information and continuously supervising the organizations, while conducting passive investigations.Read the full story here.

• Journalists in Turkey march again for colleagues' freedom.Journalists’ associations in Turkey have again taken to the streets of the capital amid growing concerns about the deterioration of press freedom.Approximately 2,000 journalists assembled in downtown Ankara and marched to Kızılay Square to protest the detention of their colleagues and call on the government to uphold its promises for more democracy.With 68 journalists currently in prison, Turkey has one of the worst press freedom records in the world, İpekçi said, calling on officials not to see reporters as potential criminals.“Freedom of the press will totally be abolished if journalists are counted as members of a terrorist organization because of their journalistic activities,” he said, demanding that the arrested journalists be released pending trial.“Release them in the name of law, of universal principles and values, of reason and of conscience,” İpekçi said.In simultaneous public statements in Ankara, Istanbul and İzmir on Friday, four professional organizations criticized the oppressive policies of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP.With the motto “Now is not the time to remain silent but to speak louder,” the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK, the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions, or DISK, the Turkish Engineers' and Architects' Chambers, or TMMOB, and the Turkish Doctors Union, or TTB, also criticized the recent arrests of journalists in a common public statement in Sakarya, Ankara, Taksim Square in Istanbul and in Konak, İzmir.Hmmmm.....Turkey 'the worst human rights violator'and Obama's best friend.Read the full story here.

• Turkey searches second Syrian-bound Iranian plane within days.An Iranian cargo plane en route to Syria was forced to land in Turkey’s southeastern Diyarbakir Airport for an inspection, several news reports said on Sunday. The plane, a civilian Ilyushin, landed on Saturday night on the orders of Turkish authorities, and military fighter planes were on standby in case the plane refused to comply, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing security forces. Diplomatic sources at the Foreign Ministry in Ankara did not confirm or deny the reports when approached by Today’s Zaman on Sunday afternoon.An inspection of the plane is ongoing to check whether the aircraft has any illicit or military material on board, security sources added, according to AFP.A UN Security Council resolution bans the supply, trade or transfer of any arms and related material from Iran to all states. Any transfer and procurement of weapons from Iran is a breach of international obligations under a UN resolution.The search at Diyarbakır Airport came only days after a cargo plane from Iran was required to land in Turkey so its shipment could be searched. Officials said it was a standard procedure that has nothing to do with UN Security Council sanctions on the neighboring country. The Iranian plane, which was heading from Tehran to Aleppo, Syria, landed at Diyarbakır Airport on Tuesday night. The Chemical, Biological, Radiologic and Nuclear (KBRN) team of the Diyarbakır Civil Defense, Search and Rescue Directorate also joined the search on Wednesday. The plane was allowed to continue its flight after it was determined there was “no extraordinary situation,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Selçuk Ünal said on Wednesday. In the past, Turkey has conducted similar searches of Iranian planes. Two of those incidents took place consecutively in July and August 2006, when the Turkish Foreign Ministry forced two Syria-bound Iranian planes to land at Diyarbakır Airport and to submit to a search for rockets and other military equipment during the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. At the time, a Turkish official had said those were not the only planes that were forced to land.Hmmmm.....Two checked one hundred unchecked?Read the full story here.

• Iran launches fighter jet squadron: report.TEHRAN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian commander said Saturday that Iran's Air Force has launched a squadron of domestically- built Saeqheh (Thunderbolt) fighter jets, the English language satellite Press TV reported."The production of this kind of aircraft has been developing at high speed, and a squadron of these fighter jets has been launched, " Deputy Commander for Operations of Iran's Air Force General Mohammad Alavi was quoted as saying.The experts have managed to mass-produce the fighter jets which were outfitted with revamped equipment and well prepared to defend the skies of the country, Alavi said according to the report.He said that the Islamic Republic has also produced ultra-heavy bombs with huge tonnage and high destructive capabilities, said the report.These bombs are also capable of pinpointing objects, he added.On Saturday, Iran announced that several types of Iranian Air Force fighter jets will take part in an aerial parade in the next two weeks but it did not specify where the parade would be held.Source.

• UN Women’s Rights Commission Singles Out Israel for Condemnation, Ignores Iran.This is reaching the level of self-caricature. No sooner does Iran get a seat on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women than it uses it with tragicomic predictability:[The] U.N. policy-making body dedicated to “gender equality and the advancement of women” adopted a resolution accusing Israel of holding back the advancement of Palestinian women, but it took no action on the emergency in Libya or the legally enshrined discrimination faced by women in Iran. The only country-specific resolution passed by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at its recent session in New York was one condemning Israel over the Palestinian issue.Iranian prison guards rape female dissidents before executing them, lest their victims go to heaven as virgins. Iranian men get to avail themselves of temporary marriages, de facto legalizing the institutionalized slavery and rape of prepubescent girls. Iranian women are consigned to the backs of buses, have to shroud their bodies from head to toe, and can’t wear anything bright or shiny.That’s just what’s happening in a single CSW member state.The greater hypocrisy is what was ignored globally so that the Commission could spend time demonizing Israel. It’s not necessary to belabor the second-class status that women are consigned to throughout the Muslim world, except maybe to note two things that diverge from the quotidian misery.Hmmmm......The UN has become the perfect example of the inmates running the asylum ,with Iran on board on the women rights commission nothing else could be expected.Read the full story here.

• Saudi had one divorce every 30 minutes in 2010.Nearly a fifth of the marriages in Saudi Arabia last year ended up in divorce, an average of one divorce case every half an hour, official data showed Monday.Total marriages in the world’s dominant oil supplier stood at 90,983 in 2010 of which 18,765 ended up in divorce, showed the figures by the marriage court in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah.“This means that there was one divorce case every half an hour in the Kingdom last year,” said Sheikh Saad Al Gamdi, an adviser at the court.“It is time for authorities to force any couple seeking marriage to undergo a training course before marriage…this system has been enforced in some countries and it has contributed to a large decline in divorce cases…the high divorce rate in Saudi Arabia illustrates a large gap in the concept of marriage and divorce,” he said, quoted by the Saudi daily Sabq.Sheikh Gamdi also called for deducting children allowances from the father’s monthly salary in case of a divorce and transferring them to a special account allocated for those children to ease the burden on divorced mothers.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Russian Ground Forces Commander: Our Weapons Suck.General Alexander Postnikov, who is commander of the Russian ground forces, announced in Pravda that Russia weapons are inferior to both US weapons and those made by China. ”The combat vehicle arsenal, artillery systems and small arms produced by the domestic defense industry fall behind NATO and even Chinese arms,” he said.He said the Russian T-90 tank was awful, and was “a 17th modification of the Soviet T-72 tank produced since 1973.” He would rather purchase German Leopard tanks from Germany, Postnikov said.This won’t go down well with the Kremlin. More than 80 countries around the world buy Russian arms, noted Pravda. Not what you would call a great endorsement.Hmmmm.....One one way ticket to Siberia coming up.Read the full story here

• HT:SheikYermami.Belgium: the Will of Allah & the Dirty Tricks of the Islamic Community Organizers.Belgium’s Constitutional Court has ruled that the official Flemish Community schools network has the right to decide for itself whether the Moslem headscarf or other religious symbols may be worn in their schools.Read the full story here.