MFS - The Other News

                   Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 28. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Sirya live blog - March 28  here.(Al -Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan between 4.6 and 5.4 today. More info here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 63.On 27.03.2011 at 08:29 GMT+2.Source.

• Anne Frank museum moving in next door to mosque at Ground Zero.A museum dedicated to Holocaust victim Anne Frank is expected to move almost next door to the proposed controversial mosque at Ground Zero, it was revealed today.The Anne Frank Center is reported to be about to sign a lease in the 20-floor glass and steel tower at 100 Church St.The building's windows overlook Park 51, the planned 16-storey Muslim community centre and mosque at 45 park Place, just two blocks from Ground Zero.The non-profit making Anne Frank Center, which is partnered with the museum in Amsterdam, is currently housed in a loft in SoHo's Crosby Street.But the museum needs more room and last year advertised for larger premises so it could recreate the secret room where the Jewish teen wrote her famous diary.She remained hidden from the Nazis with her family in Amsterdam between 1942 and 1944 until her capture. She died in a concentration camp in 1945.Her museum commemorates her and highlights historical detail about the Holocaust and World War Two.The center is negotiating with SL Green Realty Corp to lease 2,500 square feet of ground-floor space with a rent as much as $50 a square foot.Julie Menin, chairwoman of Community Board 1, told the New York Post:: 'It's appropriate to have a mix of diverse organizations as a part of the lower Manhattan community. We want it to reflect the melting pot that is America.'There are already more than 20 houses of worship below Canal Street and 13 museums south of Chambers Street, according to the Downtown Alliance.Board members at the Anne Frank Center said they had no problem about a mosque so close to their proposed museum.The Post quoted Board member Hyman Enzer: ' We've been working very hard to find a new location that will be more accessible to our exhibits. I like the idea of the new location.'Two months ago, the new imam of Park 51, Abdallah Adhami, was fired after it was discovered that he preached that homosexuals were abused as children and that people who leave Islam should be jailed.Hmmmm.......The Lord works in mysterious ways. Read the full story here.

• Japan nuclear: Workers evacuated as radiation soars.Radioactivity in water at reactor 2 at the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant has reached 10 million times the usual level, company officials say.Workers trying to cool the reactor core to avoid a meltdown have been evacuated.Earlier, Japan's nuclear agency said that levels of radioactive iodine in the sea near the plant had risen to 1,850 times the usual level.The UN's nuclear agency has warned the crisis could go on for months.It is believed the radiation at Fukushima is coming from one of the reactors, but a specific leak has not been identified.Leaking water at reactor 2 has been measured at 1,000 millisieverts/hour - 10 million times higher than when the plant is operating normally."We are examining the cause of this, but no work is being done there because of the high level of radiation," said a spokesman for the plant's operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco)."High levels of caesium and other substances are being detected, which usually should not be found in reactor water. There is a high possibility that fuel rods are being damaged," the spokesman added.Tepco has been criticised for a lack of transparency and failing to provide information more promptly.The nation's nuclear agency said the operator of the Fukushima plant had made a number of mistakes, including worker clothing.Meanwhile, the Japanese government said that airbone radiation around the plant was decreasing.The plant was damaged in the deadly 11 March earthquake and tsunami.The death toll has now passed 10,000, and more than 17,440 people are missing. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has now sent extra teams to the Japanese nuclear plant.The radiation found in the sea will no longer be a risk after eight days because of iodine's half-life, officials say.Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.Radioactive Cesium With A Half-Life Of Approximately 30 Years Is Being Released At About 60 Percent Of Chernobyl Levels.Why does it seem as though the nuclear crisis in Japan just keeps getting worse with each passing day? TEPCO has announced that extremely radioactive water is now leaking from reactors 1, 2, and 3 at their damaged nuclear complex. On Thursday, three workers stepped into water in reactor 3 that contained 10,000 times the normal amount of radiation. Two of the workers experienced significant radiation burns and all three were sent to the hospital. Authorities have also announced that it is very likely that the containment vessel in reactor 3 has been breached. That is extremely alarming because reactor 3 is the one that uses plutonium-uranium mixed oxide fuel ("MOX fuel"). So is plutonium being released into the surrounding environment? That would be absolutely catastrophic. But what we know is happening already is quite catastrophic. According to a recent NewScientist article, radioactive iodine-131 is being released at 73% of the level that it was being released at during the Chernobyl disaster. But iodine-131 only has a half-life of about 8 days. According to that same article, radioactive cesium-137 is being released at 60% of the level that it was being released at during the Chernobyl disaster. Cesium-137 has a half-life of approximately 30 years. That means that all of this cesium is going to be with us for a very, very long time.Also, it is important to keep in mind that the Chernobyl disaster only burned for 10 days.The damaged reactors at Fukushima are still emitting radioactive material and will probably be for quite a while.In addition, the Fukushima complex contains a whopping 1760 tons of nuclear material.Chernobyl only contained 180 tons.So all those that are claiming that the Fukushima disaster could not possibly eclipse the Chernobyl disaster are completely delusional.Most of the media coverage about the radiation coming from Fukushima in recent days has focused on radioactive iodine, but the truth is that cesium may be the greater threat over the long-term.The recent article in NewScientist mentioned above described what happens when cesium and iodine enters the human body....Hmmmm....."Chernobyl revisited"?Read the full story here.

• HT:PatDollard.George Soros’s Media Matters Announces All-Out Campaign Of “Guerrilla Warfare And Sabotage” To Shut Down Dissent Against Obama And Left.The liberal group Media Matters has quietly transformed itself in preparation for what its founder, David Brock, described in an interview as an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel.The group, launched as a more traditional media critic, has all but abandoned its monitoring of newspapers and other television networks and is narrowing its focus to Fox and a handful of conservative websites, which its leaders view as political organizations and the “nerve center” of the conservative movement. The shift reflects the centrality of the cable channel to the contemporary conservative movement, as well as the loathing it inspires among liberals — not least among the donors who fund Media Matters’ staff of about 90, who are arrayed in neat ro in a giant war room above Massachusetts Avenue.“The strategy that we had had toward Fox was basically a strategy of containment,” said Brock, Media Matters’ chairman and founder and a former conservative journalist, adding that the group’s main aim had been to challenge the factual claims of the channel and to attempt to prevent them from reaching the mainstream media.The new strategy, he said, is a “war on Fox.”In an interview and a 2010 planning memo shared with POLITICO, Brock listed the fronts on which Media Matters — which he said is operating on a $10 million-plus annual budget — is working to chip away at Fox and its parent company, News Corp. They include its bread-and-butter distribution of embarrassing clips and attempts to rebut Fox points, as well as a series of under-the-radar tactics.Media Matters, Brock said, is assembling opposition research files not only on Fox’s top executives but on a series of midlevel officials. It has hired an activist who has led a successful campaign to press advertisers to avoid Glenn Beck’s show. The group is assembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with Fox to file lawsuits for defamation, invasion of privacy or other causes. And it has hired two experienced reporters, Joe Strupp and Alexander Zaitchik, to dig into Fox’s operation to help assemble a book on the network, due out in 2012 from Vintage/Anchor. (In the interest of full disclosure, Media Matters last month also issued a report criticizing “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy’s criticism of this reporter’s blog.)Brock said Media Matters also plans to run a broad campaign against Fox’s parent company, News Corp., an effort which most likely will involve opening a United Kingdom arm in London to attack the company’s interests there. The group hired an executive from MoveOn.org to work on developing campaigns among News Corp. shareholders and also is looking for ways to turn regulators in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere against the network.Read the full story here.

• OIC commends resolution on religious discrimination.JEDDAH: The UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a new resolution on the elimination of forms of discrimination and violence based on religious beliefs.The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents the Islamic group at the council participated in the March 24 discussion. The United States and the European Union too were represented.Informed sources in the OIC General Secretariat here said that the new resolution related to combating religious intolerance and negative stereotypes, stigmatization, discrimination, and incitement to violence, and violence against individuals based on religion and belief is not a substitute for an earlier resolution adopted by the UN on combating defamation of religions, which the Human Rights Council had adopted many times in the past several years.The sources stated that the new resolution is a qualitative breakthrough because it was adopted unanimously, adding, it gives the widest margin of freedom of expression, with the rejection of discrimination and incitement and stereotypes used by the other or against the symbols of the followers of religions.The sources emphasized that the OIC approved the new resolution from a position of strength, particularly after the adoption of the Human Rights Council resolution on defamation of religions over the past four years with a clear majority.However, the sources stressed that the issue of acceptance of the new resolution comes as a goodwill gesture by the organization in order to reach the necessary consensus, bridge the gap, and partner with the West in addressing the anti-Islam sentiments that prevailed in some Western communities toward Muslims.The new resolution came after the OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu proposed last year, a number of proposals on the possibility of reaching a common ground toward a solid platform for its adoption.According to informed sources, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had invited the OIC to lead, along with both Washington and the European Union, the efforts to draft a new resolution to ensure the foundations adopted by the previous resolution, giving a wider margin of freedom of expression.The sources confirmed at the same time that the decision regarding defamation of religions has not been abandoned.This is the most contentious of the resolutions, because in countries with strong protections on speech and other forms of expression, the idea that a religion can have the same defamation protections as living individuals is considered an affront to individual rights.Hmmmmm.......Seems i was right when saying"Why do i get a bad feeling" when hearing earlier this week that they abandoned their efforts on defamation of religions.Read the full story here.

• HT:TheRubinReport.Why Moderate Arabs Are Horrified at Obama Administration Policy.By Barry RubinI've seen a lot in media expressing the views of the Gulf Arab states and officials' statements--not all of them public, and not to mention similar expressions from Turkish and Iranian oppositionists--expressing horror and shock at Obama Administration Middle East policy. Remember, al-Jazira is NOT typical, as it is run by Islamists and follows the pro-Iran line of its owner, the Qatari government.In this article in al-Sharq al-Awsat (translated by MEMRI), a Saudi-controlled but also relatively liberal newspaper, Tariq al-Homayed, the chief editor, expresses the combination of shock and horror at the Obama Administration. The conflict was hot over Egypt and even hotter over Bahrain, where the Saudis want the current regime to survive and U.S. officials have criticized Saudi intervention.Indeed, he complains, the statements coming from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sound "more like what we'd expect to hear from the Iranian foreign minister." The "contradictory statements coming out of Washington have become more than merely perplexing; they are also suspicious."Why suspicious? Because it isn't clear whether the U.S. government is more concerned about stopping revolutionary Islamism or undermining those who oppose it, more interested in containing Iran or letting Tehran's influence spread, supporting moderate Arab countries or overthrowing their regimes.The editor accuses U.S. policy of ignoring Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen and Iranian statements claiming Bahrain. (Reminds me of how Iraq used to claim Kuwait and that was ignored until 1990, when Iraq invaded and annexed that country.)How, he asks, can U.S. policymakers complain when the Gulf Cooperation Council states intervene in Bahrain--according to previous agreements--and then demanding that these countries support intervention in Libya?The fears of relatively moderate Arabs (and Turks and Iranians) that they are getting thrown under bus are not merely imaginery at all. For example, the New York Times had an article March 17 with the following headline: "Interests of Saudi Arabia and Iran Collide, With the U.S. in the Middle."Now, of course, one understands what this means in linguistic terms. Yet the headline is amazingly revealing. Yes, the Saudis, not the United States, are now carrying on the main battle against the spread of Iranian influence and revolutionary Islamism. Of course, they cannot sustain this burden long without U.S. support.Which raises the question: What's the United States doing in the "middle" between Iran and Saudi Arabia! It should be backing the Saudis against Iran. Indeed, it should be leading the anti-Islamist coalition!To be fair, the Obama Administration is putting early-warning stations into Saudi Arabia for the day when Iran has nuclear-tipped missiles. The Reagan Doctrine (is that still in force?) commits the United States to protect Saudi Arabia from an overt Iranian military attack.Yet the headline is true. The current U.S. government is essentially neutral between the two sides. Sort of like a headline from 1941 reading, "Interests of Nazi Germany and Britain Collide, With the U.S. in the Middle."Saudi Arabia isn't exactly like Britain under Winston Churchill but it is now on the front-line against the greatest threat of our time. U.S. policy already mishandled Iran in the 1970s and, more recently, the Obama Administration has watched Lebanon fall, Turkey's government change sides, and Egypt jump ship.Yes, with this administration being in the "middle" is the best-case analysis. At worst, it's on the wrong side altogether.Hmmmm...."They don't trust me because of my middle name"?What's the deal between Obama - Erdogan and Ahmadinejad?Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Ayers affirms he wrote Dreams from my Father.Last Thursday evening at Montclair State University, with a video camera rolling, Bill Ayers volunteered that yes indeed he had written the acclaimed Barack Obama memoir, Dreams from My Father.Unprompted, Ayers also noted that while Dreams deserves its praise, Obama's second opus, Audacity of Hope, is "more of a political hack book."Not surprisingly, Ayers retreated into irony as he ended the session. "Yeah, yeah," he said after confirming again that he wrote Dreams, "And if you help me prove it, I'll split the royalties with you. Thank you very much."With his final comment, the Ayers-friendly audience laughed in relief. The media will laugh nervously upon seeing the video as well. The White House will not.Barack Obama knows what I know and what the people who have read my book, "Deconstructing Obama," know: Bill Ayers is the principal craftsman behind Dreams. The evidence is overwhelming.Ayers also established, as I have contended from the beginning, that he is not the author of Audacity of Hope. Although Obama claims unique authorship of this book too, it was, as Ayers suggests, a disingenuous feint to the center written by committee.Worse for Obama still, Ayers knows that the story he and Obama contrived in Dreams is false in many key details. The fact that Donald Trump has proved willing to challenge that story has got to make the White House even more apprehensive.As was obvious in his speech at Montclair, Ayers does not like the application of force in Libya, and this may have been his own way of retaliating. Consider it a shot across Obama's bow. The White House will.Hmmmm........Is there anything real about this 'president'?Read the full story here.

• No US military action in Syria for now : Clinton,'Certainly' deplores the violence in Syria, but says no.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said the United States currently has no intention of launching a military intervention in Syria, despite its brutal crackdown that has left dozens of protesters dead.Asked on CBS television's "Face the Nation" program if Washington is planning military action similar to that launched in Libya, Clinton answered that it is not."No, each of these situations is unique," she responded."Certainly we deplore the violence in Syria," she said. "We call as we have on all of these governments during this period of the Arab awakening, as some have called it, to be responding to their people's needs -- not to engage in violence, permit peaceful protests and begin a process of economic and political reform."She said, however, that if an international coalition, with the authority of a UN Security Council resolution, offered "universal" condemnation of Syria, military intervention would be possible."But that is not going to happen because I don't think it is yet clear what will occur, what will unfold," she said, noting differences between Syria's suppression of protests and the crackdown in Egypt."What's been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning, but there's a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities, than police actions which frankly have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see," she said.Her remarks came after more than 30 people were confirmed killed in a spiral of violence that has gripped Syria since a wave of protests broke out on March 15, with demonstrators demanding reform.Hmmmmm......While NATO 'ally' Turkey's Erdogan has a friendly chat with Assad?Read the full story here.

• HT:Debka.To survive, Assad must contain majority Sunni unrest before it infects army.The protest against Bashar Assad’s regime is swelling. From its first epicenter in the southern town of Deraa it spread Friday, March 25, to new cities, Homs, Aleppo, Latakia and parts of Damascus. It has quickly attained the scale unforeseen by the regime of a popular uprising by the majority Sunni population (74 percent) against Allawite-dominated (15 percent) rule.Army troops gunned the protesters down in what witnesses described as a massacre of scores and hundreds injured, raising calls from the opposition for international intervention.The number of dead and injured cannot be reliably determined. debkafile’s intelligence sources report that special Syrian security clean-up units removed the bodies as they fell.The authorities were caught unawares by the upsurge of street rallies that followed preachers’ sermons in hundreds of Sunni mosques calling on their congregations to go out and drive the Assads and the minority Allawite sect from power. The Syrian secret service missed the Muslim Brotherhood’s hand in organizing this mass street eruption. The strongest rallying cry came from the influential radical Egyptian television preacher Yussuf Qaradawi who called on Syria’s Sunni community to stand up for its rights as a majority.Because the army’s 4th Division commanded by Bashar’s brother Maher Assad, the only unit to be manned by Allawites, is tied down in suppressing riots in the southern town of Deraa and most of the troops in all other units are Sunnis, Assad is short of trusted contingents to defend his regime. He figured that fresh outbreaks in Deraa would inflame the rest of the country and therefore kept the 4th Division in place.The tipping point for the 11-year old Assad regime (which followed the one his father established after a military coup) is therefore not far off unless he makes the right decision or receives outside help.He can either opt for the Qaddafi option, for instance, or follow the example of the King of Bahrain.From the outset of the Libya revolt in February, Muammar Qaddafi opted for abandoning the east and focusing his military effort on preserving his centers of power in Tripoli and its outlying towns. After stabilizing his rule, he planned to set out and wrest the rest of the country from the rebels opposing his regime.So far, his gamble has succeeded. The rebels backed by international forces have not unseated him.Will Assad decide after Friday that he has enough loyal military strength to buttress his rule over all of Syria, or choose to pull in his horns and concentrate on saving Damascus?Since much of his army is unreliable, the Syrian ruler may have to opt for the Bahrain remedy - namely, calling for outside help as did King Hamid al Khalifa who asked Riyadh for Saudi forces to prop up his throne against a Shiite-led uprising.The allies who come to mind in the case of Assad are Iran, the Lebanese Hizballah, pro-Iranian Palestinian groups with bases in Damascus - Hamas, Jihad Islami and Ahmad Jibril’s Popular Palestinian Front-General Command.It would take Tehran no more than a few hours to fly Revolutionary Guards units into Damascus. An Iranian command structure is already positioned at Syrian armed forces headquarters in Damascus. Also available to Tehran is an Iraqi Shiite militia, the Mehdi Army of the radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, a good personal friend both of Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah and Assad. Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Facebook May Hire Robert Gibbs, Former Obama Aide.Facebook is in talks to hire Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former White House press secretary, for a senior role in helping to manage the company’s communications, people briefed on the negotiations said.Facebook is seeking out Mr. Gibbs ahead of an initial public offering planned for early 2012, these people said.The talks are still at an early stage and no formal offer has been made, these people said, adding it remained possible that the discussions could collapse.Mr. Gibbs, who left the White House in February after two years on the job, had been planning to help establish President Obama’s re-election campaign before taking a private sector job, these people said.Facebook, however, is pressing Mr. Gibbs to consider the job more quickly, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were supposed to remain confidential.A job for Mr. Gibbs at Facebook could be worth millions of dollars. While details of his potential compensation package have yet to be discussed, people briefed on the talks said that he would receive a cash salary as well as shares ahead of the initial offering. Facebook is being valued by some investors at more than $60 billion and could be the largest offering in history.In recent weeks, Mr. Gibbs has consulted several of his former White House colleagues about whether he should take the job, including David Axelrod, President Obama’s former senior adviser, who is helping to head a re-election team, these people said.Mr. Gibbs and a spokesman for Facebook declined to comment.Facebook has also become a focus of Washington as lawmakers and regulators grapple with online privacy issues and Internet security. Facebook has already stepped up its lobbying efforts in Washington, which have included discussions with the Federal Trade Commission, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Defense Intelligence Agency.Hmmmm........Lots of potential voters and identities there?Read the full story here.

• OIC to ‘send’ strong condemnation.Desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida.NEW YORK – Reposing complete confidence in Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, the OIC decided that the Ambassador of Pakistan along with Ambassadors of Tajiskistan (OIC chair), Morocco (OIC Coordinator for Human Rights), Iran and Egypt would meet with the UN Secretary General to convey OIC’s strong condemnation and ask him to take the lead towards promoting inter-faith harmony. It was decided in OIC ambassadorial meeting which convened here the other day to discuss the recent desecration of the Holy Quran in Florida last week. The meeting approved the proposals of Ambassador Haroon and his Iranian counterpart that OIC Chair and Observer Mission will draft a strong condemnatory letter on behalf of OIC with the assistance of Pakistan and Morocco to be sent to the UN Secretary General, President UN General Assembly, High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) with the request to circulate it as an official document. The meeting also decided that Ambassador Haroon would be the focal person to brief the media on the subject. Reiterating the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari's clear expression of sentiments of the people and extreme provocation and seriousness of the issue, and his call to the United Nations to take immediate action on the subject, Ambassador Haroon the first Speaker from the member states voiced strong condemnation of this sacrilegious act. He assured that Pakistan would continue playing its active and constructive role in promoting inter-faith harmony and peaceful co-existence. On March 22, Ambassador Haroon had written a letter to the UN Secretary General, where he drawn UN attention towards this despicable act of desecration of the Holy Quran by Wayne Sapp and Terry Jones in Florida. The Ambassador urged the United Nations to play its important role in ensuring peace and harmony among peoples of the world. He said Pakistan has full confidence in the UN's leadership and hoped that it would take all steps to fight such tendencies and promote intercultural and inter-faith harmony that is basic to coexistence of mankind. Recalling Pakistan’s initiative on Interfaith Dialogue and participation in the Alliance of Civilization, Ambassador Haroon stated that Pakistan has always stood for promoting peace and harmony among people and nations of the world.Hmmmmm......I'm sure all the Christians and Ahmadis charged with 'Blasphemy' can vouch for that Mr Ambassador? Read the full story here.

• HT:ChristianPost.Growing Intolerance for Christianity in U.S."In a world of political correctness devoid of the rule of law, tolerance has come to mean total rejection of Christianity and moral standards. Modern tolerance redefines words like 'marriage,' 'discrimination,' 'equality,' 'morality,' and even 'absolutes.' The word 'tolerance' as it is used today never includes opposing arguments or competing worldviews. Tolerance has become Orwellian and decidedly intolerant." – Matthew Staver, Dean and Professor of Law at Liberty University School of Law.A few examples of recent intolerance for Christianity:

The Supreme court determining to exclude anyone who prays in Jesus name from a rotation of officials who open city business meetings

The removal of US military Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt, over the issue of praying in Jesus Name

UCLA’s prohibiting a graduating student from thanking her “Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” in her graduation speech

Colleges making special accommodations for foot baths and Muslim only prayer rooms, while a Muslim group membership may be suspended or revoked for 57 reasons including but not limited to: unbecoming behavior, insubordination, or inactivity; but denying Christian groups campus recognition “because it requires its officers and voting members to agree with its Christian beliefs"

A San Diego elementary school created an extra recess period to allow 100 Muslim students to pray, while a federal judge upheld a Knoxville, Ky., jury’s decision that a public school could prohibit its 5th grade Christian students from studying and discussing their Bibles during recess

 Christians in America have to tolerate the defamation of their holiest images in national museums, including particularly provocative, offensive acts defined as "artwork," some receiving taxpayer-funded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. On the other hand, several college editors who cited freedom of speech when republishing anti-Muslim cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper, were fired or disciplined because they were offensive to Muslim students

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (Los Angeles) requested an investigation of the desecration of a Quran, Islam's revealed text, as a hate crime. Conversely, when Palestinians tore up Bibles for toilet paper (May 15, 2002, The Washington Times) there was no outrage, and after a church in the U.S. saved and held fundraisers to afford the cost of buying and shipping requested Bibles in the Pashto and Dari language to an American sergeant in Afghanistan, the Bibles were confiscated, thrown away, and burned. The only official comment about burning the Bibles was this one, by a Defense Department spokesman, “Troops in war zones are required to "burn their trash."These incidents have raised several questions that Brannon Howse, author and founder of Worldview Weekend, agreed to answer:

CP: Would you consider these examples of intolerance shocking or unexpected?

Howse: Not at all. Jesus said all nations will hate you. If you are a Bible-minded believer such persecution should not be uncommon or a surprise,” he stated, quoting 2 Timothy 3:12 “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

CP: Are you saying everyday Christians, students, business people, and homemakers as well as clergy should be expecting bias, intolerance or hostility in all areas of life including civil government, education, economics, public policy, and family?

Howse: Actually, if an individual who claims to be a Christian is not experiencing intolerance or persecution – being called names, belittled, marginalized, or characterized because you stand for sound theology – you should examine yourself to make sure you are a Christian.Hmmmm......"I will stand with my Muslim brothers"?When did he go to Church the last time?Read the full story here.

• WOLF: Loudest Obamacare cheerleader wants out.New York’s Rep. Anthony Weiner wants a ‘get out of jail free’ card.Becoming the most hypocritical politician in America is not an easy goal to achieve, but New York’s Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat, is up to the task.Earlier this year, the Obama administration began rewarding its union friends and others with an escape from the clutches of Obamacare. Now one of the most outspoken Obamacare supporters - the man who actually said, “I wrote the bill … the bill and I are one” wants his own “get out of jail free” card from this abominable law.Moments of unmistakable clarity may not always find their way to the president’s teleprompter, but occasionally, the curtains are pulled back on “the most open and transparent [administration] in history” to reveal what its footsoldiers think of their own law. This conflict between politicians’ words and deeds is nothing new, of course, nor is the selective enforcement of bad laws.Fast-forward four years, and the community organizer in the White House evidently has had his own moment of clarity about the unholy health care law that bears his name. Obamacare is already leaving a trail of destruction. Despite promises to the contrary, Mr. Obama’s own Medicare chief actuary estimates that up to 20 million Americans may lose their current health insurance. Despite promises to the contrary, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates Obamacare will destroy 800,000 jobs. Despite promises to the contrary, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently admitted cooking the books by double-counting $500 billion toward both Medicare savings and Obamacare implementation funds and admitted that a major program within Obamacare, the CLASS Act, is - in her words - “totally unsustainable.” As a direct result of this government takeover, many insurance companies already have been forced to raise their premiums or drop out of the Medicare Advantage program, while others no longer offer policies for children, and still others have simply closed their doors.So how does the White House respond to this unraveling? With more waivers. HHS acknowledges issuing 1,040 “get out of jail free” cards to unions and other friends. Five states have been graced with their very own Obamacare waivers, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee and, newest pampered friend, Maine. Why Maine? According to the administration, Obamacare “has a reasonable likelihood of destabilizing the Maine individual health insurance market.”If you happen to live in one of the other 45 states, don’t worry. The same administration that predicted its $787 billion so-called “stimulus” spending spree would keep unemployment below 8 percent predicts that you’ll be just fine.Hmmmm.......Lets just call it 'waiver care' a.k.a. "MOB care"?Read the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.Who Is The Real 'Reich Wing'?A favorite pejorative used by the progressive left is 'Reich Wing', designed to tar conservatives as Nazi-like extremists. Notwithstanding its nature as a premature violation of Godwin's Law, the term implies a certain set of characteristics presumably endemic to conservatives.But let's examine those attributes to see if they have merit.On the Constitution.While conservatives advocate for fidelity and loyalty to the United States Constitution, the progressive left purposefully evades it. The term that is used is "living and breathing", which simply means that the left can morph the nation's highest law into whatever it wishes.Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan outlined the progressive's perspective in a 1993 tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall. She quoted from a 1987 speech Marshall in which he said the Constitution as originally conceived and drafted was "defective" and that the mission of the Supreme Courtwas to “show a special solicitude for the despised and the disadvantaged.”In other words, the Constitution could be "adjusted" to benefit certain parties at the expense of others -- certainly a far cry from the image of justice as a blindfolded seer weighing the merits of two arguments.In 1933 Adolf Hitler subverted Germany's Weimar Constitution using subterfuge and pretext to eradicate civil rights.Less than a month after Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, suspending several constitutional protections on civil rights. The articles affected were 114 (habeas corpus), 115 (inviolability of residence), 117 (correspondence privacy), 118 (freedom of expression /censorship), 123 (assembly), 124 (associations), and 153 (expropriation).Who abuses the Constitution for crass partisan purposes? Who despises free speech and attempts to censor legitimate public opinion? Who rallies around a figure portrayed as some sort of messianic savior? Who uses uniformed thugs to intimidate lawmakers and taxpayers?We all know who the "Reich Wing" is: it is today's far left Democrats that are now so radicalized even Communists are surprised.Hmmmmm......Seems i'm not the only one comparing this regime to Hitlers Nazi Germany?Read the full story here.

• Argentinean FM's Israel visit may be cancelled.Argentinean FM's Israel visit may be cancelled .Foreign Ministry considers cancelling Hector Timerman's visit to Israel next week following report suggesting Argentina offered Iran to suspend its probe into 1990s terror attacks.Israel is considering cancelling the visit of Argentinean Foreign Minister Hector Timerman in Israel following a report suggesting Argentina told Iran it would suspend it investigation of the 1990's terror attacks on Jewish community centers to boost trade ties. Iran is suspected of being behind the attacks. Timerman's visit is scheduled to take place next week. The Foreign Ministry, however is considering cancelling it if the Argentine weekly Perfil's report turns out to be true. It was reported Saturday that the Argentina hopes to increase the trade volume with Islamic Republic, which is currently estimated at $1.2 billion a year.The Foreign Ministry has been checking the veracity of the report with Argentinean elements and Israeli envoys in South America. It has yet to be corroborated."We are waiting for a statement from the Argentinean Foreign Ministry," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yigal Talmor told Ynet. "If this turns out to be true, we will consider it desecration of the memory of the dead, but we await an official response before we made a stand." Minister Timerman has Jewish connection. His father, a Jewish journalist and left-wing activist, was jailed by the military junta in Argentina and was released after Israeli diplomatic efforts. He made aliya in the early 1980s but returned to Argentina after the government change. He was known as a fierce critic of Israeli policies.Hmmmmm.......sounds like a Obama fan to me.Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Syrian Protesters Claim to Have Captured Five Iranian Revolutionary Guards.Syrian Protesters Capture Five from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.Syrian sources announced that residents of the city of Dara'a were able to capture five elements of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards who participated in suppressing the peaceful demonstrations protesting the regime of Bashar al-Asad in Syria, alongside with elements form Hezbollah and Syrian security forces, according to what was reported by the website "Beirut Observer." The sources stated: "Residents of Dara'a are holding the five elements in a secret location, and contacted one of the satellite television stations, believe to be al-Jazeera, in order to communicate with them to show the video tape of the prisoners. However, they were surprised half an hour later by Syrian security forces, who demolished the house of one of those who was contacting the satellite station." The sources pointed out that, "The Iranian prisoners confessed that each element receives the sum of one million Syrian lira monthly from the Syrian authorities in exchange for participating in suppressing the protesters." The sources also stated: "The Syrian security forces are sweeping the city of Dara'a to find those elements before the residents are able to show the video tape and expose the Syrian regime." Previous news reports spoke of Mahir al-Asad, the brother of Bashar al-Asad, entering the Syrian city of Dara'a accompanied by 5,000 elements from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, supported by the Fourth Division of the Syrian Army, which was stationed outside the city.Read the full story here.

• HT:AsiaNews.Two Christians killed, churches burned: extremists respond to Florida Koran burning.Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Two believers killed, churches attacked, copies of the Bible burned: the Christian community in Pakistan is once again the victim of violence by Islamic fundamentalists, who have targeted places of worship in the country. The extremist violence was triggered by the insane act - repeatedly condemned by Christians in Pakistan and India – of the pastor Wayne Sapp, who last March 20, in Florida burned a Koran under the supervision of the evangelical preacher Terry Jones. The escalating violence has raised alarm over the fate of Asia Bibi, a symbol of the abuses committed in the name of the blasphemy law. The bishop of Islamabad / Rawalpindi defines the US pastor a "fanatic" who encourages followers to a "violent ideology", the consequences of which have an impact "on innocent Christians" across the world.On March 25, a mob of Islamic extremists attacked a Pentecostal church in Hyderabad, killing two Christians and burning some copies of the Bible. Eyewitnesses said that the fundamentalists stormed the place of worship looking to set it on fire, but a group of believers defended the church. Security forces have fled the scene, leaving those present at the mercy of the crowd. The attackers hurled anti-Christian slogans and a feeling of anger toward the religious minority has spread. in the city The pastor of the church reports that "despite the condemnation of the burning of the Koran" the community "has come under attack because they think that we are linked to the Americans." He emphasizes that "we are Pakistanis, who were born in this land and we do not have any kind of relationship with the United States." "What fault did those two innocent people have – he ends - who were not Americans, but only Pakistani Christians?".In a second incident, the Full Gospel Assembly Church, in the Badami Bagh area of Lahore, was attacked. Again fundamentalists burned the church, threw copies of the Bible into the street and accused the Christians of blasphemy, claiming they found pieces of the Koran, not far from the church. During the attack some security guards were injured.Meanwhile, the weekend demonstrations were repeated against the burning of the Koran wanted by Pastor Terry Jones in different cities of Pakistan - among other Peshawar, Lahore and Islamabad. The demonstrators, who burned his picture and chanted slogans and chants against the United States, called for the death of U.S. preacher. Extremists also threatened reprisals and other targeted attacks against Christians, if the U.S. government fails to take action against Pastor Jones.Read the full story here.

• Islamic Jihad: Israel renewing aggression.Terrorist group's spokesman accuses Israel of renewing strikes on Gaza in order to undermine agreements between Palestinian factions. Meanwhile, Knesset Defense Committee members meet with council heads, who complain about Iron Dome's deployment in Beersheba alone. Israel is renewing its aggression towards the Gaza Strip in order to undermine agreements struck between the Palestinian factions, the Islamic Jihad claimed Sunday. The group said two of its members were killed in an IDF strike earlier on Sunday.Meanwhile, members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee met southern council heads in Beersheba, who complained their residents were not being provided with the same protection as in Beersheba, where the Iron Dome system was deployed Sunday. Sderot Mayor David Buskila complained the government was prioritizing Beersheba over Sderot which has been dealing with the rocket threat for many years. "The army didn't launch Operation Cast Lead over us, but over Beersheba and Ashdod." Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin welcomed the deployment of the Iron Dome and expressed hope the system will also be deployed outside Beersheba. He warned that should the rocket fire continue beyond Sunday, missiles will reach Rishon Lezion, Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Ra'anana. Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovich said that continued rocket fire targeting the city was unacceptable. "When there's war, there's war, but one cannot continue daily life when a missile lands. No country in the world would accept this, and Israel cannot either. "We cannot live with uncertainty and gamble our residents' lives away. We all understand the cost of another operation, but if there's no choice – then there's no choice." Hmmmm......"The best defence is the attack".Read the full story here.