MFS - The Other News

                   Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 29. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Sirya live blog - March 29  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. 65.On 29.03.2011 at 03:30 GMT+2
Highly toxic plutonium is seeping from the damaged nuclear power plant in Japan's tsunami disaster zone into the soil outside, officials said Tuesday, heightening concerns about the expanding spread of radiation. Plutonium was detected at several spots outside the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant — the first confirmed presence of the dangerously radioactive substance, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said. There are strong indications some of the radioactivity is coming from damaged nuclear fuel rods, a worrying development in the race to bring the power plant under control, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday. "The situation is very grave," Edano told reporters. "We are doing our utmost efforts to contain the damage." Officials said the traces of plutonium posed no immediate threat to public health. But the latest finding appeared to feed government frustration with TEPCO, which has failed to stem the crisis more than two weeks after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant. The failure to keep radioactive substances from seeping out of the facility was "deplorable," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency. The government is considering temporarily nationalizing the troubled nuclear plant operator, Japan's top-selling daily Yomiuri said Tuesday, quoting unnamed government sources. The huge tsunami spawned by the earthquake destroyed the power systems needed to cool the nuclear fuel rods in the complex, 140 miles (220 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Since then, three of the complex's six reactors are believed to have partially melted down, and emergency crews have struggled with everything from malfunctioning pumps to dangerous spikes in radiation that have forced temporary evacuations of workers. Residents within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius of the plant have been urged to leave or stay indoors. Confusion at the plant has intensified fears that the nuclear crisis will continue for months or even years amid alarms over radiation making its way into produce, raw milk and even tap water as far away as Tokyo. The troubles have eclipsed Pennsylvania's 1979 crisis at Three Mile Island, when a partial meltdown raised fears of widespread radiation release. But it is still well short of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which killed at least 31 people with radiation sickness, raised long-term cancer rates and spewed radiation across much of the northern hemisphere. While parts of the Japanese plant have been reconnected to the power grid, contaminated water found in numerous places around the complex, including the basements of several buildings, must be pumped out before electricity can be restored to the cooling system. The contaminated water has been emitting radiation exposure more than four times the amount the government considers safe for workers. That has left officials struggling with two sometimes-contradictory efforts: pumping in water to keep the fuel rods cool and pumping out — and then safely storing — contaminated water. Nishiyama called it "very delicate work." He said workers were still looking for safe ways to store the radioactive water. Experts are also trying to pinpoint the exact source of the radioactive water. Many now suspect it is cooling water that has leaked from one of the disabled reactors. Meanwhile, new readings showed ocean contamination had spread about a mile (1.6 kilometers) farther north of the nuclear site than before, but was still within the evacuation zone. Radioactive iodine-131 was discovered offshore at a level 1,150 times higher than normal, NISA said. Closer to the plant, radioactivity in seawater tested about 1,250 times higher than normal last week and climbed to 1,850 times normal over the weekend. Of the five soil samples showing plutonium, two appeared to be coming from leaking reactors while the rest were likely the result of years of nuclear tests that left trace amounts of plutonium in many places around the world, TEPCO said. Plutonium is a heavy element that doesn't readily combine with other elements, so it is less likely to spread than some of the lighter, more volatile radioactive materials detected around the site, such as the radioactive forms of cesium and iodine. "The relative toxicity of plutonium is much higher than that of iodine or cesium but the chance of people getting a dose of it is much lower," says Robert Henkin, professor emeritus of radiology at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine. "Plutonium just sits there and is a nasty actor." When plutonium decays, it emits what is known as an alpha particle, a relatively big particle that carries a lot of energy. When an alpha particle hits body tissue, it can damage the DNA of a cell and lead to a cancer-causing mutation. Plutonium also breaks down very slowly, so it remains dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years. "If you inhale it, it's there and it stays there forever," said Alan Lockwood, a professor of Neurology and Nuclear Medicine at the University at Buffalo and a member of the board of directors of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an advocacy group. The nuclear crisis has complicated the government's ability to address the humanitarian situation facing hundreds of thousands left homeless by the magnitude-9.0 quake and tsunami. The final death toll is expected to top 18,000. Gregory Jaczko, head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, arrived in Tokyo on Monday to meet with Japanese officials and discuss the situation. "The unprecedented challenge before us remains serious, and our best experts remain fully engaged to help Japan," Jaczko was quoted as saying in a U.S. Embassy statement. Source .

• HT:PaulLangley'sNuclearHistoryBlog.Robert Gale and Armand Hammer. Forget about eating Cake, let them drink I131.I’ll drink radioactive water, says nuclear safety adviser.AN international medical specialist on radiation has played down the risks to human health of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.Robert Gale, who led the medical response to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, backed the current 20km evacuation zone as “arbitrary but reasonable” and said he was happy to drink iodine-contaminated water even beyond the 300 becquerel per kilogram limit set by the Japanese.“We live with radioactive water all the time,” Professor Gale said in Tokyo yesterday.“Would I stop drinking water in Tokyo or take any special precautions? Absolutely not. These limits are arbitrary. They’re meant to protect the most sensitive members of the population. They accept very low levels of risk.”News that tapwater in parts of Tokyo and other affected prefectures last week rose above the 100 becquerel per litre limit of iodine 131, caused by fallout from the nuclear plant, sparked panic buying of bottled water supplies Professor Gale, who is advising the Japanese government on the Fukushima crisis, said that to prevent alarm, it needed to give better context to the information it was releasing on radiation levels.“I don’t think proper attention has been given by any government – not only by the Japanese government – to the transmission of information to the public as to what these radiation hazards mean,” he said.The professor criticised foreign governments for imposing different exclusion zones to those ordered by Japan. The US imposed an 80km evacuation zone for its nationals, a move that was soon followed by Britain, Australia and other countries.They wheel out this guy to “normalise” fission products in water in Japan. Occidental Petroleum to the rescue. The guy is having a peak experience from his glory days at Chernoby. Meanwhle, I’m waiting for Bobby Scott to bob up. Dr Gale is at least a doctor. Unlike most the dudes making pronouncements. We do live with background radiation all the time. We do not live with radionuclides from the fission process though.How much dioxin is a safe limit? Are you happy its there, one might ask that area in Italy that was subjected to a bulk dioxin leak. And there’s more a connection between radionuclides in the biosphere and dioxin than one might first think.Yep, Japan is in the “normalisation” phase. (I do not mean to imply that Dr Gale does not believe what he is saying, Question is, should we parrot him without thinking? ) However, one doesn’t have to try very hard to encounter the thought that this is “Occidental Petroleum to the Rescue” of the political status quo in Japan. Cake? Who eats cake? Let them drink iodine. Gale’s about to drop dead from old age anyway. What about the young ones?Ok, I’ll just take a minute or two to toggle out of conspiracy mode and will resume normal transmissions shortly…….

If there is a conspiracy it in part consists of this: The government seeks to govern, and it cannot do that if it hasno credibility or if the people cease to agree to being governed. Dr Gale is engaged by the Japanese government.His role in this instance is not to treat people affected by radiation. His role is self evidently to “normalise” the presence of emitted fission radio nuclides (nuclear pollution) in the Japanese biosphere. In this instance, Radio Iodine in drinking water. Its now reduced in comparion to “background” radiation. This is down from the comparison of Fukushima pollution = 1 chest x ray. Yay, the government is still governing and its telling the people “No worries, Old Coot Gale would drink it. And he’s famous.So should you.” They might be right, they might be wrong. Depends. Anyway, in my opinion, “normalisation” is the key word.Hmmmm.....The good old Chernobyl strategy, where radioactive clouds went out of their way to avoid densely populated areas?Read the full story here.

• Egypt's Mubarak 'under house arrest'.Military council denies ousted leader has fled to Saudi Arabia and says emergency laws will be lifted ahead of vote.Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's ousted president, has been put under house arrest along with his family, according to an Egyptian military statement.Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Monday said that the former leader and his family would not be allowed to leave the country and denied reports that Mubarak had fled to Saudi Arabia."There is no truth to reports that former president Hosni Mubarak has left Egypt for Tabuk in Saudi Arabia," the council said in a statement on the social networking site Facebook."He is under house arrest, with his family, in Egypt."The military council took power on February 11 after Mubarak was pushed from office following 18 days of massive street protests against his 30-year rule.Egypt's prosecutor general on March 3 denied media reports that Mubarak was in Saudi Arabia, insisting that he was at his family home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.Media reports suggested that Mubarak had gone to Tabuk to receive medical treatment, with the state-owned daily Al-Akhbar claiming Mubarak was receiving medical treatment for cancer.Hmmmm......Thank you for the 'Change' president Obama?Read the full story here.

• HT:Althouse."Did you notice Obama kept using the words 'hope' and 'change' in the address on military action in Libya?"That's an IM from my son Chris. Here's the text of the speech. 4 "hope"s. 9 "change"s.What Meade noticed was the failure to talk about Congress. Searching the text, I see he said Congress once:[N]ine days ago, after consulting the bipartisan leadership of Congress, I authorized military action to stop the killing and enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1973.So... the leadership. Who, exactly? Boehner and Reid?What I noticed was the implicit disrespect for George Bush:In this effort, the United States has not acted alone....When did we act alone? Is he trying to make us misremember what Bush did? To brush aside America's responsibility as a leader and — more profoundly — our responsibilities to our fellow human beings under such circumstances would have been a betrayal of who we are. Some nations may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities in other countries. The United States of America is different. And as President, I refused to wait for the images of slaughter and mass graves before taking action.Hmmmm......Forgive me if i'm wrong but was he blind during the butchering of Iranian students?Aiding Al-qaida in Libya...YES, stopping Iran Israels deadliest enemy ....NO, how much more hypocrite can you be?Read the full 'story' here.

• The Senate is the Next Battlefield in the Campaign to Undo the FCC’s Net Neutrality Power Grab.There has been a bit of a lull in the push to undo the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s obnoxious December 21st Internet takeover – executed so that they could then impose Network Neutrality.This stillness is understandable, given the avenues that need to be traveled to reverse this autocratic absurdity. Going through Congress and the courts takes some time, and will result in some pauses along the way.But the efforts to reverse the FCC’s terrible move do continue unabated, if intermittently.The biggest impediment to reversing the FCC remains – the FCC. And that’s intentional.As we have previously noted, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has now waited more than three months – and counting – to file his Net Neutrality order with the federal registry.So as to better hinder the lawsuits and legislation seeking to undo it.The longer the Chairman drags his feet on this Oh-So-Vitally-and-Imminently-Important Net Neutrality order, the less likely it becomes that the D.C. Circuit will be able to hear the case(s).So by stalling, the Chairman is callously venue shopping – and ducking a court in which he knows he will most likely lose.Thus far, there are two litigants (Verizon and Metro PCS) languishing – awaiting the long overdue action of Chairman Genachowski. More would perhaps have already filed – but they are probably also waiting on the Chairman.While these multiple litigations sit in Chairman-consigned limbo, the Congressional moves to undo press forward.After an historic 2010 election in which the American people demonstrably and overwhelmingly voted for smaller, more accountable government – of which the FCC Internet power grab is in direct violation – pressure must be put on these Democrat Senators regarding the Net Neutrality CR.Will they vote with their Party – or their constituents? They must be forced to choose – so that We the People may properly choose our Senators in 2012.And so we might protect ourselves and our Internet from an autocratic, overreaching FCC.Read the full story here.

• U.S. Military Deploys Attack Planes to Strike Ground Forces in Libya.The U.S. military dramatically stepped up its assault on Libyan government ground forces this weekend, launching its first attacks with AC-130 flying gunships and A-10 attack aircraft, which are designed to strike enemy ground troops and supply convoys, according to senior U.S. military officials.Their use, during several days of heavy fighting in which the momentum seemed to swing in favor of the rebels, demonstrated how allied military forces have been drawn deeper into the chaotic fight in Libya.A mission that initially seemed to revolve around establishing a no-fly zone has become focused on halting advances by ground forces in and around Libya’s key coastal cities.The AC-130s, which fly low and slow over the battlefield and are typically more vulnerable to enemy fire than fast-moving fighter jets, were deployed only after a week of sustained coalition attacks on Libyan government air defenses and radar.Armed with heavy machine guns and cannons that rake the ground, they allow strikes on dug-in Libyan ground forces and convoys in closer proximity to civilians.Their use in Libya could be “a significant game changer,” said a senior military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.Hmmmm......Al-qaida cheering all over Afghanistan and Yemen?Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.Obama's U.N. Debacle.President Obama's decision to place the United Nations at the center of his foreign policy took another hit Friday as the U.N. Human Rights Council ended its latest session in Geneva. One of the president's primary justifications for joining the notorious council shortly after he assumed office was its mandatory five-year review process; if the U.S. was a member, the administration claimed, it could influence this process. The process, which quietly unfolded in back rooms in Geneva over the past six months, has been exposed to be a total fraud, taking the administration's cover down with it.Starting last fall, the Obama team was a very active participant in a working group of the council that had been set up to tackle reform. At the end of February, the working group produced a document summarizing its decisions, and on Friday the council passed a resolution adopting that document by consensus -- that is, without a vote. Regardless of the fact that every serious recommendation of the United States was rejected, Obama's diplomats refused to call for a vote on the resolution so that they could vote against it.They did play a little game intended to fool uninformed listeners by claiming to "dissociate" the administration from the resolution. However, since the resolution has been adopted by consensus, it will proceed unimpeded to the General Assembly, where it will be rubber-stamped. The U.S. could not have stopped the resolution, but an American vote against the measure would have been a major blow to the credibility of the Human Rights Council. It also would have set up the U.S. to leave the council as a logical consequence of the failure to reform it.The slap in the face to President Obama is painfully clear from a short list of American demands for reform and the council's responses.The council has an official, permanent agenda that governs all its meetings and consists of only ten items. One of those items is reserved for condemning Israel, and another is assigned to human rights in the other 191 U.N. member states. This session, for instance, produced six resolutions condemning Israel, one resolution each on four other states, and nothing at all on the remaining 187 countries. The American delegation huffed and puffed that this obvious discrimination -- which characterizes every meeting of the council -- must come to an end, and proposed that the two agenda items be rolled into one. The proposal was rejected.The American delegation proposed creating easier trigger mechanisms for convening special sessions on specific countries when serious human-rights concerns arise. The proposal was rejected.The result leaves the administration with two choices. Choice number one: Admit the fiasco. Refuse to lend legitimacy to a highly discriminatory agency designed to help members such as Saudi Arabia, China, and Cuba concealrigger mechanisms for convening special sessions on specific countries when serious human-rights concerns arise. The proposal was rejected.The result leaves the administration with two choices. Choice number one: Admit the fiasco. Refuse to lend legitimacy to a highly discriminatory agency designed to help members such as Saudi Arabia, China, and Cuba conceal their own abuses. And get out. Choice number two: Allow a bogus "reform" to be adopted by consensus, and stay put.President Obama has evidently decided to take the second course, sending one more signal about how little he values Israel and how few are the number of human-rights victims around the world that stand any chance of capturing his attention.Hmmm........As i said before"His 'hate' for Israel determines his politics"!Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Pakistan: Lawyers demand trial of blasphemer priest.KARACHI: Legal fraternity here on Saturday strongly condemned the desecration of the holy Quran in Florida, USA, demanding blasphemer Christian priest Terry Jones be punished by international court of justice.Lawyers, on call of the Karachi Bar Association, staged protest demonstration at Raja Riaz Shaheed Road, Opposite City Courts on MA Jinnah Road.They carried placards and chanted slogans, seeking trial of blasphemer priest.Demonstrators said act of desecration would harm global interfaith harmony, as no religion supports such acts of blasphemy towards other religions and hurting sentiments of their followers.They called Florida act as extremist move, adding international court should take notice of this incident, try and punish the blasphemer.Later, protestors dispersed peacefully.Hmmmm.....For the moment America has no Blasphemy laws ,but i'm sure Caliph President Obama will do all he can to impose them in a very near future. Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Muslim world: A civilisation of narcissists.Muslims seem to be blind to non-Muslim emotions; they are civilisationally inward-looking, but only go into denial when taxed with blame from the outside. If Muslims kill non-Muslims, they seem strangely unconcerned; when Muslims kill Muslims, as in Sudan, they turn their eyes away. It is only when non-Muslims kill Muslims, that they wake up and start complaining and pointing to their general state of victimhood. In his book Tehzeebi Nargisiyat (Sanjh Publications Lahore, 2009), Mobarak Haider goes into the minutiae of collective Muslim narcissism and examines all their overt and hidden postures, and comes up with a key to the understanding of the Muslim mind.

Haider says if you think Muslim isolationism and pride are of recent date, you are mistaken; Muslims have always been like that. It is their understanding of Islam that permits extreme posturing, while at the same time giving them the rhetoric of peace that no one takes seriously. If a Muslim terrorist kills another Muslim, the unthinking verdict is that the killer couldn’t be a Muslim or he wouldn’t have done it. Yet the bitter truth is that despite all their aggressive strutting, Muslims are busy killing Muslims all over the world. When they travel abroad and are treated with fear and loathing at international airports, they pocket their narcissism and suffer in silence. Strangely, pride doesn’t recommend refusal to migrate.

Author Haider bases this narcissism on the way Muslims absorb the following tenets of their faith:

1. Islam is a complete code of life and offers solutions to all problems.
2. Every edict of Islam is eternal and applicable to all times.
3. Islam is the only truth and any other competing truth must mould itself according to Islam or be ready to be suppressed.
4. Muslims are under obligation to make Islam the supreme religion of the world as other religions are jahiliyya.
5. Muslims are the foremost nation in the world and the only one that will be allowed into Heaven.
6. Action taken to subjugate other civilisations is jihad and not terrorism.There are other ‘collective’ illusions contained in the edicts that follow:
7. Violence is interpreted as jihad, but then jihad is supposed to be the personal obligation of Muslims and not the state.
8. Any deviation from the prevailing dogma is non-belief or kufr; in more mitigating conditions, it is at least heresy.
9. The best knowledge is knowledge of religion and the ulema are the best among men, which means that no one can think about religion on his own.
10. No one can become a scholar of Islam except by accepting the dogma and obeying the edicts of tradition.

The Taliban are the climax of the journey of blind dismissal of the world outside the Muslim self. The idea is to rule the world not through acquisition of knowledge but through the use of the sword. The Taliban are the symbol of Pakistan’s recession into the self in the face of modern challenges. The biggest self-destructive vice that springs from this is uniformity of thinking or yaksaniyat (p.62).

Pakistan in its official and unofficial mythology claims that superpower Russia was defeated by the Taliban; and superpower America, too, will now be defeated by the Taliban, a glory in which Muslims of the world will indirectly participate. Corrupt politicians returning from the fleshpots of Europe, where they have just spent a part of the wealth gouged from Pakistan, complain that the West has lost its spiritual values and is now looking beseechingly at the Muslims as an agency of the revival of the western soul.The writer is a director at the South Asia Free Media Association, Lahore khaled.ahmed@tribune.com.pk. Hmmmm.....These are the people that the Obama regime gives tens of Billions of Dollars!Read the full story here.

• Obama Featured On Chicago Anti-Abortion Billboards Targeting Black South Siders.An anti-abortion group behind a controversial New York billboard targeting African Americans is now taking its message to the South Side of Chicago, in a billboard targeting supporters of President Obama. Life Always is expected to unveil billboards featuring Obama's face and the words "Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted" on Tuesday at 11 a.m. The first billboard will be near an empty lot at 5812 S. State Street, according to a press release from Life Always."Our future leaders are being aborted at an alarming rate," Life Always Board Member Reverend Derek McCoy said in a statement. "These are babies who could grow to be the future Presidents of the United States, or the next Oprah Winfrey, Denzel Washington or Maya Angelou."

The group's New York billboard, which read "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb," was taken down after Soho residents and members of the black community voiced their outrage.Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton said the New York billboard "depicted black women in an unfair way," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He praised Lamar Advertising's decision to remove it.

The billboard is part of a growing trend in the anti-abortion community that accuses abortion providers of "black genocide" via abortions.According to Life Always, 30 billboards featuring President Obama and the anti-choice message will be placed on the South Side of Chicago in coming weeks. Some local black leaders will be on hand Tuesday for the first billboard's unveiling, including former 2nd Congressional district GOP candidate Rev. Isaac Hayes, Rev. Ceasar LeFlore, Rev. Derek A. McCoy and Pastor Stephen Broden, an anti-abortion activist who ran for office as a Republican in Texas last year.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Spiegel.The Dance of the Snakes.Brewing Civil War in Yemen Has All Sides Nervous.Tribal leaders, dubious generals and clerics have all cut their ties with embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Student protesters are worried that their uprising is being hijacked by disgruntled regime insiders. As an array of groups jockey for power in a post-Saleh era, the real shots might be called by Riyadh.It's rarely a good idea to put the address of an old friend on a list of bombing targets. Especially not when the friend is the country's most powerful military figure and the list is a "target list" of the Saudi air force against rebel positions.

It all happened a little over a year ago. Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is still holding on to his position as Yemen's president, tried to shrug off the incident as just a stupid misunderstanding. But, since then, he has no longer been able to depend much on the loyalty of General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, who commands the country's northwestern military district.

In fact, al-Ahmar has become the president's most important adversary -- and the man who might unseat him from office. The general has already made it known that, from now on, his forces will protect the protesters.

On Wednesday, March 23, Yemen's rump parliament rubber-stamped the president's declaration of a state of emergency and granted him emergency powers. Two days later, Saleh told a gathering of supporters that, to avoid further bloodshed, he was willing "to hand power over into safe hands (but) not to sick, resentful or corrupt hands." Few had any doubt about who he was referring to.

When he made these comments, tens of thousands of his opponents were gathering once again outside the university located right near the barracks housing units under General al-Ahmar's control.Unlike in Egypt, the Yemeni military is divided. Every so often, you will have tanks belonging to the army standing across from those of the Republican Guards in the streets of the capital San'a. In the coastal city of Al Mukalla, the two have already exchanged fire. The Republican Guards and the country's intelligence service take their orders from the president's son and nephews.

On March 18, snipers posted on rooftops in San'a, who were presumably members of the intelligence service, fired on protesters. Fifty-two people died from shots to the head and chest. In the wake of the massacre, dozens of government ministers, businesspeople, military officers and diplomats cut their ties with the regime.Saleh has described his 33-year rule and his power plays with the leaders of the country's many tribes, as a "dance on snake heads." Now those snakes are starting to bite him.Until recently, President Saleh appeared convinced that the Saudis viewed him as the sole guarantor of stability in Yemen. But General al-Ahmar also has good friends in Riyadh, and he has already teamed up with his Saudi Arabian colleagues in putting down the uprising of the Houthi rebels in the region along their shared border. Indeed, some believe he is the only power in Yemen that the Saudi regime would find acceptable. This will be the spring of snakes.Hmmmm.....Lets hope that Iran doesn't show up as the 'snake charmer'?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Facebook won't remove intifada promotion page.Facebook will not remove a page that promotes a third terror war against Israel beginning on May 15, although it says that it will 'monitor' the page and remove hateful comments from it. "Third Palestinian Intifada," established on Facebook less than a month ago, calls for a third Palestinian uprising to begin May 15. The page, which as of March 27 had more than 330,000 friends, includes quotes and film clips calling for killing Jews and Israelis, and for "liberating" Jerusalem and Palestine using violence. It also directs users to related content on Twitter, YouTube and elsewhere.In a statement released to several media outlets, Facebook commented on the Third Palestinian Intifada page controversy.“While some kinds of comments and content may be upsetting for someone -- criticism of a certain culture, country, religion, lifestyle, or political ideology, for example -- that alone is not a reason to remove the discussion," the statement said. "We strongly believe that Facebook users have the ability to express their opinions, and we don’t typically take down content, groups or Pages that speak out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas.”I wonder how long a similar page with content against Muslims would last. Hmmmm.....Not to worry soon the ex-spokesman ofthe defender of the free world Robert Gibbs might join Facebook.Lots of phony identities to be set up to push a certain point of view or candidate?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Calls on Facebook for Palestinian Millions to Return to Their Homes in Israel on May 15, 2011.The Plan of Action.

• The page administrators have suggested detailed plans of action to be implemented before and during the May 15 march, stressing that all activity is to be non-violent. The info page of the "Palestinian Refugees' Revolution (The Advance of the Millions)" said: "We can recruit millions to march in eight fronts, in order to confuse the enemy and [force it to] divide its forces. The [fronts will be:] the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Inside Palestinians [i.e., Israeli Arabs], the refugees in Lebanon from the Lebanese border, the refugees in Syria from the Syrian border, the refugees in Jordan from the Jordanian border, the refugees of Europe via the sea in hundreds of ships, and international activists, [who] can demonstrate their solidarity from the Sinai front. Our Egyptian brothers... can support us by [organizing] a march of five million Egyptians, which will advance toward the Palestinian border from Sinai, under the slogan of peaceful solidarity with the rights of the Palestinian people... It would be best for the marches to be lead by old men and women who witnessed the Nakba. They do not lack enthusiasm to participate in and realize the dream of their lives – to be buried in the soil of their homeland. We must [also] recruit as many foreigners [i.e., non-Arabs] as possible from across the world to lead the marches, in order to create difficulty for the Zionists..."

Regarding the manner in which the march was to be conducted, the page said: "We must keep this activity free of all ideological and factional [conflict]. We must hold up the Palestinian flag only, so that the presence of [various] factions will not be used [against us] by the Zionists and the West. We must make sure that the [march] proceeds peacefully, without arms, with slogans in all the languages [emphasizing the] human [aspect of the struggle], such as 'I Want to Return to My Home,' and while holding aloft the keys of the homes from which our families were exiled... We must completely avoid slogans like 'Destroying the Zionist Entity' or 'Throw [the Zionists] into the Sea,' so as not to turn the world against us, and in order to rally [everyone around] the goal, namely to return to the homes from which we were expelled, nothing more. That is a human and moral slogan that can rally all the people of the world to our assistance."The "Third Palestinian Intifada" page posted a detailed plan of action for May 13-15, 2011, as follows. After the March 13 Friday prayers, the Palestinians and their supporters will gather in mosques and squares throughout Israel, in the Palestinian territories, and across the world, waving the Palestinian flag and burning the Israeli flag. On the following day, the Palestinians and their supporters will gather at the starting points of the march: In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, they will gather in the mosques and squares of the cities; in "the 1948 territories," they will meet at the main mosques; in the countries bordering Israel, the starting points will be in various locations near the border; and in other Arab lands, protesters will gather at the Palestinian consulates. In Turkey, activists will gather in hundreds of ships, ready to set sail toward Israel; and in the rest of the world, including Europe and the US, demonstrators will rally in front of the Israeli embassies.On Sunday, May 15, after the noon prayers, "the holy advance will start and the Intifada will be ignited... On this day, all the returning [refugees] will set forth, and the Third Palestinian Intifada will commence, with the support of all the free people in the world." The page lists the destinations of the march: In the West Bank, participants will march on the checkpoints and settlements; in Gaza, on the checkpoints and border crossings; within "the 1948 territories," toward cities and villages destroyed in the 1948 war; in Lebanon, toward Palestine by land and by sea; in Jordan, toward three areas on the border; in Syria, towards the Golan border; in Egypt, toward the Rafah border and toward the coast of Palestine by ship. Ships will also set sail for Palestine from Turkey and Europe, and demonstrations will be held in front of Israeli embassies worldwide.Hmmmm......This is war ,with facebook in charge of the communication lines,time for 'Stuxnet' to come to the rescue?Read the full 'story' here.

• Turkey will run Benghazi airport.Turkey will take over the running of the airport in Benghazi to facilitate the transport of humanitarian aid to Libya in an agreement with NATO, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Monday. Erdoğan said Turkey agreed to undertaking three assignments concerning Libya within NATO. Participation in the enforcement of the no-fly zone and the help of Turkish naval forces in the corridor between Crete and Benghazi are the two other assignments in addition to the running of the airport in Benghazi, Erdoğan said.He didn’t say when Turkey would assume control, yet reiterated that it would not take part in ground attacks. “We have not been the country who is dropping bombs or firing bullets, and nor will we be,” Erdoğan told reporters.Meanwhile a ferry with ambulances and medical equipment on board sailed early Monday morning from İzmir to the port of Misurata to bring about 450 wounded people to Turkey. A Turkish relief organization, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), brought 13 wounded Libyans from Benghazi to İstanbul early on Monday.Hmmmm......NATO ally Turkey aiding Al-Qaida fighters to recuperate in Turkey?GET TURKEY OUT OF NATO!Read the full story here.

• Turkey's photo of the year: Bleeding IDF soldier.Picture of bleeding Navy commando assaulted aboard Marmara wins Turkish photojournalism award; news website uses difficult image to create puzzle for readers.Photojournalism award, Turkish-style: The picture of a bleeding IDF soldier aboard the Marmara won Turkey's 2010 Photo of the Year Award in the News category; the contest was held by the Turkish photojournalism association. Nine people were killed onboard the Gaza-bound Turkish ship after IDF troops who raided it encountered violent resistance by "peace activists" armed with an assortment of weapons.

One of Turkey's largest websites, Milliyet, used the difficult image to create a puzzle for its readers.The photograph shows a beaten up IDF soldier with his face and head bloodied while three Marmara passengers grab him and twisting his arm. The picture was shot by a Turkish photographer who hid copies in a hidden pocket and managed to smuggle them out of Israel.Turkish media outlets did not blur the blood stains or the Israeli soldier's face. The winning pictures were chosen out of 1,632 photos in six different categories. Prizes were handed out in the beginning of the month with Turkey's parliament speaker, deputy prime minister and various parliamentarians among those in attendance.Hmmmm.....Perhaps for photo of the Century they might choose from the hundreds of pictures of innocent Armenians butchered by Turks,confirming they haven't evolved yet?Read the full story here.

• Tech firms hiring White House staffers.The Obama administration brought Facebook and Twitter to politics. And now it’s giving back, as staffers leave the White House and take key jobs at Silicon Valley firms.In the past year, Facebook hired Marne Levine, a former White House economic official, and is reportedly courting former West Wing spokesman Robert Gibbs. Google’s philanthropy arm snagged Jared Cohen, the State Department’s social media guru. Twitter hired former White House and State Department staffer Katie Stanton.The revolving door between the federal government and U.S. tech companies isn’t new. But the hires come as popular Internet applications from Google, Facebook and Apple attract special attention from lawmakers and regulators concerned about issues of privacy, competition, pricing and other aspects of the rapidly changing online economy.Facebook has been probed by the Federal Trade Commission for changing its privacy policies and catching users by surprise. Lawmakers have criticized the company for its muted response to authoritarian governments who want to clamp down on Internet communications.Google is being investigated by the Federal Communications Commission for snarfing up consumer Wi-Fi Internet data.Apple is also being probed for the way it uses its control over the iTunes store to take cuts of revenue from applications sold there.“These companies are at the crosshairs of privacy and policy issues and they see people in the White House and federal government as protectors of their plans to expand into new markets,” said Jeffrey Chester, an online privacy advocate and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “These are uber influence-makers they are hiring.”Facebook declined to comment on a report by the New York Times that it is trying to hire Gibbs for a senior communications position. Gibbs, who left the White House in February, did not respond to an e-mail request for an interview. (Washington Post Co. Chairman Donald Graham sits on the board of Facebook).Experts said that if Gibbs joined a private firm such as Facebook and registered as a lobbyist, he would not be allowed to contact staffers at the White House about business issues during Obama’s tenure.The new relationships between Internet companies and the federal government follow those of phone and computer giants and government officials. Ahead of the regulatory review of its merger with T-Mobile, AT&T has as its lobbying leader James Cicconi, a former staffer for George W. Bush. Cicconi has a long track record of regulatory success at the FCC and approval of several mergers for AT&T. Bill Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry heads Arts & Labs, a group that has lobbied against Internet access rules known as net neutrality, on behalf of AT&T, Verizon and cable companies.Now, Internet companies find that they need the government more.Hmmmm.....Or the government controls the internet more?Read the full story here.

• US denies help to Turkish prosecutor trying to gag cartoonist.A Turkish prosecutor seeking the help of US officials in ascertaining the identity of a person who distributed cartoons showing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a pig around the Karadeniz Technical University (KTÜ) campus last year has been denied assistance on the groundsThe Trabzon Prosecutor’s Office has been conducting an investigation into cartoons that were distributed at KTÜ’s Kanuni campus last year, showing Erdoğan as a pig. A declaration that went with the cartoons bore a Gmail address. The Trabzon Prosecutor’s Office requested technical assistance from the US Department of Justice Office of International Affairs (OIA) to establish the IP numbers that the Gmail address owner used at the time. The prosecutor’s office was relying on a bilateral agreement between the US and Turkey on the extradition of suspected criminals and mutual judicial assistance. However, the OIA refused to help, saying freedom of expression in the US was a fundamental right and that helping the Trabzon prosecutors would mean infringing upon this right, protected by the US Constitution.Hmmmm......I'm sure dear leader will come to the rescue of his buddy.Read the full story here.

• UK: Festival rejects grant amid threats from anti-Israel groups.Organizers of 'Arts Music of Israel' at SOAS say won’t accept $2,400 grant from BI-ARTS after pro-Palestinian groups calling to boycott Jewish state threaten to protest against event. Israeli embassy: Art is made to build bridges.The Jewish Music Institute (JMI) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a college of the University of London, turned down a grant from the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme following intense pressure by pro-Palestinian groups calling to boycott Israel. According to the London-based Jewish Chronicle, Campaigners from British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP), Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) and the Boycott Israel Network (BIN) declared "victory" after the organizers of an Israeli music conference at SOAS assured them that the event, which is scheduled for next week, would have no Israeli government funding.The pro-Palestinian groups threatened to picket “Arts Music of Israel” if it accepted any support from Israel. After rejecting the £1,500 ($2,400) grant from BI-ARTS, the organizers said they did not want political connections with the conference, the Chronicle reported."Art is made to build bridges and to help sustain an essential dialogue. "It is disturbing to see that the certain bodies have succumbed to pressures from external organizations whose sole purpose is to prevent that dialogue. Not only that, but to cooperate with them and to brusquely attach a much needed financial support for artists to political agenda is unhelpful," he said.Hmmmmm........First they burn books,after this they burn people.Read the full story here.

• "Life or death in Iran's prisons".Iran Secretly Executes More People.The HRANA group has reported that early morning on March 14th, an Armenian-Jewish couple along with a women and two men were secretly hanged in Evin prison.The shift office in branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court confirmed the five executions, but refused to offer any explanation on the details about the bodies of the couple and the location of their burial.The people executed are: Adiva Soleyman, an Iranian Jew, her husband Varjan Petrosian, an Iranian-Armenian, one women and two men unidentified. There is no information on the charges of the defendants.The relatives of the executed couple who were planning to hold the funeral and burial ceremonies based on their [religious] customs, were threatened with arrest by security and intelligence forces.Read the full story here.

• Gaza cops use ‘beatings, stun guns’ on women reporters.Hamas security personnel raid offices of media organizations, including Reuters and CNN, confiscate equipment and documents. A number of Palestinian women journalists complained on Sunday that they had been beaten and tortured by Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip.They said the assaults occurred in recent days when they and their colleagues tried to cover pro-unity rallies in different parts of the Gaza Strip.Hamas policemen used force to disperse the protesters, who were calling for an end to the dispute between the Islamist movement and Fatah. The rallies were part of a Facebook campaign organized by Palestinian youth on March 15.At least eight journalists were beaten by the Hamas police officers during the rallies.Some had their cameras and laptops confiscated, while others were taken into custody and made to sign a document pledging to refrain from covering such events in the future.Later, Hamas security personnel raided the offices of a number of media organizations and confiscated equipment and documents. Among the offices targeted were Reuters, CNN and a Japanese TV network.One of the female journalists, Samah Ahmed, complained that a Hamas policeman in military uniform stabbed her in the back as she tried to leave the al-Katiba Square, where pro-unity protesters were staging a sit-in strike.She said that she and another female journalist, Asma al- Ghoul, were later also beaten with clubs before they were taken to detention.“At the police station, they continued to beat us and curse us,” Ahmed told the Palestinian news agency Aswar Press. “When they realized that I was bleeding from the area where I was stabbed, the police interrogators sent me to hospital.”She added that the Hamas police officers who accompanied her to the hospital forced the medical team to admit her under a different name and to list her as a victim of a traffic accident.Jihan al-Sirsawi, another woman who works as a journalist in the Gaza Strip, said that the police officers who attacked the demonstrators beat her severely.“They used electrical shocks against us,” she said. “They beat me so strongly that I lost consciousness and fell to the ground. I woke up only 15 minutes later.”Two more female journalists, Manal Khamis and Dima al-Lababidi, also complained that Hamas policemen had beaten them up during the demonstration. Khamis said that the policemen confiscated her mobile phone and attacked her physically. Al- Lababidi accused the Hamas policemen of hitting her on the back with an iron chair.Hmmmmm.......After being all these years such good Dhimmis,it's 'blasphemy.Read the full story here.

• Obama on Illegal Aliens to Illegal Alien: We Don’t Want to Deport Them; 'We Want Them To Succeed’. When questioned by an illegal alien student today who showed him a deportation letter, President Barack Obama said he did not want to deport illegal alien students like the one who questioned him, he wanted them to succeed. The exchange came during a town hall event sponsored by the Spanish-language television network Univision at a Washington, D.C., school. An illegal alien student, who appeared via Skype, asked: “My question for the president is, why [is the government] saying that deportations have stopped or the detention of many students like me, why is it that we are still receiving deportation letters like this one?”Obama answered, “We have redesigned our enforcement practices under the law to make sure that we’re focusing primarily on criminals, and so our deportation of criminals are up about 70 percent. Our deportation of non-criminals are down, and that’s because we want to focus our resources on those folks who are destructive to the community.“And for a young person like that young woman that we just spoke to who’s going to school, doing all the right things, we want them to succeed," Obama said.Hmmmm.......You never know he may end up one day as President of the United States of America.Read and see the full story here.

• Kuwait sentences 3 to death in Iran spy case.A Kuwaiti criminal court has sentenced three people to death for being part of an alleged Iranian spy ring in the Gulf Arab state, Dubai-based Al Arabiya television said on Tuesday.The station did not give further details on a case that has strained relations between Kuwait and Tehran.Kuwait, which banned media coverage of the case, has said only that several people were detained in an unspecified security probe.Kuwaiti media said in May 2010 authorities had detained a number of people - Kuwaitis and foreigners - suspected of spying for Iran. The independent al-Qabas daily said they were accused of gathering information on Kuwaiti and US military sites for Iran's Revolutionary Guard.Read the full story here.

• "Ten Commandments Judge" Roy Moore to run for president.Roy Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who lost his job after erecting a monument of the Ten Commandments outside the state's courthouse, plans to announce in mid-April that he is setting up a presidential exploratory committee, an aide told CBS News.The aide, Zachery Michael, said Moore's platform will be focused on repealing the health care overhaul law, replacing the progressive income tax with a flat tax and bringing "commonsense solutions" on immigration and border control.Michael said Moore is entering the fray because "we're just seeing the same type of politicians run for president." He said Moore is someone "who can connect with over 300 million Americans across the country, which is something we've been lacking with today's leaders across society."Michael said Moore should not be thought of simply as a culture warrior, arguing that he has been a strong advocate for limited government. "He not only stood up for his faith, he stood up against the tyranny of government," he said.Moore will enter a field already crowded with socially-conservative potential candidates, including former Sen. Rick Santorum, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain. Huckabee was the surprise winner of the Iowa caucuses in 2008, a result that reflects the outsized role of social conservatives in the Iowa GOP electorate. A West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, Moore was removed as chief justice by Alabama's judicial ethics panel in 2003 for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments monument after a federal court order. He is the author of "So Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny, and the Battle for Religious Freedom."Hmmm........"In God we trust".Read the full story here.

• Indian navy nabs 16 Somali Pirates in Arabian Sea.India’s navy and coast guard have captured 16 Somali pirates after a three-hour-long battle in the Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said on Monday. Also, 16 crew members who had been taken hostage by the pirates were rescued from the hijacked Iranian trawler off India’s western Lakshadweep islands on Sunday, Captain Manohar Nambiar said. The pirates were using the trawler as a roving pirate base to launch attacks on passing vessels in the Indian Ocean, he said. The pirates were trying to seize a merchant ship, MV Maersk Kensington, when a coast guard vessel and an Indian naval ship picked up its distress signals and went to its aid. The pirates opened fire at the coast guard ship as it drew near, triggering a battle during which the pirate trawler caught fire. The pirates and the hostages, picked up from the sea by the navy ship, were headed for Mumbai. Of the 16 hostages, 12 are Iranians and four are Pakistanis, the navy spokesman said. “The pirates will be handed over to the Mumbai police for prosecution."Hmmm.....Ah the good old days ,when Brittania ruled the waves, pirates swinging from the mainmast....Sigh.Read the full story here.

• Herman Cain Refuses to Back Down: “There Are Many Muslims Who Are Not Totally Dedicated to This Country”.“The reporter didn’t tell you this, I would have to have people totally committed to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of this United States. And many of the Muslims – they are not totally dedicated to this country, they are not dedicated to our Constitution. Many of them are trying to force Sharia law on the people of this country.”Read the full story here.