MFS - The Other News

                   Afternoon  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 30. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Sirya live blog - March 30  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. 66. Source

• HT:PaulLangley.Plutonium at Fukushima is leaked fuel, not “fallout”.Quote : Discovery of plutonium on nuke plant grounds suggests fuel rods badly damaged

The discovery of plutonium on the premises of the troubled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant suggests that overheating nuclear reactors are more badly damaged than previously thought, experts say.Plutonium in low quantities has been detected in soil samples from around the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Experts believe the plutonium came from at least one of the reactors there.“Considering the ratio of radioisotopes, it undoubtedly came from nuclear fuel,” said Kazuya Idemitsu, professor of nuclear fuel engineering at Kyushu University.There are several different kinds of plutonium with varying atomic weights. In the samples from around the nuclear plant, there was about 100 times more plutonium-238 than any other isotope. Furthermore, the plutonium-238 found in the Fukushima samples differs from that in the fallout from nuclear tests conducted overseas.Normally, the nuclear fuel including the plutonium is prevented from melting and being emitted into the environment by a protective sheath. However, if a reactor overheats and the sheath sustains damage in the process of reacting to water, the fuel can become exposed, setting the stage for radioactive gases such as iodine to leak out. Even at this point, though, the plutonium itself is not released.“I think plutonium was detected because the fuel was exposed, broke into pieces and leaked into the environment, perhaps when the hydrogen explosion occurred,” said Kunio Azuma, a former member of the Nuclear Safety Commission, referring to the hydrogen explosions that blew apart the buildings housing the No. 1, 3 and 4 reactors.The fuel pellets in the fuel rods can withstand higher temperatures than the sheath. However, sudden cooling — such as seawater being poured over the rods — will fracture the pellets inside. The fact that technetium and cerium — found in the pellets under normal conditions — were detected around the nuclear plant and in stagnant water in one reactor building supports the view that the plutonium came from scattered nuclear fuel.Professor Idemitsu believes that there is a high possibility that the plutonium turned into fine powder and seeped out together with cooling water, rather than being scattered into the air. The level of radiation in the stagnant water in the No. 2 reactor in particular is about 1,000 times higher that that of the No. 1 and 3 reactors.“As compared to the No. 1 and 3 reactors that exploded outwards, I think the inward explosion at the No. 2 reactor had more destructive power. Because the quantities of the radioactive substances are rather large, there is a possibility that some percentage of the fuel rods was broken,” Idemitsu said.The plutonium found in the soil samples is 1-trillionth of 1 gram per kilogram. It is such a small quantity that it requires sophisticated analysis to detect it.“We don’t need to worry about its effect on our health at this stage. But the fact that highly radioactive water leaked down to the foundation of the reactor building is shocking,” Idemitsu said.“In view of the quantity of the contaminated water, the quantities of radioactive substances are rather great. It will take years to deal with this problem,” said Azuma.end quote. A bit more informative than the IAEA. Read the full story here.

• HT:PaulLangley.TEPCO TO SCRAP 4 REACTORS, COMPENSATION TO BE CRIPPLING.TOKYO (Kyodo) — Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday that it will scrap the four crippled reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant as the country struggles to bring the nuclear crisis under control weeks after a powerful earthquake and tsunami.The utility said that while the cost of compensation in connection with the nuclear disaster will be daunting and will undermine it financially, the company will try hard to remain afloat and avoid nationalization.“We have no choice but to scrap reactors 1 to 4 if we look at their conditions objectively,” said Tsunehisa Katsumata, the company’s chairman, at a news conference.Since losing cooling functions following the deadly natural disaster on March 11, four of the six reactors at the nuclear power plant northeast of Tokyo have leaked radioactive materials into the air and sea.“We apologize for causing the public anxiety, worry and trouble due to the explosions at reactor buildings and the release of radioactive materials,” Katsumata said at the news conference at the company’s head office.The failure of the cooling system was foreseen as major design flaw of the design in 1971. See previous posts.GE and the AEC refused to see it as possiblity. Such a concept was seen as a “once in a thousand years” event according to industry propaganda at the time. Cooling systems, critical because reactors are impossible properly heat control, due to “decay heat”, must keep running no matter what. As the industry has always known. The reactors are 40 yeats old. The concept of the reactor park, a concentrated layout of multiple reactors, is a GE from the era, is aimed at budget operating costs at the expensive of greater hazards such as multiple reactor failure. The ability to remedy each failed reactor is diminished due to the combined radiological hazards from multiple units compared to one. The industry would consider that the Fukushima facility total failure to be , I guess, a 1 in 4,000 year event. The reactor park is 40 years old. The BBC raised the issue of farmers and fishermen in areas adjacent to the power plant worrying about their ability to sell produce tainted with radioactivity. The BBC chose to focus on the “fear of radiation” being a barrier to the economic viability of farmers and fishermen. However, in a free market, the consumer has the right to choose uncontaminated food. Nuclear industry might come up with a Radiation Hormesis fish fillet, I wouldn’t buy it though. The “fear of radiation” will probably be blamed on consumers. The polluters of fission products might argue that the pollution is harmless and compensation to agriculture minimised.Hmmmm.....Reminds me of the Uha fish soup from Chernobyl,very tasty!!Read the full story here.

• HT:TIME.Has Fukushima's Reactor No. 1 Gone Critical?On March 23, Dr. Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a Research Scientist at the Monterey Institute of International Studies saw a report by Kyodo news agency that caught his eye. It reported that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) had observed a neutron beam about 1.5 km away from the plant. Bursts of neutrons in large quantities can only come from fission so Dalnoki-Veress, a physicist, was faced with an alarming possibility: had portions of one of Fukushima's reactors gone critical?To nuclear workers, there are few events more fearful than a criticality accident. In such a scenario, the fissile material in a reactor core--be it enriched uranium or plutonium--undergoes a spontaneous chain reaction, releasing a flash of aurora-blue light and a surge of neutron radiation that is highly dangerous to humans. Criticality occurs so rapidly--within a few fractions of a second--and so unpredictably that it can suddenly kill workers without warning. There have been 60 criticality incidents worldwide since 1945. The most recent occurred in Japan in 1999, at an experimental reactor in Tokai, when a beam of neutrons killed two workers, hospitalized dozens of emergency workers and nearby residents, and forced hundreds of thousands to remain indoors for 24 hours.Dalnoki-Veress did not see any further reference to a neutron release. But two days after the Kyodo agency report, on March 25, TEPCO made public measurements of different isotopes contributing to the extremely high measured radioactivity in the seawater used to cool reactor No 1. Again, a piece of the data jumped out at Dalnoki-Veress: the high prevalence of the chlorine-38 (CI-38) isotope. CI-38 has a half-life of 37 minutes, so would decay so rapidly as to be of little long-term safety concern. But it's very presence troubled Dalnoki-Veress. Chlorine-37 (CI-37) is part of natural chlorine that is present in seawater in the form of ordinary table salt. In order to form CI-38, however, neutrons must interact with CI-37. Dalnoki-Verress did some calculations and came to the conclusion that the only possible way this neutron interaction could have occurred was the presence of transient criticalities in pockets of melted fuel in the reactor core.Hmmmm......don't you love the way the Chernobyl script is followed?Read the full story here.

• Obama authorizes secret support for Libya rebels.President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert US government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to four US government sources familiar with the matter. Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House declined immediate comment. (Reuters)Hmmmm.....Was this before lightning the fire and go hiding in Rio?What's the codename for the operation "Tsunami of change"?Read the full story here.More here.

• "Genius" Obama Calls to Reduce Oil Imports Over 10 Years.WASHINGTON -- Facing pressure to curb rising gas prices, President Obama is calling for the U.S. to reduce its oil imports by one-third over the next decade, a lofty goal likely to run into significant obstacles.Senior administration officials say Obama will seek to reduce the U.S. dependence on foreign oil by boosting domestic energy production, offering incentives to increase the use of biofuels and natural gas, and making cars and trucks more fuel-efficient. Obama is expected to outline these steps during a speech on the nation's energy security Wednesday at Georgetown University.In a speech Tuesday in New York City, Obama pointed to rising gasoline prices to underscore the need for a comprehensive energy plan."We've still got a lot of work to do on energy," the president told an audience of donors at The Studio Museum in Harlem. "The last time gas prices were this high was 2008 when I was running."Obama contrasted his approach to an energy slogan popular among Republicans."The other side kept talking about `drill, baby, drill.' That was the slogan," he said. "What we were talking about was breaking the pattern of being shocked by high prices" and then lulled into inaction.Republicans put the blame for the increased costs on Obama's policies, pointing to the slow pace of issuing permits for new offshore oil wells in the wake of last summer's massive Gulf of Mexico spill and an Obama-imposed moratorium on new deep-water exploration. GOP leaders have also assailed the president for saying last week in Latin America that he wanted the U.S. to be a "major customer" for the huge oil reserves Brazil recently discovered off its coast."Here we've got the administration looking for just about any excuse it can find to lock up our own energy sources here at home, even as it's applauding another country's efforts to grow its own economy and create jobs by tapping into its own energy sources," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday.Obama will also call Wednesday for increased use of biofuels and the construction of four new advanced biofuel plants in the U.S. However, advanced biofuels -- fuels made from non-food sources such as wood chips, switch grass or plant waste -- are still in their infancy and cannot yet be made in amounts similar to corn ethanol. Congress has directed more money to research and development of those fuels in recent years as some critics of corn ethanol have linked the diversion of corn for fuel to rising food prices.Hmmmm......Reduce oil imports,raise price of oil and food ,abolish domestic oil drilling...destroy the American economy.....2012: Mission successful!Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.Hating Infidels 24/7.By Alan Caruba.The Holocaust of the last century is remembered for the mass murder of Europe's Jewish population, an estimated six million who perished. In total, an estimated eleven to seventeen million Europeans, Jews and Christians, died in the Nazi concentration and death camps or were murdered outright in their homelands.Records were lost or didn't list religion, but the lesser known story of the Holocaust was the death of millions of Christians, three million of whom were Poles, predominantly Catholics, killed by the Nazis for being Poles. They have a special place in Jewish history because many Poles, risking immediate execution if caught, were among the "righteous Gentiles" who were rescuers of Jews.I cite this because there is a new Holocaust abroad in the world and it is directed at Christians, particularly in the Middle East and throughout Africa, wherever Islam is the dominant religion. Nor is this is a new phenomenon; Christians were widely persecuted under the Ottomans (Turks) when their empire encompassed much of the Middle East.It is clearly manifesting itself again and to far too little notice.Let it be said, too, that Islam is an equal opportunity enemy of all other faiths as was seen in the 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, that included India's tiny Bene Israel Jewish community. The conflict between Islam and India's Hindus goes back centuries and resulted in the creation of Pakistan as a separate Muslim state when India gained its independence.Why has there been so little consistent coverage of the on-going attack on Christians? This is especially curious insofar as it is estimated that there are more than two billion Christians worldwide, about a third of the global population. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that they are the victims, not the perpetrators of this horror.Today thousands of Iraqi Christians are fleeing to the comparative safety of the Kurdish area and other countries. Indeed, many Americans are unaware that much of the U.S. Arab population is, in fact, Christian, not Muslim.In America, the denigration of Christianity it is less visible and is not by definition persecution. A majority Christian nation, America has been experiencing a rise in efforts to diminish the acknowledgement of Christianity's role in the nation's history and by efforts to limit Christian symbols, prayers, and even the celebration of Christmas in public institutions and places.Slowly, American, European and Christians worldwide are beginning to realize that they are locked in a religious war. It is a war that Christianity must engage. The silence of church leaders is no longer an option. It is a war between the 7th century and the 21st century.It is a misnomer to call it a "war on terror." Terror is a tactic, but this is a war against Islam because Islam has been at war with all other faiths since its inception.In New York City, when Muslims seek to build a mosque within steps of Ground Zero, they are simply exalting the atrocity of 9/11. It begs the question why its confessed perpetrator, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has not, ten years later, been brought to trial.Hmmmmm........"I will stand with my Muslim brothers"?Read the full story here.

• HT:BloggerBase.Defamation of Islam: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory.While USCIRF, Human Rights First and Christian news media dance around their bonfires emitting victory whoops, those with more common sense analyze the resolution and wait for the backfire. I bring you tidings of the first backfire from International Islamic News agency . [Emphasis added.]Informed sources in the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah stated clarified that the Islamic Group, represented in the OIC, in international fora did not back down from its position, pointing out that the Western countries, which lost all rounds of voting on the previous resolution on anti-defamation of religions, has made a major concession by accepting the new version of the resolution which aims to the same goals of promoting tolerance, non-discrimination and violence based on religion, which is exactly what the OIC is seeking in order to provide a decent living for Muslim communities in the West.The OIC did not back down, it was Western Civilization that lost the previous votes and made a major concession. The new resolution maintains the same goals as its predecessors.Return to http://www.eyeontheun.org/assets/attachments/documents/Draft_Resolution_Defamation_Religions.pdf, which passed in the HRC last year and study ¶14, 15 & 16. Exactly what are they demanding? For those lacking the patience & diligence to do the research, here is my blog post detailing it: Defamation of Religions UNHRC March 25 ’10. The tactical objective of the series of resolutions is national & international legislation criminalizing all questioning and criticism of Islam. The sources pointed out that the West’s acceptance of the new resolution reflects an implied admission of a problem already exist within their communities.That is a clear restatement of the obvious; there was no need to say it.Our Secretary of State and an NGO are behind the new tactic. Meet the new resolution, same as the old resolution. Guess what they will introduce to the General Assembly in September. While we are beset with an implacable existential foe, the best we can muster are Morons & traitors. Western Civilization is in great peril.Hmmmm.....As i said before when i first heard the"Good News"Why do i get this awfull gut feeling?Read the full story here.

• EXCLUSIVE: Should Kagan Recuse from Health Cases? Internal DOJ Emails Raise Questions.“Absolutely right on. Let’s crush them,” wrote Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal. “I’ll speak to Elena and designate someone.”The Elena here is then-Solicitor General Elena Kagan--now a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.Katyal was writing at 10:57 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 8, 2010. Two weeks before that, on Christmas Eve, the U.S. Senate had passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the unprecedented bill promoted by President Barack Obama that mandated that individual Americans must buy health insurance. Already—as reported in a Dec. 30, 2009 New York Times article--Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum was examining the possibility of a lawsuit to challenge the bill if it became law and, as the Times put it, there were “nearly a dozen other states who have also threatened to sue over the mandate.”On March 8, the administration filed a motion asking the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 11th Circuit to expedite the administration's appeal of the ruling of a U.S. district judge in Florida who also ruled that the health-care law is unconstitutional. Katyal signed this document, too.It remains an open question whether Justice Kagan will recuse herself from these cases, or sit in judgement of them, when they reach the Supreme Court.Katyal has now served as acting solicitor general for ten months--since Kagan's nomination. But on Jan. 24, President Obama passed him over for the full-time job, nominating instead Deputy White House Counsel Donald Verrilli, Jr.Hmmmm......Dictatorship or Democracy?Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.President Obama: 'Mosques Destroyed'.The President finally addressed the nation and the world nearly two weeks after initiating military action against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Boiling down his speech, he claimed a moral imperative to intervene with force because Gaddafi had killed innocent civilians and destroyed mosques in his struggle to hang on to power. "Mosques destroyed," the president said, supported his argument for air strikes. Churches are being destroyed daily in the Muslim world, but the U.S. does not intervene. Take Iraq, for example. We have sacrificed thousands of our soldiers' lives and billions in treasure in an effort to bring freedom to this war-torn country. But the Christians there are daily being murdered and their churches bombed. As a senator, Barack Obama had no interest in preventing Saddam Hussein from filling mass graves. He vocally opposed our going into Iraq. That was then.In Pakistan, the only Christian cabinet member was assassinated and a Muslim governor who sought to protect a Christian woman from death was also gunned down, reputedly by his own security guard. Christians in Pakistan face escalating persecution. Their churches are attacked and anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity is killed. Yet, we support Pakistan as a partner in the global war on terror. Whether Pakistan supports us is another question. Why have we been fighting in neighboring Afghanistan for ten years against the plotters of 9/11? It's widely believed that Osama bin Laden is somewhere in the wild border regions between the two countries, quite possibly on the Pakistan side. Could Pakistan be playing a double game?President Obama is unmoved by the plight of Christians in the Sudan. There, a twenty-year civil war has been going on with an Islamist government in Khartoum starving some five million Christians and followers of traditional African religion. This cruel oppression has led the South Sudanese to vote overwhelmingly to break away.Human Rights lawyer Bill Saunders of Americans United for Life was in the Sudan at Christmas several years ago. He and his fellow worshipers took refuge in the woods as aircraft from the Khartoum Islamist regime came overhead to bomb their church. That was on Christmas day. (Don't we often hear how U.S. military initiatives must be delayed for Ramadan? It seems those holiday truces only work one way.)No one suggested then or later that the United States should deploy military force in the Sudan to stop this ethnic cleansing of Christians, even though some mosques were also destroyed.Hmmmmm......."I say my prayers every day"Don't use the name of the Lord in vain.Read the full story here.

• Federal Immigration Office Puts Hold on Rejections of Same-Sex Couple Applications.The Obama administration has put on hold immigration cases involving married gay couples following the decision to drop its defense of the federal law banning same-sex marriage. The move means a foreign national married to a U.S. citizen of the same sex would not automatically be denied immigration benefits. One immigration lawyer said the decision could also give those facing deportation a reprieve. "They would not be deportable and they would be eligible for work authorization," said Christopher Nugent, a longtime immigration attorney who also works on immigration matters with the American Bar Association. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services insists the move is only temporary and that nothing is changing.The Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage on a federal level as between a man and a woman. The Obama administration, though, threw that policy's legal heft into question when it announced in February the Justice Department would no longer defend it in court. The administration outlined a peculiar position, saying that while the president views the law as unconstitutional the administration would continue to enforce it and assist others who want to defend it. That decision prompted USCIS to seek additional guidance and put relevant cases on hold. Nugent said he anticipates the administration will end up keeping those cases on hold while the Defense of Marriage Act is litigated in the courts.Bentley, though, said the administration is not waiting for the court battle to conclude. That battle is ongoing. Though the Justice Department will no longer defend the law, House Speaker John Boehner announced earlier this month he would convene a legal advisory group to argue on behalf of DOMA after several challenges work their way through the court system from gay couples claiming the law violates the U.S. Constitution.Hmmmmm.....Shredding the Constitution one line at the time?Read the full story here.

• Jeffrey: Obama's 'Empty Words': Our Constitution.President Barack Obama shares at least one thing in common with one of the lesser Founding Fathers. He and Pierce Butler, a South Carolina delegate at the Constitutional Convention, both flip-flopped on their interpretation of the Constitution's war power.The difference between Obama's flip-flop and Butler's is that Butler's was defensible. In fact, it can now help contemporary Americans understand exactly where the Framers intended the war power to reside.

Obama, by contrast, unambiguously took the correct constitutional position when he was running for president -- almost 220 years after the Constitution was ratified -- then turned around and took an indefensible position two years into office as commander in chief.

Obama's convenient change in position now justifies his own actions that exceed the constitutional limits on presidential power.In his Monday speech explaining his unilateral decision to intervene in Libya's civil war, President Obama said nothing about our Constitution and cited no actual or imminent threat to the United States that he was trying to repel or defend our people against. Had he not acted, Obama said, "The writ of the United Nations Security Council would have been shown to be little more than empty words, crippling that institution's future credibility to uphold global peace and security."And with that, Obama reduced our Constitution to empty words.Hmmmm.....welcome to Dictatorship and the Fourth Reich?Next on the agenda :"Lets destroy Israel,and put them all in a Giant Ghetto"?Read the full story here.

• Allies disagree over American & French idea of arming Libyan rebels.Disagreement over arming the rebels battling Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi emerged Wednesday with at least three of the countries enforcing the no-fly zone over the North African nation opposing the idea.Russia also criticized the proposal amid dissent within NATO over the conduct of the whole Libyan operation. Both France and the United States have raised the possibility of arming the rebels, though critics have said such a move would go beyond the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which provides for the protection of civilians.But NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN that the mission’s aim is to shield civilians, not arm the rebellion. “The U.N. mandate authorizes the enforcement of an arms embargo,” Rasmussen told the U.S. news network on Monday. “We are not in Libya to arm people, but to protect people.”Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday said Moscow believed that foreign powers did not have the right to arm Libyan rebels under the mandate approved by the U.N. Security Council “and here, we completely agree with the NATO secretary-general.”Norway, which has provided six F-16s to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya, also ruled out arming the rebels, with Defense Minister Grete Faremo saying on a visit to the aircrew in Crete that such a move was “not on the agenda.”Belgium voiced its opposition Wednesday, warning that the move could alienate Arab nations. Belgian Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere, whose country has also deployed fighter jets as part of the NATO-led campaign, said providing weapons to the insurgents would be “a step too far.”Chinese President Hu Jintao meanwhile told visiting Sarkozy on Wednesday that coalition military strikes on Libya could violate the “intention” of the U.N. resolution if civilians suffer. The tough talk from Hu came during a meeting at the start of Sarkozy’s mini-tour of Asia, which will include a G-20 meeting on global monetary reform and a stop in disaster-struck Japan.Hmmmmm......Sounds like Obama's "Odyssey dawn" has started, Odyssey:“a long series of wanderings or adventures”and dawn is “the beginning or rise of anything”,Lord have mercy on us.Read the full story here.

• Illinois Discrimination Case Raises Questions About Religion and the Workplace.Is it a case of legitimate discrimination? Or a Justice Department out of control? Those are two of the questions surrounding the case of Safoorah Khan, a 29-year-old math teacher and devout Muslim who, until December of 2007, taught at the MacArthur Middle School in Berkeley, Ill.In mid-August of that year, Khan notified her employer that she wanted three weeks of unpaid leave in December to attend the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.It happened to fall that year just prior to her students' final exams and the school district said no, leading Khan to resign. She took her case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which ruled in her favor and referred the case to the Department of Justice.Last December, DOJ filed suit against the Berkeley, Ill., School Board in federal court in Chicago, claiming it violated Title Seven of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The act prohibits an employer from discriminating on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin or religion.Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas Perez said in a recent interview that Khan's request to attend the Hajj was a "profoundly personal request by a person of faith."But former Bush-era DOJ Civil Rights Division lawyer Hans von Spakovsky disagrees."The Justice Department is using its power and law to push frankly extreme cultural and other views that the ordinary American person does not agree with," Spakovsky said.There is legal and federal regulatory precedence to support Khan's case. Federal rules require an employer to provide reasonable accommodations for the religious practices of employees unless doing so would result in "undue hardship" on the conduct of its business.In 1977, the Supreme Court ruled in TWA v. Hardison that it is an "undue hardship" if the employer has to bear more than a "de minimus cost" [minimal cost] in order to provide the accommodation.Given Khan's contention that she asked for an unpaid leave - not a paid leave - her employer incurred no cost and thus no "undue hardship."But a key question is whether the court can factor into the definition of "undue hardship" the effect of her prolonged absence on students, and on staffing issues at MacArthur Middle School.But in a broader context, the case raises uncomfortable questions. When do special accommodations for religious and cultural minorities become paralyzing exceptions? Does three weeks off for Hajj open the doors for Christians to spend three weeks at a retreat? Or Wiccans at a festival? Atheists at a convention?In recent weeks, the prime minister of England, the president of France and the chancellor of Germany all made remarkable statements to the effect that multiculturalism has been a failure in their respective countries. Each offered a stunning admission that Muslims had not assimilated into the larger Western culture.In those cases, attempts at cultural accommodation proved to be cultural Balkanization. Some wonder if it's beginning to happen in the United States.Hmmmm.....No where there is written that the participation in the Hajj pelgrimage must happen during your work&Career time once you are retired you still can fulfill this religious obligation!So the whole discussion is futile!Read the full story here.

• HT:RollCall.Obama regime Opposes Boehner’s School Voucher Bill.The Obama administration announced its strong opposition Tuesday to a pet project of Speaker John Boehner’s.The bill, which would expand a school voucher program for elementary and high school students in the District of Columbia, is likely to be the only measure that the Ohio Republican will introduce this year.The voucher program “has not yielded improved student achievement by its scholarship recipients compared to other students in D.C.,” a statement of administration policy released Tuesday said.“The Administration opposes the creation or expansion of private school voucher programs that are authorized by this bill,” according to the statement. “The Federal Government should focus its attention and available resources on improving the quality of public schools for all students. Private school vouchers are not an effective way to improve student achievement.”The school voucher bill is also being pushed by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). It would increase scholarships to $8,000 for elementary school students and $12,000 for high schoolers, and it is slated for House floor action Wednesday.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Hamas Officials Meet In Cairo With Egyptian FM, Arab League Sec-Gen.Hamas officials Mahmoud Al-Zahhar and Khalil Al-Haya met in Cairo with Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Al-Arabi to discuss the new Egyptian government's attitude to the Palestinian matter and to the intra-Palestinian reconciliation. Also discussed was the possibility of launching a new round of talks between Fatah, Hamas, and all the Palestinian factions, next month in Cairo. At the end of the meeting, Al-Arabi met with Fatah Central Committee member Nasser Al-Qidwa and talked with him about the Palestinian situation. After meeting with Al-Arabi and Al-Qidwa, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa called for taking advantage of the new wind blowing through the Arab world to swiftly establish a Palestinian reconciliation, and expressed the League's willingness to host the reconciliation talks. Al-Zahhar noted that Hamas wants a comprehensive reconciliation, not only the establishment of a unity government, and said that upon his return to Gaza he would discuss such a reconciliation with Fatah officials there.Hmmmmm.......Genius Obama "Israel may benefit from the changes in the Arab world"......Sarcasme?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iraq - Gunmen Carry Out Grisly Attack On Provincial Government.Gunmen wearing explosive belts under military uniforms took hostages at Salahuddin provincial government headquarters in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, killing 15 of them execution-style before blowing themselves up in a fiery end to an hours-long siege. In all, 63 people were killed and another 100 wounded, and the attackers set fire to the bodies of three slain councilmen. A joint U.S.-Iraqi military unit was able to take control of the building. Iraqi officials were quick to blame Al-Qaeda in Iraq for the slaughter, noting that executions and suicide bombers are hallmarks of the terrorist group. A senior intelligence official in Baghdad likened the attack to Al-Qaeda's hostage raid last fall on a Catholic church in Baghdad that left 68 dead and stunned the nation.Source .

• 6,000 illegal immigrants assault tiny Italian island.'You deserve Nobel Peace Prize': Berlusconi pays homage to locals on tiny Italian island overrun with 6,000 illegal immigrants fleeing Tunisia and Libya during visit.Showman Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi today visited an island overwhelmed with illegal immigrants and told locals: 'I am going to nominate you for the Nobel Peace prize.'Berlusconi, 74, known for his skill at working the crowd, then said the throng of 6,000 illegal immigrants - 1,000 more than locals - would all be moved off the rocky outcrop 'within 60 hours'.During his visit to Lampedusa - which is just 100 miles from Tunisia, he told locals he would have a reason to solve the situation as he had even 'bought a house here'.Billionaire Berlusconi added: 'With your hospitality and politeness that you have shown during this crisis I am going to nominate you for the Nobel Peace prize.'During the last few weeks, more than 15,000 people, many of them from north Africa, have swamped the island, bringing the holiday paradise to its knees with food and water fast running out.It was the first time that an Italian prime minister had ever visited the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa and there were cheers as he said: 'The operation to remove the illegal immigrants is already underway. 'The embarkation of illegal immigrants has already begun at the port and within 60 hours at the most Lampedusa will once again belong to the Lampedusans.'Six ships have been chartered to take the illegal immigrants to various centres on the mainland but Italians fear that will just increase the problem as many of those already transferred have escaped.He added: 'We have discussed this plan with the Tunisians and we have bought the fishing boats so they cannot set sail anymore,' although it was not immediately clear how he had done this.The security situation has so far been calm, but some believe that could change.'What I saw in Lampedusa is really desperate,' Raffaele Lombardo, the governor of the region of Sicily who visited the island on Sunday, claimed on Canale 5 television yesterday.'The Tunisians have occupied the island and they are starting to go into people's houses and threaten them.'Hmmmm......"Change"?Read the full story here.

• HT:TeadAndPolitics.Pakistani bishops want Shabaz Bhatti be named a martyr.The bishops of Pakistan appealed to Pope Benedict to officially recognize Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic official in the country who was recently assassinated, as a martyr.The Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan, which met from March 20 – 25 in Multan, unanimously decided to make a formal request to the Vatican to name Bhatti as a “martyr and patron of religious freedom.”The 42-year old Bhatti – a leading voice for religious freedom and peace in Pakistan – served as federal minister for religious minorities. He was shot to death by three masked men on March 2 as he left his mother’s home in Islamabad by car.Al-Qaida and the Punjab-based Pakistani Taliban Movement claimed responsibility for Bhatti’s killing, according to the AP.“Pray for me and for my life,” Bhatti told Fides ahead of his murder. “I am a man who has burnt his bridges. I cannot and will not go back on this commitment. I will fight fanaticism and fight in defense of Christians to the death.”The War on Christianity has his first martyr in Pakistan?Read the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Muslim politician causes stir in france by suggesting Muslims wear a five pointed star.“A lay Muslim politician caused a stir this week by suggesting Muslims wear a five-pointed green star to protest against what he called persecution recalling that of wartime Jews forced by the Nazis to wear a yellow Star of David.”“This fascist climate evokes the sombre history of the Occupation in France, which sent thousands of Jews by train to the death camps,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.Richard Prasquier, head of the Jewish umbrella group CRIF, called the green star idea “totally grotesque.”Hmmmmm.....Hmmmm……for Muslims to wear the five pointed star would be raping once again history ,if you look back it has always been the Jewish people who were forced to wear the “sign” .Mostly enforced by the MUSLIMS!Before proposing something so stupid he should consult the history books.

717.Possible date of the Pact of Umar which stipulates that Christians (and by implication also Jews) living in Muslim lands are required to wear distinctive clothing. Although most historians question the historicity of the pact, the use of distinguishing marks is consistent with documentary and archaeological evidence from 7th and 8th century Iraq and Syria. The pact itself is thought to be an invention of later jurists seeking justification for certain cultural practices that had developed over time.

850. A decree of the Abbassid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, reported by the 10th century historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, requires Christian and Jewish subjects to wear honey-coloured hoods and belts of a particular type. Distinguishing marks are also prescribed for their slaves.

1005. Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim, orders Jewish and Christian residents to wear bells on their garments and a “golden calf” (made of wood) around the neck when bathing with Muslims.

1058. Start of less tolerant policy towards Christians and Jews by the Seljuk authorities in the Abbasid empire. Existing laws imposing distinctive dress are enforced. Non-Muslims in Baghdad are forced to wear signs on their dress.Jews (identifiable by rouelle) being burned at stake. From medieval manuscript.

1085. Non-Muslims are required to wear distinctive signs on their turbans.

1091. Abbasid Caliph Al-Muqtadi decrees that the “non-believers” had to wear yellow headgear and girdles of various colors, and a sign of lead around their necks to show they had to pay the poll-tax. Women had to wear shoes of different colors, such as one red and the other black.

1121. A letter from Baghdad describes decrees regulating Jewish clothes: “two yellow badges, one on the headgear and one on the neck. Furthermore, each Jew must hang round his neck a piece of lead with the word dhimmi on it. He also has to wear a belt round his waist. The women have to wear one red and one black shoe and have a small bell on their necks or shoes.”

1215. Fourth Lateran Council headed by Pope Innocent III declares: “Jews and Saracens of both sexes in every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other peoples through the character of their dress.”

1219. Pope Honorius III issues a dispensation to the Jews of Castile. Spanish Jews normally wore turbans in any case, which presumably met the requirement to be distinctive.

1222. Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton orders English Jews to wear white band, two fingers broad and four long.

1227. Synod of Narbonne rules: “That Jews may be distinguished from others, we decree and emphatically command that in the center of the breast (of their garments) they shall wear an oval badge, the measure of one finger in width and one half a palm in height.”

1228. James I orders Jews of Aragon to wear the badge.

1265. The Siete Partidas, a legal code enacted in Castile by Alfonso X but not implemented until many years later, includes a requirement for Jews to wear distinguishing marks.

1267. In a special session, the Vienna city council forces Jews to wear Pileum cornutum (a cone-shaped head dress, common in medieval illustrations of Jews); the badge does not seem to have been worn in Austria.

1269, June 19. France. (Saint) Louis IX of France orders all Jews found in public without a badge (French: rouelle or roue, Latin: rota) to be fined ten livres of silver. The enforcement of wearing the badge is repeated by local councils, with varying degrees of fines, at Arles 1234 and 1260, Béziers 1246, Albi 1254, Nîmes 1284 and 1365, Avignon 1326 and 1337, Rodez 1336, and Vanves 1368.

1274. The Statute of Jewry in England, enacted by King Edward I, enforces the regulations. “Each Jew, after he is seven years old, shall wear a distinguishing mark on his outer garment, that is to say, in the form of two Tables joined, of yellow felt of the length of six inches and of the breadth of three inches.”

1315–1326. Emir Ismael Abu-I-Walid forces the Jews of Granada to wear the yellow badge.

1321. Henry II of Castile forces the Jews to wear the yellow badge.

1415, May 11. Bull of the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII orders the Jews to wear a yellow and red badge, the men on their breast, the women on their forehead.

1434. Emperor Sigismund reintroduces the badge at Augsburg.

1528. The Council of Ten of Venice allows the newly-arrived famous physician and professor Jacob Mantino ben Samuel to wear the regular black doctors’ cap instead of Jewish yellow hat for several months (subsequently made permanent), upon the recommendation of the French and English ambassadors, the papal legate, and other dignitaries numbered among his patients.

1555. Pope Paul IV decrees, in his Cum nimis absurdum, that the Jews should wear yellow hats.Etc.etc..etc…Read the full story here.

• BP spill's impact could be much worse than expected.VANCOUVER — The death toll from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill goes far beyond the animal corpses washing ashore, says a report that warns that whale and dolphin deaths may be 50 times higher than believed.The report, by an international team of marine mammal specialists, estimates that for every corpse that washes ashore another 50 may never be found."When people present the raw carcass counts without any caveats, without any qualifiers, they are implying we have a 100 per cent carcass recovery rate when we don't have anything like that," says Rob Williams of the University of B.C. He is lead author of the report to be released Wednesday as the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster approaches.He and his colleagues take issue with recent reports that point to a carcass count of just over 100 whales, dolphins and porpoises as evidence of the modest environmental impact of the spill."The true death toll could be 50 times the number of carcasses recovered," they report in the journal Conservation Letters.An explosion ripped through BP's Deepwater Horizon drill rig last April, and the damaged well gushed oil onto the sea floor for months as crews scrambled to plug the well and clean up and disperse the oil.Their analysis found that, historically, only two per cent of carcasses have been recovered after they die in the region. They caution in their paper that the recovery rate after the Gulf spill could have been above the historical two per cent because there was such a concerted search for carcasses.But applying that two per cent recovery rate to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and assuming all deaths recorded were caused by the oil, they suggest the spill's toll on whales, dolphins and porpoises "would translate to 5,050 carcasses." They also break it down by species and say, for example, that "it is plausible" 29 sperm whales, an endangered species, died because of the Gulf spill.The scientists ran their calculations late last year when the official carcass count for the marine mammals along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico stood at 101. Dozens of young and stillborn baby dolphins have washed ashore since then, and necropsies are underway to find out if the oil spill is responsible.Bottlenose dolphins appear to have been hit hardest by the spill, and the biologists say "the potential is high for the spill to have caused catastrophic impacts on small, localized populations of bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf."They call for more study to assess impacts on marine mammals, pointing to the profound and lingering effects of the Exxon Valdez spill.In the first year after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill one group of "transient" killer whales experienced a 41 per cent loss and there has been "no reproduction" in the group since the spill, they say."Although the cause of the apparent sterility is unknown, the lesson serves as an important reminder that immediate death is not the only factor that can lead to long-term loss of population viability," the scientists say.Read the full story here.

• Medvedev Follows Lethal Attack on Islamic Separatists With Warning.MOSCOW — A day after an unusual air attack on what officials here said was a militant base in Russia’s North Caucasus region, President Dmitri A. Medvedev warned separatist fighters in the mostly Muslim region to surrender or “be destroyed.” Speaking on the anniversary of suicide attacks on the Moscow subway that killed 40 people, Mr. Medvedev noted with regret that the Islamist militant groups almost always responsible for such lethal suicide attacks were still active, and he ordered his security services to finish them off. “We need to do this and bring this work to an end,” he said. Russia has been battling Islamist separatists in the North Caucasus for nearly two decades, but violence in the region occurs almost daily, and attacks in Moscow and elsewhere are not uncommon. Mr. Medvedev said Monday’s assault on the suspected terrorist base delivered “sufficiently impressive results.”The operation, carried out in a wooded area of Ingushetia near the border with Chechnya, was remarkable in its scale and firepower. At least 17 suspected militants were killed when Russia’s air force bombarded the area, officials said. It was unclear whether fighter jets or helicopters were used. Three members of Russia’s security services were also killed.Several Russian news agencies, citing anonymous law enforcement officials, said that Doku Umarov, the self-proclaimed militant leader who has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks, might be among the dead. But there was no official confirmation.The Investigative Committee also released new details on Tuesday about two brothers arrested recently and charged with accompanying the suicide bomber in the Domodedovo attack. Officials announced the arrest of the brothers, Islam and Ilez Yandiyev, on Monday. When detained, they had in their possession a suicide belt and two bombs, the agency said in a statement on its Web site.“The presence of the explosive devices,” the agency said, “leads to the conclusion that they were preparing a terrorist attack.”Hmmmm.....At least he calls them by their correct name!Read the full story here.

• Original Pigford Claimant Calls It One of the ‘Biggest Conspiracies Against the U.S. Treasury Ever’.It’s back to business on our investigation of the Pigford story – the ongoing fraud that needs your help and attention to make it stop. The mainstream – with a few exceptions like John Stossel – are ignoring the story of the one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history because it doesn’t fit their narrative. The good guys are the real farmers who faced discrimination at the hands of the UsDA and the people, mostly conservative at this point, trying to bring their story to light. The bad guys are the trial lawyers, politicians, race hustlers and those inside the USDA who profit by lying to the public about how the Pigford settlement is a ‘victory’ for black farmers.In this video, we introduce you to Lucious Abrams, a Georgia farmer who was one of the seven original claimants. Abrams has spent years working for justice only to be betrayed by people like the Congressional Black Caucus. Now Lucious is speaking out and speaking truth to the power structure that doesn’t speak for him.When a group like Color of Change wants to silence investigation into Pigford, it’s farmers like Lucious Abrams they are silencing.When liberals on sites like DailyKos try to bully Rep. Steve King and Rep. Michele Bachmann with charges of racism, it’s really farmers like Lucious Abrams they are bullying.When supposed advocates for black farmers like John Boyd ignore the plight of real black farmers and keep the Pigford fraud going, it’s famers like Lucious Abrams they ignore.Hmmmm......Something smells big time and it aint the manure used by the honest farmers.Read the full story here.

• Disgrace: Obama Regime Will Seek Another Term on Rabidly Anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council.The Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it will seek a new term on the United Nations Human Rights Council despite concerns that the panel remains a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and a forum for repressive nations to deflect attention from abuses they may have committed.The State Department said the U.S. intends to run in 2012 for another three-year term on the oft-criticized council. Officials said the U.S. believes its presence on the panel for the past two years has helped steer it in the right direction and that it can continue to do so.The department said that the U.S. has helped mobilize the council to take on crises in countries such as Iran, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan and Libya — which was a member until earlier this month, when it was suspended over its violent crackdown on anti-government protesters. The officials said U.S. membership had also been key to the council taking on issues that include women’s rights, discrimination based on sexual orientation and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly.“Taken collectively, the actions taken by the 16th Human Rights Council represent a significant positive change in the council’s trajectory,” State Department spokesman Mark Tonier said in a statement announcing the decision.The U.S. had shunned the council and its predecessor, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, during President George W. Bush’s administration because its membership included rights abusers that Washington said focused unfairly on Israel and ignored atrocities throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But when President Barack Obama came into office in 2009, his administration sought to re-engage the council, arguing the U.S. could do more good as a member than as an outside critic.Obama and his foreign policy team were roundly criticized for running for, and winning, a seat on the 47-nation, Geneva-based council, particularly after it considered the so-called “Goldstone Report,” which called equally on Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to probe and prosecute any war crimes stemming from the 2009 Gaza conflict or face scrutiny by the International Criminal Court. The U.S. and Israel fought to keep the report from being referred to other U.N. bodies.Hmmmm......"The Peacemaker" going in for the final kill of Israel!Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Chino, California: Ahmadiyya Muslim Community | We Reject the Bloody Messiah.I am very thankful to reader / responder Mr. James G. McAlpin for his article entitled “To each his own” whereby he cited some articles written by me and another member of my congregation, Mr. Ghaffar. His statement in his final paragraph of the article: “This group loves the rest of us so much they kill us if we don’t convert to Islam. I would rather be loved less and allowed to live and practice my own religion” was unfortunately due to a misunderstanding which I hereby clarify.

The statement made by our Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was that “mainstream” Muslims believe that Jesus would descend to earth near the Minaret of Damascus, killing all infidels. If Mr. McAlpin revisits the article from where he extracted the notion that we believe in a cruel Messiah, and carefully read it once more, he would realize that our message is that Ahmadi Muslims do not believe as other Muslims in a “bloody” Messiah, who would descend from the Heavens, chopping heads off the infidels. Instead we believe that he has taught us to follow pristine Islam which espouses “Love for all; hatred for none” -- the motto of our Community.

We believe in the peaceful Messiah, Mirza Ghulam of Qadian (1835-1908), who was born east of Damascus in the village of Qadian, India and who claimed to be the Messiah referred to in the Holy Quran and Traditions fulfilling the prophecy of the return of Christ, in spirit.

Therefore we declare that:

1. We believe in the peaceful and not the bloody Messiah.
2. Because of this particular belief, mainly, we are not considered Muslims by mainstream Muslims.
3. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah who wrote more than 80 books, rejected the belief that someone will come from heaven and kill all infidels. This is not the style of a God-sent person.

We are not comprised of nor partake in any hate campaigns (like the campaign to get rid of Ahmadi Muslims in Indonesia by killing them as was reported by Mr. Ghaffar in the article to which you referred). Our members are continually killed or maimed and forced to denounce their beliefs, often at gun point by extremist sects, mainly in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Pakistan (among several other countries where Ahmadi Muslims are persecuted mercilessly). We believe in Jihad of the pen and not the sword.Our current spiritual Head Mirza Masroor Ahmad continues to exhort peaceful teachings so mush so that when on May 28th 2010, eighty six of our members were mercilessly slaughtered and over 100 injured in Lahore Pakistan by extremist Muslims, he wisely asked the members to remain resolute and occupy themselves in prayers and worship, rather than taking revenge of any sort, for the carnage which befell our members.I would like to commend Mr McAlpine for at least reading our published articles and encourage and invite him to visit our Mosque and have a face to face dialogue with me, in effort to clear up any doubts about who we are. We are well known by all public officials in and around Inland Empire and even in Congress where, recently, 28 Congressmen have signed a petition to the Indonesian Government, that they must desist from attacking the Ahmadi Muslims and to let them worship peacefully, which in fact, is our God given rights.Hmmmm......Unfortunally for Islam there can be only one.Read the full story here.

• Polish Israelis slam halt of Holocaust restitution plans.Polish Prime Minister freezes work on law to compensate Jews for WWII-era properties due to current economic crisis.An association of Israelis of Polish descent has slammed Warsaw's decision to suspend plans to offer compensation for property seized during the Nazi and communist eras.The association head, Lili Haber, says the decision is unacceptable and an insult to Holocaust survivors.Poland says only about 15 percent of the property once belonged to Jews. The issue is straining relations between Jewish groups and Poland, which was home to 3.5 million Jews before Word War II.Read the full story here.

• EDITORIAL: Team Obama, world police.Human rights used as an excuse to violate sovereignty.President Obama’s Monday night speech on the “kinetic military activity” in Libya revealed that he has fully accepted the faddish “responsibility to protect” (R2P) rationale for military intervention abroad. Unfortunately, this action is not just a direct attack on Libya’s state sovereignty, but also on America’s.R2P - sounding a bit like a droid from Star Wars - is a school of thought that developed in response to the propensity of some regimes to commit crimes against their own people and the reticence of the international community to take decisive action. “Responsibility to protect,” however, lacks the firm legal basis that would justify armed intervention in the internal affairs of another state without a declaration of war. This is specifically forbidden by Article 2, Section 7 of the United Nations Charter and by the December 1981 U.N. “Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention and Interference in the Internal Affairs of States.”O Force propaganda aside, the reason the U.N. Charter and subsequent declarations insisted on the sanctity of national sovereignty was specifically to prevent the U.N. from becoming a world police force. The U.N. was founded as a multilateral organization pledged to take action only when war crossed state boundaries. Internal affairs were left to each country individually. The armed humanitarians of the R2P school believe human-rights concerns outweigh state sovereignty, and force can - indeed must - be used to set things straight. When done under the umbrella of the U.N., inconvenient matters like congressional authorization may also be dispensed with.Hmmmm.......Democracy or "The Fourth Reich"?Read the full story here.

• Assad decries 'conspiracy' in Syria.In first address to nation since wave of anti-government protests broke out, Bashar Assad blames 'conspirators' trying to destroy country, says Israel 'has been inciting for weeks against Syria'.Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed a wave of protests on "conspirators" who are trying to destroy the country as well as "enemies with an Israeli agenda", giving his first address to the nation Wednesday since the demonstrations erupted nearly two weeks ago."Our enemies work every day in an organized and public fashion to hurt Syria," Assad said. "Our enemies' aim was to divide Syria as a country and force an Israeli agenda onto it, and they will continue to try and try again."As he entered Parliament for the speech, legislators chanted "God, Syria and Bashar only!" and "Our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you Bashar."The speech is seen as a crucial test for his leadership and one that may determine Syria's future.Assad said a minority of people had tried to "spark chaos" in the southern city of Deraa, centre of recent protests, but that they would be thwarted by the majority.He added that security forces were given "clear instructions" not to harm citizens during the protests.Human rights groups say more than 60 people have been killed since March 18 in a crackdown on the protests.Assad also is expected to announce constitutional amendments and sweeping reforms, including an end to nearly 50 years of widely despised state of emergency laws that give the regime a free hand to arrest people without charges. On Tuesday, Assad fired his Cabinet in another move designed to pacify the anti-government protesters.Hmmmm......when in doubt or in trouble....."Blame the Jooooooos"?Read the full story here.