MFS - The Other News

                Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 06. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan between 4.7 and 4.9 today. More info here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 76.On 06.04.2011 at 02:44 GMT+2.

Radioactive water has stopped leaking into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Jiji Press reported, citing the operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). TEPCO had on Tuesday injected sodium silicate, a chemical agent known as "water glass", to solidify soil near a cracked pit, from where large volumes of highly radioactive water had been seeping through and running into the sea. Run-off from the plant has measured more than 1,000 millisieverts and is believed to be the source of radioactive iodine-131 readings in ocean waters more than 4,000 times the legal limit. The pit, which has a 20-centimetre crack in its wall, is linked to the plant's reactor No. 2, one of those which had its cooling systems put out of action by the quake and tsunami of March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis. Several unsuccessful attempts had been made to try to plug pipes that run to the pit, using a polymer and even newspapers and sawdust, and an effort to seal the crack with cement had also failed to stop the leak.Source .

• Will Obama Administration Hold Military Paychecks During Government Shutdown?As readers of Big Government know, an impasse over a few billion dollars in proposed spending cuts threatens to shutdown the federal government. (And, by a few billion dollars I mean, rounding error.) As regular readers should also know, I’ve come to embrace a shutdown, rather than fear it.As this recent Congressional Research Service report explains, if the government were to shutdown, an OMB Directive issued in the 1980s (along with a handful of legal opinions) guide what parts of government continue to function and what parts must close down. Short story, all of the important functions of government, i.e national security, the military, air traffic control, border security, Social Security payments, etc., will continue to function. The parts that have to shut down…well, lets just say they are candidates for permanent cuts. I mean, if the country functions for several weeks without a few hundred thousand ‘non-essential’ employees, couldn’t we probably function without them forever? I’m not saying every one of these jobs should necessarily be eliminated…but it isn’t a good place to start?

Sensing the potential PR nightmare from this, it seems the Obama Administration may have decided to raise the stakes on a shutdown. According to draft guidance from the Pentagon, the Obama Administration will require military personnel to report to work…but, will hold their paychecks until the impasse is resolved. As Government Executive explained in a March 15th article:

Military personnel and exempt Defense Department civilian employees are required to continue working without pay during a government shutdown, according to guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In a memo prepared earlier this month, Defense officials noted that service members and some civilian workers, including those involved in national security and the protection of life and property, still must report for duty but will not be paid until Congress appropriates funds to reimburse them for that period of service. All other employees will be furloughed, the memo stated.Military personnel are not subject to furlough.

This is new.During the last government shutdown, in 1995, troops continued to receive their paychecks. According to Federal Times:When the government was shut down in 1995, military personnel continued to report to work and were paid, but the planning guidance sent to the services and defense agencies says a shutdown this time will be different.

“All military personnel will continue in normal duty status regardless of their affiliation with exempt or non-exempt activities,” says the draft planning guidance that was prepared for the services and defense agencies. “Military personnel will serve without pay until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them for this period of service.”During the 1995 shutdown, the Clinton Administration followed the OMB guidance issued during the Reagan Administration. The Obama Administration, it seems, is tacking a different direction.

Let me be clear, the guidelines proposing to hold military paychecks are, according to the news reports, draft guidelines. It is possible the Obama Administration has abandoned these punitive guidelines. And, even if they implemented these guidelines, military personnel would most likely eventually receive their pay, once a budget agreement is reached. But, why even change the policy and subject our military to partisan political battles. The policy is certainly a change, but it doesn’t provide much hope.Hopefully, they will clear this up quickly.Hmmmm.....My guess :Yes Obama will withhold military paychecks even though he doesn't have to,but only because he hates the military and to set them up against the Republicans!Somehow i don't think the military love their current 'commander-in-chief'.Read the full story here.

• Harper protection 'bubble' becomes election issue.Prime Minister Stephen Harper is suddenly on the defensive for running a closed and "unCanadian" campaign after two university students were ejected from one of his rallies because they had posted a Facebook picture of themselves with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.The issue of how Harper is campaigning in a bubble, which has been brewing ever since the launch of the campaign, has now exploded and caused embarrassment to the Conservative leader.A spokesman for Harper apologized for the incident that occurred Sunday at a rally in London, Ont.At rallies Harper holds, local Conservative organizers sit at desks in front of the hall and have lists of names. People who attend are registered and have their name on the list. Conservatives have said that people can walk in off the street, but they must show identification to gain entry.That practice has now backfired for the Tories after what happened to Awish Aslam, a 19-year-old University of Western Ontario student.Aslam and a friend signed up for the rally in London on Sunday with the help of her friend's father, who is a Conservative.About 30 minutes after she arrived, she and her friend were approached by two officials and were asked to go outside the door, she told Postmedia News on Tuesday. Hmmm...28 March:"My name is Awish Aslam, I am a second year political science student at the University of Western Ontario. A friend and I had planned on seeing Ignatieff last Thursday, Harper onSunday, and Layton on Monday. Yesterday, while attending the Conservative rally inLondon, an RCMP officer approached us and told us he needed to speak to us while heescorted us out of the hall and into the back hallways where the staff typically work."Once there, she said one of the officials ripped the Conservative stickers that had been previously given to them from their clothing "and ripped them into pieces.""He said, 'You are no longer welcome here'," she said.Aslam and her friend were upset and wondered what had gone wrong. "He said, 'We know you have ties to the Liberal party through Facebook'."The Facebook photo of her standing next to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had been taken the previous week when she attended a Liberal rally in London.Another attendee, Ali Aref Hamadi, said he was asked by an organizer to leave the same rally because of an NDP bumper sticker on his vehicle.The whole story started rolling by a tweet by her brother SAAD : Saad Aslam - WLUSU Vice President University Affairs - OUSA Vice President Finance.Ontario Undergraduate Student Organisation An organisation who seem to have a very political agenda when you look at their twitter account! http://twitter.com/ousa .The organisation has close ties to Liberal premier McGuinty."(Wink,wink)At the Premier's request, OUSA will be providing further input on a number of proposals related to system design that arose during the private meeting.
  "The post-secondary sector and the Province as a whole are facing many challenges," added Moulton. "Students are committed to collaborating with the Premier, his staff and the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities to develop educated solutions that will build on the success of the government's historic Reaching Higher Plan."Hmmm.....Manipulation of the Immigrant voters?What if it would have been a teaparty member at an Obama event?I'm sure the teaparty member his genealogy tree would have been checked till the fifth generation before even attending the event ,but hey 'that is normal'?Read the full story here.

• Ouattara forces storm Gbagbo residence.Pro-Ouattara forces ordered not to kill Laurent Gbagbo, still in bunker after fierce assault on his presidential palace.Forces loyal to Cote d'Ivoire's internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara have stormed the residence where his rival and incumbent president is holed up, a spokesman has said."Yes they [Ouattara forces] are in the process of entering the residence to seize [Laurent] Gbagbo, they have not taken him yet, but they are in the process; they are in the building," Affousy Bamba told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.Patrick Achi, another spokesman for Ouattara's parallel government, said troops had been ordered not to kill Gbagbo."Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice," he said.The news came hours after Edouard Guillaud, the French armed forces chief, said on Wednesday Gbagbo's departure would come in "a matter of hours".Earlier, Gbagbo said it was not his "aim to die" fighting Ouattara forces and called for direct talks with his rival."I'm not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I'm not looking for death. It's not my aim to die," Gbagbo, speaking from his residence on Tuesday, told the French TV channel LCI."For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us, have to talk," he added.Read and see the full story here.

• Peres: Obama wants real peace progress.Two presidents meet in Washington, discuss Middle East turmoil, Iran nuclear program and spy Jonathan Pollard. Obama says peaceful solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflic 'more urgent than ever'. Peres said after the meeting that Obama was very eager to renew a real peace process, not a show followed by a deadlock. "With the winds of change blowing through the Arab world, it's more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution between Palestinians and Israelis," Obama later told reporters.He warned that anti-democratic extremists could exploit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unless it is resolved.Peres invited Obama to take part in the Facing Tomorrow Presidential Conference to be held in Jerusalem in June. It was stated that Obama replied he will check his schedule but that the tone of his words was positive. During the meeting, the president asked for F-35 jets as well as US aid in purchasing Iron Dome batteries and maintaining Israel's competitive edge. Peres later said that Obama told him he was against the attempts to de-legitimize the State of Israel and that he is in favor of reigniting direct talks with the Palestinians. Obama stressed he was willing to embark on a peace process as long as it wouldn't be a one-off occasion. Peres told reporters his raised the Iranian issue during his meeting with Obama. He said Iran symbolizes the corruption of universal moral values. Peres noted that the US president reiterated his commitment to Israel's security which is at the top of the American administration's priorities. Obama told reporters the two had an extensive discussion about unrest sweeping the Middle East and share a belief that it represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Obama said it's "more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution" between the Palestinians and Israelis. Hmmmm.....Pure lies to get the Jewish votes,perhaps kiss a few Rabbis at the Kotel ,once he gets re-elected wipe Israel of the map with the UN help.Read the full comedy story here.

• Obama accused of 'rewarding terrorism' after dropping financial sanctions on Libyan Lockerbie 'mastermind' Musa Kusa.The Obama administration has been accused of ‘rewarding terrorism’ after dropping financial sanctions against the former Libyan foreign minister who defected to Britain.Relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing said that it ‘sent out totally the wrong message’ to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to Musa Kusa.He will also be allowed to conduct business dealings with Americans and U.S. companies to ensure that he has access to any funds he has built up for himself.The White House claimed the measure would encourage other Libyan officials to defect and share their knowledge of the regime.But the Lockerbie relatives said they were deeply distressed by the decision and that it went against the interests of justice.The move also comes after Washington was extremely harsh in its criticism of the British and Scottish governments for agreeing to free bomber Abdelbasset al-Megrahi.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went so far as to say that his ongoing survival is ‘an affront to the victims’ families’.Frank Duggan, president of Pan Am 103 inc, which represents the families of those who lost loved ones, said: ‘I’m flabbergasted. Unlocking the sanctions sends out totally the wrong message.’Brian Flynn, who lost his 21-year-old brother John Patrick in the Lockerbie bombing, added he and other relatives were alarmed by the decision.‘It’s all logical in the diplomatic game they need to play,’ he said.‘We all want to see Gadaffi brought down but at what cost to justice if you are rewarding somebody who has been accused of terrorist attacks?’Kusa, who defected to Britain last week, has been described by Libyan experts as ‘the left arm and the right arm of the regime, its bloodhound’.Hmmm....what's next for the Obama regime...Give Al-Qaida office space in the White House?Read the full story here.

• Bernard Lewis Sounds Alarm on Turkey, Iran.Turkey could be the next Iran. Turkey, once a bulwark against Islamic radicalism with its secular, pro-Western orientation, is changing. The Journal says that Lewis is alarmed by developments there. "In Turkey, the movement is getting more and more toward re-Islamization. The government has that as its intention—and it has been taking over, very skillfully, one part after another of Turkish society. The economy, the business community, the academic community, the media. And now they're taking over the judiciary, which in the past has been the stronghold of the republican regime."

Mutually Assured Destruction won't work with nuclear-armed mullahs. If Iran did get nuclear warheads, don't count on them never using such weapons for fear of an American or Israeli counter-strike. "During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States had nuclear weapons but both knew that the other was very unlikely to use them. Because of what was known at the time as MAD —mutually assured destruction. MAD meant that each side knew that if it used a nuclear weapon the other would retaliate and both sides would be devastated. And that's why the whole time during the Cold War, even at the worst times, there was not much danger of anyone using a nuclear weapon." Lewis thinks the imams in Iran "are religious fanatics with an apocalyptic mindset. In Islam, as in Christianity and Judaism, there is an end-of-times scenario—and they think it's beginning or has already begun. . . . mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent—it's an inducement."Hmmmmm....I could not agree more!Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina."Uncontrollable" Muslim Violence: The Latest Excuse.By Joseph Klein.Frontpage Magazine.On March 31, 2011, Pakistan’s United Nations ambassador, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, spoke to reporters at UN headquarters on behalf of the 56 member state Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ambassadorial Group, condemning the recent burning of a copy of the Koran by the pastors of a small Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida. He highlighted the OIC’s "grave concern that the despicable act had severely hurt the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world” and warned reporters that it could lead to “incidents that are uncontrollable."

The very next day Ambassador Haroon’s warning turned into a tragic, self-fulfilling prophesy. A large mob of demonstrators in Afghanistan, angry at the Koran burning and apparently responding to calls for revenge by three mullahs who had addressed worshipers at Friday prayer in one of Afghanistan’s holiest mosques, stormed a United Nations compound in the northern region of the country and killed a number of innocent people, including at least seven UN staff members – two reportedly by beheading. It was one of the worst attacks on UN personnel in Afghanistan since the war there began in 2001. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters, while in Nairobi, Kenya, that the attack was “outrageous and cowardly.”

Ambassador Haroon chose to turn up the heat on his Western audience and inflate the isolated act of a few extremists in one small church in Florida into a high profile global issue at the United Nations. He said that the international community needed to create the necessary conditions for ending such acts of bigotry and hatred. He also noted that the OIC had raised the Koran burning incident in Washington, D.C., and encouraged the United States Government to keep a close eye on such incidents "towards ensuring the exercise of restraint.” He added that “the present structure” of the OIC’s UN delegation has not yet proposed court action against the church or its pastors but said that could change.

Instead of doing the hard work of addressing his fellow Muslims in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and urging them to remain calm and peaceful, Ambassador Haroon unwittingly helped to sow the seeds of the violent acts against UN personnel by perpetrating the myth of a unique causal link between the Koran burning and “uncontrollable” reactions in the Muslim world, as if there were no killings of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. by Muslims for other manufactured reasons for many years before this incident.

Islamists don’t need an excuse to murder those they consider to be ‘infidels’ or ‘non-believers.’ It is in the DNA of Islamic ideology. In fact, Muslims also kill each other, as part of their own sectarian battles. When asked by a UN correspondent about the uptick in Sunni-Shiite violence, Ambassador Haroon said simply that "this is a very important point that should be raised and discussed."

The burning of the Koran by a couple of small time pastors, while certainly a crude and reprehensible act, was not the ultimate cause of the killing by Islamists of UN staff in Afghanistan or Christians praying in a church in Pakistan. Responsible Muslims, such as presumably Ambassador Haroon himself, have failed to lead efforts to reform their own religion and to marginalize the clerics and other Islamists who use the Koran and other Islamic teachings to incite hatred and violence against ‘non-believers.’

I also asked him whether the OIC was prepared to call for the allowance of Christian and Jewish Bibles or the holy texts of other religions in all Muslim countries as well as the building of public places of worship for religions other than Islam, which are prohibited today in Saudi Arabia. And I asked him whether he was prepared to condemn the anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan, which includes a death penalty for criticizing Islam or the Prophet Muhammad – the law under which a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, has been sentenced to death and is currently languishing in jail.

Ambassador Haroon responded that he could only speak for the situation in Pakistan. He said “There are Gideon Bibles in most hotels in Pakistan. They are not burned.”Ambassador Haroon is either ignorant of Bible burnings in Pakistan or is lying. Muslim fundamentalists have burnt Bibles in Pakistan for years before the unfortunate Koran burning in Florida. For example, in 2008 Muslim fundamentalists burned a Bible and other sacred texts in a Pakistani church, leaving a letter threatening Christians that they will “burn in the fire of hell” if they do not convert to Islam.

As bad as religious minorities have fared in Pakistan, at least churches are permitted there. In Saudi Arabia, the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Conference for which the Pakistani UN ambassador had purported to speak at the UN press conference, the Saudi government burns and desecrates hundreds of Bibles its security forces confiscate after raids on Christian expatriates worshiping privately or at border crossings. No comment was forthcoming from Ambassador Haroon, who limited himself to the situation in Pakistan in responding to my questions.

Ambassador Haroon noted that Pakistan’s anti- blasphemy law had been written originally by the British, only obliquely acknowledging that the death penalty had been added by Pakistan after it gained its independence. Two Pakistani government officials critical of the anti-blasphemy law and its death sentence – one of whom was a Christian – were murdered by Islamic fundamentalists. Ambassador Haroon said that his government was reviewing the anti-blasphemy law, including the death sentence imposed on Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who remains in jail. He said he would not “pre-judge the outcome of the ongoing discussions.”

Ambassador Haroon added that no one in Pakistan had yet received maximum punishment for blasphemy and, he said, many accused of blasphemy had been freed. The problem with his claim, according to Saroop Ijaz, a human rights attorney in Lahore, Pakistan, is that while no one has yet been executed by the government under Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law, "at least 32 people have been killed while awaiting trial or after they have been acquitted of blasphemy charges." Islamic mob justice does not depend on the outcome of a government trial.Hmmm....“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” Pope Benedict XVI . Read the full story here.

• Peter King on Holder Ripping Congress For Forcing 9/11 Plotters Into Military Tribunals: “Maybe Eric Holder Wants to Live in a Dictatorship, We Don’t”.The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee suggested that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign after criticizing Congress for interfering with the trial venues for the detainees at Guantánamo.Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Holder should resign if he’s so against trying the suspects before a military commission.“Maybe Eric Holder wants to live in a dictatorship, we don’t,” King said in an interview with Fox News. “If he feels so strongly about it [...] and this is such an issue of conscious for him, then Eric Holder should resign. If he feels this strongly he should resign on principle. It would do him good, it would certainly do us good. It would do the country good.”.Holder announced Monday the Justice Department would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and other suspects involved in the attacks before a military commission rather than in civilian court.During his announcement Holder blamed Congress for the reversal of Obama administration policy, saying the lawmakers weren’t as informed about the suspects as he is. Additionally, Holder said the policy reversal was a result of Congress blocking a transfer of Guantánamo Bay prisoners to a United States prison.Hmmmm.......Democracy versus dictatorship.Read the full story here.

• Bangladesh - When wives are set on fire for their dowry.At least 249 women were killed in 2010. Out of anger or vengeance, husbands throw kerosene on their wives and set them on fire. The problem is widespread despite the fact that Islamic law, which is in place in Bangladesh, requires would-be husbands to pay a price for their future wives.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – At least 249 women were killed in 2010 for their dowry, this according to the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR). Whether out of anger or for vengeance, husbands often beat their wives or set them on fire with kerosene, sometimes with the complicity of their families. In some cases, women are strangled and then hanged to simulate a suicide. The figures are incomplete though because many cases are not reported. In fact, if in 2007, there were 145 recorded cases, dropping to 114 in 2008 and 109 in 2009, the numbers last year showed a marked reversal. At the same time, the BSEHR also reported that last year at least 122 women were tortured.

Under the existing dowry system, a bride’s family must pay her future groom a sum of money. The practice first appeared some 50 years ago. Before that, would-be husbands had to pay instead a ‘bride price’ to the woman’s family in accordance with Islamic law. The change appears to be the result of an imbalance in the country’s demography, as there were more women than men of marriageable age at that time. For example in 1950, the population of women of marriageable age was 10 per cent more than that of eligible men; by 1975, the percentage had risen to 43.However, men do not necessarily demand a dowry before marriage; in some cases, they do it afterwards to assert their authority over their wives when the latter do not obey. Violence can ensue in a number of situations in a society where tradition places the husband in a position of superiority. Not all families are willing or financially capable of paying a dowry for their daughters, a situation that some husbands see as an insult that calls for vengeance.This kind of tragedy occurs in both big cities and small villages, among upper middle classes as well as the poor. A few months ago for instance, a university professor was killed over her dowry.

In 1980, a law banning dowries was adopted. Since then, it has been changed two or three times. Nevertheless, it is in not enforced, partly because of police negligence, partly because of threats from grooms’ families. The law itself is also very vague and provides little guidance for enforcement. This ends up penalising the weakest party, i.e. women.Even so, Bangladesh has signed the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the 30-article United Nations treaty that defines discrimination against women and sets out ways to fight it. However, Bangladesh has not accepted Article 16, which requires measures to eliminate discrimination against women in matters relating to marriage and family, because it contradicts Islamic law. Religious institutions have a key role to play in all this. Unfortunately, it is well known that mosque leaders are not concerned by the practice even if it is contrary to the Qur‘an.There are some exceptions. Every year, a Muslim spiritual group organises a mass gathering that draws millions of people. During the event, hundreds of couples get married, publicly announcing their intention to renounce the dowry and wed in accordance to Islamic principles.This shows that at least one group is aware of the dire consequences of a problem too often ignored by most mosque leaders. More generally, conservative Muslims religious leaders have opposed changes to the law itself. Hmmm......."Welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.

• RUSSIA - Moscow Patriarchate calls on the faithful to hang the crucifix in schools and offices. Moscow (AsiaNews) – Fresh controversy has broken out in Russia between the Orthodox Church and human rights organizations. The head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for Relations between the Church and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has appealed to the community of believers to be more courageous in showing their faith. "We should have no qualms about making the sign of the cross wherever we like, or hanging an image of the crucifix, where we live and work," the priest wrote in an article published in the April issue of the Orthodox journal Sovereign Rus'. The idea of the crucifix in the workplace or in schools has angered human rights activists. "The problem in our society is not the number of crucifixes on the walls, but immorality," Lev Ponomarev, a noted leader of a human rights movement, told Interfax. "Concern yourselves more with prayers and sermons - he continued, addressing Chaplin – and not with pushing for official displays of Orthodox attributes”. He stressed that in Russia, church and state are separate and attacked the Patriarchate’s interference in civil society. "I think that religious symbols have no place in public offices, schools or in institutions - added Ponomarev – for example, if they were hung in schools, what would the many Muslims say? Would they start asking to hang the crescent? And why is it needed? All this will only contribute to dividing society. " Ponomarev has, however, admitted that if some people work in offices that are considered Orthodox, nobody has the right to prevent them from hanging a cross. " Bolstered by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights that has found display of crucifixes in classrooms not in violation of human rights, Chaplin continues to launch high-impact hypothesis on a society that is still recovering from 70 years of state atheism. In the case against Italy raised by a citizen of Finnish origin Sole Lautsi, the Moscow Patriarchate has always openly supported Italy.Hmmm.....The Russian Church survived Communisme it will survive the other plagues also!Read the full story here. 

• Mystery scars on Obama's head prompt another question from conspiracy theorists - has the President had brain surgery?He has been plagued with questions and doubts concerning his background throughout his first term as president.Questions like - is Barack Obama actually American? Is he a Muslim? Is he actually an alien from another planet? - have frequently been asked.The next question circulating on the internet - has President Obama had brain surgery?Internet blog sites, conspiracy theorists and forums are awash with rumours as to what those mystery scars on the president's head are from. In pictures, Obama appears to have a long scar which goes up the side of his head and over his crown.Some conspiracy theorists claim they are scars that you would see on someone who has had brain surgery.But without medical records (along with his school records and birth certificate) no one seems to be able to provide an answer as to cause of the mystery scars.Ben Hart, a blogger for Escape the Tyranny said: 'Obama's almost done with his first term, and we still know almost nothing about the background of the President of the United States. 'Whatever happened to create that scar, it was clearly something serious. Was it a brain operation? Has it affected his thinking?'No one is allowed to see his birth certificate. He is just one big mystery man, which adds intrigue to what that huge scar is all about.He also said that surgery might explain why the President gets lost speaking without a Teleprompter, and posted a video of Obama struggling through a speech, repeating his words and getting lost mid-sentence.Added to that are the fact his medical records have also been sealed.A spokeswoman from the White House said they were not willing to comment on such claims, saying they were 'ridiculous'.Countless neurosurgeons said it is 'not their place' to comment on whether or not distinctive scars on the President's head are as a result of brain surgery.Others offered explanations such as a bad haircut or even a birthmark though many did agree that the scars are similar to those a produced after major brain surgery.Without medical records or an admission from the White House, the public may never know the answer to the question, along with the contents of his birth certificate.Hmmmm.....Conjoined twins ?So did we get stuck with the 'evil' one?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Warns the US and Its Allies Not to Intervene Militarily in the Region: "Iran and the Other Countries Will Strike You with an Iron Fist" and "Will Dig Graves for Your Soldiers"Read and see the full story here.

• HT:FreedomMessenger.Iran secretly buries mutilated bodies of five executed political prisoners in desert.This report has come to us from Iran. Some of it has been omitted to keep the identity of the sender secret.This report was received at 4 am on Monday March 21.[Pictured on the right: Confidential letter to the Prosecutor General by a Shobeiri and Ahmad Vahid announcing their agreement with the execution of five political prisoners charged with espionage for Israel. The above mentioned officials request that these executions be secretly carried out stating that because they include a Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, the execution should be organized in a way to prevent media attention and suggest that they be hanged in the New Year holidayese executions be secretly carried out stating that because they include a Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, the execution should be organized in a way to prevent media attention and suggest that they be hanged in the New Year holiday.]Five people were hanged on charges of espionage for Israel and acting against national security. Two of these people had cards with old pictures from the 80’s. They were a husband and wife. The woman did not have a left ear as if it was completely cut off in the past. Their tongues were also cut off halfway in a way that they were unable to speak. A woman and two other men were also executed but did not have pictures on their cards. Their bodies were full of wounds and bruises. They (security forces) had brought their dossiers with them and buried these five people in the desert region in the Qom road. Hmmmm.....That should give them an extra seat at the UN human rights commission for women?Read the full story here.

• HT:RightSideNews.Israel’s Samson Option.If, while watching the disturbing events in the Middle East, you are not focusing your attention on Israel – then you are looking in the wrong place.Once, a very long time ago, I heard someone refer to Israel as the “world’s canary in the coal mine.” That is as apt a description of modern Israel as I have ever heard.As I watch events in the Muslim countries surrounding Israel deteriorate it looks, for all the world, as if we are racing toward Armageddon. The great armies, just now dipping their toes into the deepening unrest in that region, are unaware that they are playing out a story line written thousands of years ago.Those of us who have read that storyline know how the story ends and, too, we are aware of the events leading up to the true “Mother of all Battles.”

For the first time in its history, America is on the wrong side.Our President with his loyalty to the world and not to the country that trusted him with the sacred duty to be leader of America and Commander-in-Chief of the mightiest military force in all of history has gone over to the “Dark Side.” He has turned his back on the one nation, which occupies the most important piece of real estate on the globe. He has made it clear he favors the countries, which consider themselves Israel ’s most ardent enemies.Israel knows they, now, stand alone. Just this past weekend, Israel deployed their homegrown antimissile defense system “Iron Dome.” Another anti-missile defense system, a shorter-range system as we understand it, is in the pipeline and scheduled for deployment soon. Israel is getting ready for the coming conflagration when all the Muslim anger, boiling in the crucible of that region, boils over and pours onto their tiny country.Without America standing wit Israel , Israel stands a better than 50-50 chance of being over run and wiped out as a country. The Israelis have planned for that. The pan is referred to as: “The Samson Option.”The “Samson Option” is Israel ’s strategy of massive nuclear retaliation against “enemies” should its existence as a Jewish state be jeopardized through military attack. The term was inspired by the Biblical figure Samson, who destroyed a Philistine temple, killing himself, and thousands of Philistine enemies. The Samson option is a strategy of last resort retaliation - even if it means Israel ’s own annihilation.It has been estimated by so-called experts that Israel has at least 400 thermo-nuclear weapons. They can be launched from land, sea, and air. This means that Israel has a second strike option -- even if much of the country is destroyed.Hmmmm......And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it….Zech. 12:3.Read the full story here.

• HT:SheikJermani.From Ivory Coast to Ethiopia: Muslims are Making Slaughter in the Land.Thousands of refugees from the Ivory Coast in Liberia are reporting that the the pro-Quattara Muslim rebels are killing people and raping women. They are killing “everyone and anyone.” There are even rumors of cannibalism.Warning extremely graphic images!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iraqi Christians Demand An Autonomous Region, Yazidi Minority Objects.Iraqi Christians population is around 400,000 to 600,000, down from a 2003 prewar level of 1.4 million.Iraqi MPs representing Christians are demanding the formation of an autonomous area in the country’s northern province of Mosul.Iraqi lawmakers welcomed their demands, and said that an autonomous Christian region should be based upon "new administrative grounds that could be supported by external parties hosting Christian refugees."Iraqi MPs representing their Christian constituency see the demand as reasonable, after the continuous marginalization of their community who have been caught between Shiite-Sunni crossfire since the U.S. toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003. However, representatives of other minorities, mainly the Yazidis, rejected the demands, saying that the Christian component is a minority in these regions and therefore not eligible to form an autonomous presence.Yazidis are Kurdish-speaking people whose religion traces back to the ancient Indo-Iranian roots with a mixture from the Islamic Sufi doctrine. Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iranian, Turkish Artillery Shells Iraqi Kurdistan.Iranian artillery yesterday shelled for hours the border area of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Regional Government. There were no casualties, but no estimate was made of the material damage. A member of al-Iraqiya declared that Iran plans to fill the vacuum that will be created upon the departure of the U.S. military from Iraq at the end of the calendar year.Similarly, Turkish artillery shelled villages in the Kurdish province of Duhouk. The Turkish military has been shelling the area periodically because of suspicions that it harbors elements of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.Hmmm...Turkey the so called 'NATO" ally working together with Iran.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri."The Axes of Evil"becoming visible?Iranian, Turkish FMs: Withdraw Foreign Troops From Bahrain.Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu have called for the withdrawal of foreign [i.e. Saudi] troops from Bahrain, and for an immediate advancement of a peaceful solution to the crisis there. Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the Bahraini opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, called on Saudi Arabia to withdraw its troops from the country, and called for a dialogue that would lead to the establishment of an elected government.Hmmmm.....Seems like the Saudi King has to deal with more then one 'snake'.Get Turkey out of NATO before they nuke us with our own weapons!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Saudi Religious Police Undergo Training To Combat Black Magic.A total of 30 officials of Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, i.e. the religious police,have been trained on how to deal with cases of black magic.The three-day training program was held in the Eastern Province city of Al-Ahsa, Arab News reported.The commission has achieved remarkable success in combating black magic in various parts of the country. It has set up nine specialized centers in the main cities to deal with black magicians.The majority of people arrested for practicing black magic in the Kingdom are Africans and Indonesians.Hmmm....Dealing with Djinies will be taught in the next semester?Read the full story here.