MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 14. Here .(Al-Jazeera).
• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.5 and 5.4! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 86.On 14.04.2011 at 09:19 GMT+2
  
  Operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant faced a uphill battle in removing harmful radioactive water at the facility Thursday, since the level of contaminated water in its underground trench turned out to be rising again. Tokyo Electric Power Co. removed some 660 tons of highly contaminated water in the past two days from one of the trenches to a "condenser" inside the No.2 reactor turbine building. The condenser has a capacity to store 3,000 tons of liquid. But the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that the water level at the vertical part of the trench as of 07: 00 a.m. local time Thursday had increased by about 3.5 centimeters from the level observed at 6 p.m. local time Wednesday, according to Kyodo News report. The agency's official said that the rise is likely linked to the continued water injection into the No. 2 reactor core. Thursday's reading is about 2.5 centimeters lower than the figure before the removing started. Radioactive water was found in the basements of the No.1 to No.3 reactor turbine buildings, and the nearby trenches connected to them. The water totaled about 60,000 tons. Removing the water to nearby tanks and other storage places is considered vital to the attempt of restoring the key cooling functions at the reactors.
  
  Situation Update No. 85 - On 13.04.2011 at 17:51 GMT+2
  
  For the first time since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated the country, Japanese authorities have reported that they have discovered minute amounts of radioactive strontium in areas of the country. The tiny amounts of radioactive strontium were detected in both soil and plants in Fukushima Prefecture, and beyond the 30-kilometer zone that Japan has established around the struggling Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which has a total of six reactors. The plant is owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). The 30-kilometer zone consists of an evacuation zone of 20-kilometers, along with a further 10-kilometer zone where residents are told to remain indoors. Earlier, this Monday, the government announced an expansion of the evacuation zone for some municipalities. Those would be evacuated if tests show high levels of accumulated radiation. The evacuation zone might extend as far as the 30-km radius.
  
  Radioactive strontium-90 has a half-life of 28.90 years. The amounts discovered are minute, for now, but the human body absorbs strontium as though it were calcium, because of their chemical similarities. Thus, strontium-90 can lead to various bone disorders and diseases, including leukemia. Earlier, radioactive cesium and iodine had been discovered. For some, the government encouraged potassium iodide pills. However, experts, including the CDC, noted that those pills only protect against radioactive iodine and in addition, only protects the thyroid gland against radiation. Any other part of the human body exposed to radioactive iodine, such as the lungs, is not protected. Additionally, other experts warned against taking potassium iodide unnecessarily. The CDC noted that potassium iodide can be harmful to people who are allergic to the substance or who have the skin disorders dermatitis herpetiformis or urticaria vasculitis. In addition, those with thyroid conditions could worsen them.
  
  Despite the negative news, on Tuesday Sendai airport launched its first flights since March 11 after a major repair operation. The airport had been seriously damaged by the tsunami, with hundreds of cars and even houses washed across the runway. Additionally, after the tsunami, fires also broke out in some of the aircraft hangars.Here .

• Japan  : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog

• Serfhood - Obama’s Tax Increase Trigger: Punishing Taxpayers with Automatic Tax Hikes When Politicians Overspend.Responding to widespread criticism of his AWOL status on the budget fight, President Obama today unveiled a fiscal plan. It already is being criticized for its class warfare approach to tax policy, but the most disturbing feature may be a provision that punishes the American people with higher taxes if politicians overspend.Called a “debt failsafe trigger,” Obama’s scheme would automatically raise taxes if politicians spend too much. According to the talking points distributed by the White House, the automatic tax increase would take effect “if, by 2014, the projected ratio of debt-to-GDP is not stabilized and declining toward the end of the decade.”Let’s ponder what this means. If politicians in Washington spend too much and cause more red ink, which happens on a routine basis, Obama wants a provision that automatically would raise taxes on the American people.In other words, they play and we pay. The last thing we need is a perverse incentive for even more reckless spending from Washington.Hmmmm.....Your 'majesty' we the people had enough.Read the full story here.

• IMF: World Banks Face $3.6 Trillion “Wall” of Maturing Debt.The world’s banks face a $3.6 trillion “wall of maturing debt” in the next two years and must compete with debt-laden governments to secure financing, the IMF (has) warned.Japan and the United States face the largest public debt rollovers of any advanced economy at 56 percent and 29 percent of gross domestic product, respectively. . . .So between the World’s banks, USA and Japan, we’re looking at a staggering figure of $10.533 Trillion or $10,533,000,000,000 to refinance.Too get an idea just how big a number that really is, instead of cash owed think of the number in seconds. 10.533 Trillion Seconds = 333,999.24 years or 3,339.99 Centuries.It will probably take them that long to pay it off. Like I said, it is a staggering amount of cash owed.Hmmmm......Don't worry 'Dear leader'will give then a few speeches as collateral.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGovernment.Obama Administration Ignores Federal Law to Regulate Internet.We have repeatedly written about our having to endure between now and November 2012 the intentional policy and political schizophrenia of the Barack Obama Administration.For public consumption – with the perpetual assistance of his servile media – there will be the “new” President Barack Obama. The “shellacked,” humbled man who claims to get that his Party’s policies were historically rejected by the American people. Whose now moderated, bipartisan, Triangulated work with the Republicans will make former President and 1994 “shellackee” Bill Clinton look recalcitrant and amateur….Going forward, in real terms, President Obama is incapable of a (President Bill) Clinton-esque move to the Middle. He will do his best to put on a public show, but his Big-Government-At-All-Costs agenda will continue unabated. It will just be done behind the scenes via rampant, abusive expansion of the vast regulatory authority at his disposal.Every Commission, every Agency, every Board in the federal pantheon will ratchet up their orders, rules and directives. To impose via executive branch regulatory fiat what President Obama can no longer get done in Congress. In other words, bypass the obviously expressed will of the American people for smaller, more accountable government – so as to continue jamming through his on-all-fronts Titanic Government plan. And do so without the People’s representatives at all involved in the process.The Administration’s first post-election, venomous bite at this secret apple was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s December 21st under-cover-of-Christmas vote to illegally commandeer control of the wired Internet – so as to then impose Network Neutrality.Which puts a regulatory hammer lock on the Internet free market.About which former Obama Deputy Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Susan Crawford just said : “(R)egulating these guys into an inch of their life is exactly what needs to happen.”Mission accomplished. And how very reassuring for our foundering economy – and the job providers who are the key to the recovery.Hmmmm.....Democracy or dictatorship?Read the full story here.

• Obama: My Vision Is An America “Where We Live Within Our Means”.This is my vision for America: A vision where we live within our means while still investing in our future, where everyone makes sacrifices, but no one bears all the burden, where we provide a basic measure of security for our citizens and we provide rising opportunity for our children. There will be those who vigorously disagree with my approach. I can guarantee that as well. Some will argue, we should not even consider ever, ever raising taxes even if only on the wealthiest Americans. It’s just an article of faith to them,” President Obama said in his address on the deficit and debt.Hmmmm.....Surely this man is overdue for a medical checkup?Read the full story here

• Obama Ripped For Allowing $600 Million Cut To Health Centers For Needy That Don’t Provide Abortions While Protecting Planned Parenthood Funding.(Daily Caller) – The American Principles Project (APP) Wednesday criticized the Obama administration for allowing the elimination of $600 million for Community Health Centers while protecting funding for Planned Parenthood as part of last week’s budget deal agreed to by Congress and the White House.Touting Planned Parenthood as a key women’s health-care provider, Democrats held firm to their promise not to allow cuts to the nation’s largest abortion provider.Community Health Centers, which do not perform abortions, provide health services to the needy — including mammograms and pre- and post-natal care.According to the American Principles Project last year Community Health Centers performed 320,000 mammograms while Planned Parenthood did none.“Coating its ideology in flowery language about women’s health and alleged Republican mean-spiritedness, liberal Democrats refused to cut one dime out of Planned Parenthood’s plump federal purse during the budget debate,” said the president of APP, Frank Cannon. “All the while a sharp knife was being taken to community health centers that actually perform full-scale exams for the needy. These health centers offer prenatal care to women and their babies – 480,000 times in 2009 alone. Planned Parenthood? Their 850 clinics average less than one prenatal visit a month, in other words, it’s not their line of work.”Hmmmm......The true BigBrother Society no expences for the needy and limit the future expences (birthrate).Read the full story here.

• Arizona passes 'birther' bill after Donald Trump questions Obama's birth certificate.Days after its main sponsor met with Donald Trump, Arizona's 'birther bill' has passed the state Senate.The bill requires presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens before they can be included on Arizona's ballot and receive any votes from the state.Candidates who don't have a long form of their birth certificate are also given the option to show two alternative documents, including a baptismal or circumcision certificate, a hospital birth record or a post-partum medical record.The bill approved would make Arizona the first state to pass such legislation. Democrats say it exceeds the state's authority.It now goes to the House for a final vote.The bill was approved only by Republicans at 20-9.Senate President Russell Pearce told reporters: 'This is an obligation the state has. Verification is not only legitimate, it’s appropriate.'The proposal is prompted by Donald trump's on-going crusade to prove that President Obama was not actually born in Hawaii but in Kenya.In an interview with CNN he pointed out that there are no photos of President Obama from when he was younger, only in his teenage years. He also claims that no one remembers him from school.He said: 'If you go back to my first grade, my kindergarten, people remember me. Nobody from those early years remembers him. 'If you're going to be president of the United States, it says very profoundly you have to be born in this country.Sarah Palin has now jumped on the Trump bandwagon, despite saying in February that the 'birther' issue was a distraction from more important issues.Perhaps fuelled by Trump's recent rise in the polls, she came out over the weekend to defend his attempts saying: 'I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources on something that so interests him and so many Americans, you know more power to him.'Obviously there is something that the president doesn't want people to see, that he sees going to great lengths to make sure it isn't shown. And I think that's perplexing for a lot of people.'Hmmm......I for one would love to see a baptismal certificate.Read the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.The Obama Legacy: 8 Charts That Will Blow Your Mind.It's one thing to review the raw data, but it's another thing altogether to see the numbers represented in graphical form.Hmmmm......Behold the state of the 'Obamanation"!Read and SEE the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.25 Shocking Facts That Prove That The Entire U.S. Health Care Industry Has Become One Giant Money Making Scam.What is the appropriate word to use when you find out that the top executive at the third largest health insurance company in America raked in 68.7 million dollars in 2010? How is one supposed to respond when one learns that more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies make over a billion dollars in profits each year? Is it okay to get angry when you discover that over 90 percent of all hospital bills contain "gross overcharges"? Once upon a time, going into the medical profession was seen as a "noble" thing to do. But now the health care industry in the United States has become one giant money making scam and it is completely dominated by health insurance companies, pharmaceutical corporations, lawyers and corporate fatcats. In America today, just one trip to the hospital can cost you tens of thousands of dollars even if you do not stay for a single night. The sad thing is that the vast majority of the money that you pay out for medical care does not even go to your doctor. In fact, large numbers of doctors across the United States are going broke. Rather, it is the "system" that is soaking up almost all of the profits. We have a health care industry in the United States that is fundamentally broken and it needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.

But wasn't that what Obamacare was supposed to do? No, in fact Obamacare was largely written by representatives from the health insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry. Once it was signed into law the stocks of most health insurance companies went way up.The truth is that Obamacare was one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern American history. It did nothing to fix our health care problems. Rather, it just made all of our health care problems much worse.

In case you haven't noticed, health insurance companies all over the United States have announced that they are going to raise premiums significantly due to the new law. Of course they are just using it as an excuse. They have been sticking it to us good for the last several decades and they just grab hold of whatever excuse they can find to justify the latest rate hike.If you are looking for a legal way to drain massive amounts of money out of average Americans just become a health care company executive. Health care has become perhaps the greatest money making scam in the United States. When Americans are sick and have to go to the hospital most of them aren't really thinking about how much it will cost. At that point they are super vulnerable and ready to be exploited.The system is broken.Everyone knows it.But it never gets fixed.The following are 25 shocking facts that prove that the entire U.S. health care industry is one giant money making scam....Read the full story here.

• Pakistan: Christian Girls Forced to Convert to Islam; Rapes, Coersion, Abuse.In Pakistan forced conversions to Islam, rapes and forced marriages are on the rise. The victims are mostly Hindu and Christian girls, belonging to religious minorities. A report sent to Fides by the Centre for Legal Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which takes care of legal assistance for Christians who are discriminated against and persecuted in Pakistan.LAHORE, Pakistan (Agenzia Fides) - In Pakistan forced conversions to Islam, rapes and forced marriages are on the rise. The victims are mostly Hindu and Christian girls, belonging to religious minorities, complain Fides local sources. This has been a worrying phenomenon for the Church in Pakistan for some time and that the Church is trying to address, looking for the cooperation of institutions but it is an uphill battle. "The Christian girls are the weakest and most vulnerable, because their communities are poor, defenceless and marginalized, therefore easily exposed to harassment and threats. Often they do not even have the courage to denounce the violence," says a sister to Fides. The sister hides and assists the girls who have managed to escape. "But the trend is worrying: There are hundreds of cases a year registered and those that come to light are only a fraction," she says. In a society that tolerates discrimination of religious minorities, especially of women, the dominant religion and related social position are used to impose tyranny.A report sent to Fides by the Centre for Legal Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which takes care of legal assistance for Christians who are discriminated against and persecuted in Pakistan, confirms this issue, reporting some terrible cases that occur mainly in province of Punjab. Sidra Bibi, 14 year old Christian in the district of Sheikhupura in Punjab, is the daughter of a worker in the cotton industry. A Muslim from the village had his eye on her and began to molest her, and eventually abducted and raped her before threatening her with death. Physically and psychologically abused, the girl became pregnant. She managed to escape from her tormentor and is now back, in a state of exhaustion, with her family. Police have refused to accept her complaint and now the CLAAS lawyers are handling the case.Hmmmm.......The 'people' the Obama administration is supporting.Read the full story here.

• Turkey protests anti-immigrant party’s poster in Belgium.The Turkish Embassy in Brussels has condemned a far-right party after it used posters depicting Turkish and Moroccan immigrants as a sheep being kicked out of Europe. The poster was presented at a conference of the anti-immigrant Flaman Vlaams Belang party over the weekend. It features a white sheep that symbolizes European states exiling a red sheep with printed flags of Turkey and Morocco. It reportedly is based on a similar poster used earlier in another European country, Switzerland.Turkish Ambassador to Belgium Murat Ersavcı said in a statement that Turkey condemned the poster, saying it was racist and xenophobic and that it stirs ethnic hatred. “It thus constitutes a crime under Belgian law,” the ambassador said, underlining that Turkey was in contact with the Belgian Foreign Ministry and other authorities to express its objections over and seek action against the poster.Speaking at the weekend conference, Vlaams Belang leader Bruno Valkeniers said Flemish cities have begun to look like Moroccan cities, with mosques mushrooming all over the region, and called on the Belgian government to shut the country’s doors to immigrants. Valkeniers also proposed the establishment of an anti-immigration network bringing together other like-minded parties across Europe.Vlaams Belang is only one of the far-right parties denouncing immigration that has been witnessing a surge in their electoral support in the past years in Europe. In liberal Sweden, the far-right Sweden Democrats, a party with a neo-Nazi history, won 20 seats in the parliamentary elections in September. In the Netherlands, the country’s center-right minority government depends on support from anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom, and polls show the party is second only to the Liberals.Source .

• HT:Sweasel.Millionaires’n'billionaires! Cut together all the times Obama mentioned the wealthy in his “budget” speech tonight .Wow. I thought this would be funny. Actually, it makes me want to start slapping and then slap some more and then give him a big ol’ slap. Slappity-slappity-slappity, mister class warrior man.Two observations — he frequently made references to “as long as I’m president” and things that will happen in 2014, as though his next term is in the bag. And he repeatedly used the brain-hurty expression “spending reductions in the tax code” which, apparently, means new taxes (update: Joe Collins tells me this means elimination of some deductions and shelters).Did he think that would fly?Hmmm......Does anyone still believe his BS?Read and see the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Dubai police beat British tourist to death... for cursing.I hope that reader will now consider avoiding Dubai for the sake of his own safety. These people are nuts. A British tourist was beaten to death by officers in a Dubai police station after being arrested for swearing, it was claimed yesterday.Lee Bradley Brown, 39, was on holiday at a £1,000-a-night hotel in the Arab state when he was thrown into a filthy cell.Police sources say he was ‘badly beaten up’ by a group of police officers, leaving him unconscious on the floor.Inmates told how they watched officers bundle him into a body-bag and drag him out of the building.During Mr Brown’s six days in Bur Dubai police station, guards refused to give him enough food and water and did not let him see a lawyer, it is alleged.His sister learned about the attack when she received a phone call from an inmate on Sunday, claiming her brother had been beaten.The prisoner found her phone number on a photocopy of her brother’s passport which had been left behind in the cell.She contacted the British Embassy in Dubai, and on Monday an official was sent to visit Mr Brown at the police station.But the official was turned away by an officer who claimed Mr Brown did not want to see him and had ‘declined consular assistance’.His sister, who did not want to be named, received another phone call from the inmate saying he had seen her brother’s body being taken out in a body-bag.A source told the Daily Mail last night: ‘He suffered a really bad beating which must have caused some terrible internal injuries.‘The poor bloke stood no chance at all. At one stage he was thrown against the concrete wall of a cell and landed badly.‘Then the guards tried to hush it up and pretend nothing had happened.’Hmmmm......"See Dubai and die?"Read the full story here.More here .

• From the Bosphorus: Straight - The need to avert a new flotilla crisis.We reported in our Wednesday paper that Gaby Levy, Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, has called on Turkey not to allow the human rights organization İHH to send another aid convoy to Gaza in the form of a flotilla, noting that the move would be a “provocation.”The ambassador emphasized that Israel has no problem with transporting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip through legal means, praising the work that Türk Kızılay, the Turkish Red Crescent, is doing there. We hope that the aid flotilla, which is scheduled to depart in June, probably after the elections in Turkey, does not fall victim to political “provocations” from any of the parties who hold a stake in what is a tricky situation with multiple layers.We believe that Israel should give up on its illegal blockade of Gaza and allow materials like concrete to reach Gazans who want to rebuild their shattered infrastructure. However, we are also weary of the political motivations behind the sending of the flotilla.The fiasco that became of last year’s Gaza aid flotilla came as a shock even to some top diplomats in Turkey and Israel who were in close contact prior to the Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara ship that left eight Turks and one Turkish-American dead. As we have over a month to go before the proposed aid flotilla sets out, we hope that all the actors involved have learned valuable lessons from last year’s disaster and that cooler heads can prevail. Given the political turmoil and uncertainty racking the region, revisiting a “Turkish-Israeli” crisis now would be the last thing any responsible person would seek. As people throughout the region demonstrate their yearning for a say in the political process, Turkey and Israel, both with well-established democratic traditions, should set a good example for the region by narrowing their differences through dialogue.One possible solution that has been proposed is that Israel allow a flotilla to deliver materials to Gaza so long as İHH submits the ships to international inspectors who can verify that the ships pose no national security threat to Israel, politics excluded. We believe this may be an elegant solution, and one that will benefit Gazans the most.Hmmmmmm......"Elegance" like in 'Tirez les premiers Messieurs les Israéliens'?Read the full story here.

• Iran: Bill banning dogs from public places introduced in parliament.Tehran, 13 April (AKI) - Members of Iran's parliament have sponsored a bill barring dogs from public places because they are "unclean" and keeping pets is an "un-Islamic" custom, according to Iran's state news agency Irna.Under the bill, dog owners will be banned from taking their pets out into public spaces and in vehicles. First-time offenders will be fined five million riyals (around 4,800 dollars) and will be given 10 days to dispose of their dog.If the dog owner fails to comply with these rules, health authorities will be called in to remove the dog from its owner. It is unclear what would be done to the dog.The health ministry has been asked to enforce the rules, as have city councils and the 280-member parliament’s culture committee, Irna reported.Besides being “unclean,” keeping dogs as pets goes against Iranian values, as it is a pratice which indicates the influence of Western culture, according the 39 MPs who tabled the bill.Hardliners have moved to crack down on dog ownership, which has been on the rise in recent years in Iran, especially among citizens in the affluent neighborhoods of the capital, Tehran.In June 2010, Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi issued a fatwa or religious edict against keeping dogs as pets, and police have fined dog owners and confiscated pets from streets and parks.An exception has been made for working canines such as guard dogs and sheep dogs.Hmmmm......Next it will be the NY cabbies who will refuse 'unclean' dogs?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Assad playing Saudis and Iran off against each other? Syrian President Bashar al-Assad headed for Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah. The embattled Syrian President Bashar al Assad, is heading to Riyadh on Wednesday to meet with Saudi King Abdallah bin Abdel Aziz, according Okaz newspaper.The meeting, according to the Saudi paper will highlight bilateral relations at the political, economic and trade levels; in addition, to discussing the Palestinian peace process and dialogue and the developments in the Arab world.Note what apparently was not on the agenda: What is going on in Syria itself.Ah, but you thought that Assad was in Iran's court and that Iran and Saudi Arabia are rivals. Well, that's true too.Iran is secretly helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad put down pro-democracy demonstrations, according to U.S. officials, who say Tehran is providing gear to suppress crowds and assistance blocking and monitoring protesters' use of the Internet, cellphones and text-messaging.Secretly?Hmmmmm......Read the full story here.