MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 26. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Syria Live Blog - April 26. Here (Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world low seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.9 and 5.0! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 99..On 26.04.2011 at 11:52 GMT+2
  
  Water may be leaking from the No. 1 reactor's container vessel at Japan's quake-crippled nuclear plant, the government nuclear safety agency said Tuesday. The agency said robots would be used to examine the inside of the reactor building as any leakage would interfere with the effort to keep the nuclear fuel inside the reactor pressure vessel cool. "We are currently examining data, but we think that there is water leakage to some extent," agency spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama told reporters. The cooling work involves filling the vessel pressure vessel with water but to do that any leakage must be stopped. Any leakage from the container vessels could cause the submerged fuel to be exposed. The Wall Street Journal reported the nuclear safety agency spokesman also has leakage concerns about the No. 4 reactor spent fuel pool, which has the most used and active fuel rods among the plant's six reactor buildings. Most of the Fukushima plant's reactors were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which knocked out their cooling systems, requiring workers to keep injecting large quantities of water into the reactor buildings. However, this process has caused tons of highly radioactive water to collect in the basement of the reactor buildings, which needs to be drained out. "The robots will examine if there are any leaks and whether the water filling operation can move forward," Nishiyama was quoted as saying. Such robots have been used earlier to measure radiation levels in other reactors. Source : Here .

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

• Al Qaeda's 'number two' in Afghanistan is killed after four-year manhunt.A senior Al Qaeda leader and the second most wanted insurgent in the country has been killed after a four-year manhunt in Afghanistan. Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a Saudi Arabian, was killed 12 days ago in Dangam district as he met other senior insurgents and Al Qaeda members, an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement said. The regional commander was in charge of suicide bombings and the organisation's cash flow. "Abdul Ghani was responsible for the co-ordination of numerous high-profile attacks. On the morning of his death, he reportedly directed the suicide attack that killed tribal elder Malik Zarin and nine other Afghan civilians," ISAF said.Abu Hafs al-Najdi was al Qaeda's operations chief for Kunar and was responsible for establishing insurgent camps and training sites throughout the volatile mountain province. ISAF said he was one of more than 25 al Qaeda operatives killed in Afghanistan during operations over the past month in the leadup to Afghanistan's summer fighting months. News of his death came a day after hundreds of insurgents tunnelled their way out of a high-security jail in southern Kandahar, triggering an extensive manhunt and tightening of security along the Pakistan border. Najdi, whose real name was Saleh Naiv Almakhlvi Day, controlled and armed a network of insurgents that targeted Afghan and ISAF security force outposts throughout Kunar, including two in February, ISAF said. He was also No.23 on Saudi Arabia's list of 85 most wanted militants issued in 2009, which said he was active in either Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran. ISAF began hunting him in Afghanistan in 2007. ISAF said Najdi was with a Pakistani Qaeda operative named Waqas when the airstrike took place, killing both, as well as an unspecified number of other insurgents.Hmmmm.....No doubt ten others are waiting to take his place.Read the full story here.

• Thousands of Syrian troops raid rebellious city.(Breitbart).Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in before dawn to the city where Syria's anti-government uprising began, causing panic in the streets when they opened fire indiscriminately on civilians and went house-to-house rounding up suspected protesters. At least 11 people were killed and 14 others lay in the streets—either dead or gravely wounded, witnesses said. The military raids on the southern city of Daraa and at least two other areas suggested Syria is trying to impose military control on the centers of protests against President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades. Residents and human rights activists said the regime wants to terrify opponents and intimidate them from staging any more demonstrations.

The offensive was meticulously planned: Electricity, water and mobile phone services were cut. Security agents armed with guns and knives conducted house-to-house sweeps, neighborhoods were sectioned off and checkpoints were erected before the sun rose.

"They have snipers firing on everybody who is moving," a witness told The Associated Press by telephone. "They aren't discriminating. There are snipers on the mosque. They are firing at everybody," he added, asking that his name not be used for fear of retribution.Witnesses said busloads of troops poured in before dawn and snipers took up positions on the roofs of houses and high buildings while other security agents searched houses for suspected protesters. "They are entering houses. They are searching the houses," said one witness. "They are carrying knives and guns." He said people were crying out over mosque loudspeakers for doctors to help the wounded and there was panic in the streets. "We need international intervention. We need countries to help us," shouted another witness in Daraa, who said he saw five corpses after security forces opened fire on a car. He spoke to the AP by telephone. The forces occupied two mosques and a graveyard. "Let Obama come and take Syria. Let Israel come and take Syria. Let the Jews come," shouted one Daraa resident over the phone. "Anything is better than Bashar Assad," he said, playing on Syria's hatred for Israel to highlight how much town residents despise their leader. All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.Hmmmm.....Assad is a 'reformer'..Hillary Clinton.Read the full story here.

• Syria intensifies crackdown on protests. At least 500 pro-democracy activists arrested, rights group says, after authorities deployed troops to quell protests.With videos here.

• Revealed: The face of the woman accused of brutal McDonald's beating... as it emerges she was arrested for assault last year at the SAME restaurant.The teenager accused of brutally beating a transgender woman at a McDonald's in Baltimore County was arrested for assault last year - at the same restaurant.Police today announced they had charged Teonna Monae Brown, 18, after a video emerged of her and another girl allegedly kicking, punching and stamping on Chrissy Lee Polis.The attack was so violent the 22-year-old had a seizure.Brown's own sister turned her in on Friday, telling police she and her alleged accomplice, a 14-year-old girl, had admitted to the attack.News of her arrest came as transgender activists announced they would be holding a protest outside the Rosedale restaurant at 7pm today.And, in what could be a major blow for McDonald's family-friendly image, she claimed staff stood by and allowed the attack to continue.One worker, Vernon Hackett, filmed the beating and later posted it online, where it attacked hundreds of thousands of viewers.According to police Brown was arrested last July for allegedly attacking a mother after a dispute inside the same McDonald's.The fast-food chain has issued a statement about the safety of its customers being paramount, and Rosedale franchise owner Mitchell McPherson yesterday announced that employee Vernon Hackett had been fired.At one point in the video he can be heard laughing hysterically at the violence.Hackett raised the ire of his employers after claiming credit for filming the video on his Facebook account, which he has since taken down.Mr McPherson said: 'My first and foremost concern is with the victim. I'm as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behaviour displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible.'Mr McPherson added that action might also be taken against other restaurant workers.Read the full story here

• "Living God" Obama Back to Omitting Creator Again?Three New Examples!

April 21, 2011:

Remarks by the President at a DNC Even

Soundstage 30 at Sony Studios

Culver City, California

The first is, is that we’re all individuals endowed with certain inalienable rights and freedoms.

April 21, 2011:

Remarks by the President at a DNC Event

Nob Hill Masonic Center, San Francisco, California

The first idea is that we are all individuals endowed with certain inalienable rights and liberties.

April 14, 2011:

Remarks by the President at a DNC Event

Navy Pier

Chicago, Illinois

One, that we’re all individuals with — endowed with certain inalienable rights and liberties.

Hmmmm......definitely is a habit of omitting God!Read the full story here.

• Predictable: Obama begins Chavez-like attacks on Oil Companies.(DougRoss).Where have we heard this kind of rhetoric before?The White House has joined congressional Democrats in targeting oil companies with criticism for nearly $4 per gallon gas.President Obama lashed out at oil companies -- and the tax breaks they get from the government -- for a second day in a row on Thursday and again in Saturday's address... “Four billion dollars of your money are going to these companies at a time when they’re making record profits and you’re paying near record prices at the pump,” the president said at a Nevada town hall. “It has to stop.”Obama also announced a Justice Department task force that will probe whether speculators and traders are to blame for the high prices.Of course, these types of attacks appear to be more typical of third-world dictators than U.S. presidents. Just last year, Hugo Chavez blamed "the speculator" for causing food price inflation and he's demonized oil companies for years.I don't know about you, but isn't it at least a tad discomfiting that the speeches of Chavez and Obama could be confused for one another?Oh -- and then there's this: Mr. Peabody, please set the Wayback Machine to July of 2008, when the ludicrous Ken Salazar -- now Secretary of the Interior -- insisted that Democrats would continue to block drilling even if gas hit $10 a gallon.We have enough oil to satisfy American needs for at least the next 100 years, but Democrats won’t let you have it. They’d rather you pay $10 per gallon at the pump and watch food prices increase 250% rather than agree to drilling. If you don’t want $10 per gallon gas, vote Republican.And it's not just the Democrats' hatred of drilling.It's the Obama administration's suicidal deficit spending that has resulted in unprecedented inflation of commodity prices.The costs of silver, gold, oil, gas and food (above) have skyrocketed over the last two years.Since Barack Obama took office, the policy of quantitative easing has touched off a monumental wave of inflation.While our delightful bureaucrats in Washington insist that inflation "is under control", a quick drive to the gas station helps us refute that propaganda. Americans' costs for energy and everything it helps produce and move -- most importantly, food -- is dramatically increasing. This hidden tax on seniors, "the poor" and "the middle class" is the direct result of Barack Obama's policies of record-setting deficit spending and restricting our access to energy.And the pain has only just begun. Remember in 2012.Hmmmm....."Our mission to boldly destroy everything American"?Read the full story here.

• Yusuf al-Qaradawi to live in Norway to confirm Muslim prayer times.(TodaysZaman).Egyptian Islamic theologian Yusuf al-Qaradawi will live in Norway for a set period of time in order to determine prayer times for Muslims in the world’s polar regions. Qaradawi and his team will work to determine the five daily Muslim prayer times, the calculation of which are determined by the position of the sun, in a region where the sun does not rise and set as regularly as it does in other parts of the world. Due to such factors as the rotation of the earth, the revolution of the earth around the sun, the tilt of the earth’s axis, the various latitudes of the earth’s locations and daylight saving time, the “times” (according to the clock) for these prayers change from day to day and depending on the location.Polar regions like Norway, Finland and Alaska have areas where the sun stays below the horizon for several months in winter and stays above the horizon for several months in summer. Determining prayer times for such regions has been especially important. Since 2009, when the fasting month of Ramadan coincides with the summer season, Muslims who live in countries with latitudes at 45 degrees or above have had to break their fast, have their pre-dawn meal and pray the evening prayer all within the span of one hour.Hmmmmm......The Muslim brotherhood in Norway?Dark days ahead in Norway!Read the full story here.

• Saudi King Suggested Chips Could Be Implanted in Gitmo Inmates.(DerSpiegel).WikiLeaks documents on Guantanamo and earlier diplomatic cables reveal the arbitrary treatment of prisoners at the infamous camp. They also underscore America's fears of not being able to properly monitor prisoners after their release. One cable obtained by SPIEGEL describes a bizarre suggestion by the Saudi king to implant electronic chips to monitor released inmates.The king had time on his hands and he was apparently in the mood for a longer chat. On March 15, 2009, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, whose official title is "The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" in Mecca and Medina, spoke with United States President Barack Obama's anti-terrorism advisor John Brennan for a full 90 minutes.They discussed the major political issues of the day -- Iran, Iraq and the Middle East, according to a diplomatic cable from the American Embassy in Riyadh that had been classified as "secret" and was dated March 22, 2009. But they also discussed the controversial issue of the US prison camp at Guantanamo, where a large number of Saudi Arabian citizens were being held.

Abdullah was also concerned about how those prisoners could be better controlled. It was an important issue, especially the tricky question of whether dangerous inmates could still be monitored if they were to be released from the camp. At the time of the meeting, the Obama administration had pledged to close Guantanamo within a year. Presidential advisor Brennan reiterated that stance during his meeting with King Abdullah.King Abdullah himself came to the meeting with his own idea. "I've just thought of something," the King said, according to the cable. The cable continues by stating that the King "proposed implanting detainees with an electronic chip containing information about them and allowing their movements to be tracked with Bluetooth. 'This was done with horses and falcons,' the King said. Brennan replied, 'Horses don't have good lawyers,'" and said that such a proposal would face legal hurdles in the US. Still, he agreed that keeping track of the detainees was an "extremely important issue" and that he would review it with the appropriate officials once he returned to the United States. Hmmmm......Smart ,real smart but did they do it?Read the full story here.

• Sharia being 'advocated' in Houston ,Texas.Houston, Texas: “Sharia’a means highway (Shahrah) and in the religious sense, it is the path that takes one towards the right direction in this world, bringing tranquility in this life and will bring much joy in the life hereafter. The basic principle of Sharia’a is establishment of justice based on the universal accepted values of virtues, to keep the balance in the world.”These were the approximate words used to put forth some of the ideas by former Supreme Court Justice of Pakistan Honorable Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday, as he spoke for over an hour at an Open Public Forum at Shahnai Restaurant Banquet Hall in Houston, on the topic of “The Role of Sharia’a Law in Modern Legal World – Useful toll or a liability?”He was on a private trip to Houston, where on the insistence of his friends, he agreed to speak. More than 350 persons attended the program, including some elected County Judges, prominent attorney, lawyers, persons from Republican Party, some people from the Churches, and many expatriate Pakistanis & Muslims from various countries.Program was emceed by Ms. Sobia Izfaz, while opening address was done by the head of three members host committee Dr. Mohammad Afsar, while another member Tahir Bhatty gave the vote of thanks. The third host committee person was Zafar Kureshi. The Q-&-A session was conducted by well-known Attorney Syed Izfar.Famous Community Attorney Anwar-e-Qadeer, who used to be Honorable Ramday’s student, introduced the Honorable Judge.“Sharia’a is kind of boogeyman in the western society. I do not know from where such fear is coming because the principles of justice and all the universal good values are part of the basics of laws made within Sharia’a. These are the same as the Ten Commandments given to Hadhrat Moses (Peace be Upon him – PBUh). There are no systems of criminal procedure courts, etc. prescribed by Quran, etc. So the systems of corpus duress get evolved by societies according to their set-ups and environment. There are certain commandments given by Allah SWT through Quran and life of Messenger Muhammad PBUh, which cannot be violated. Other than that Sharia’a and municipal laws can exist together. I was part of a Judiciary Review Board of Pakistan Sharia’a Court, where three court judges & two established scholars did an extensive assessment for almost five years of all the British & other manmade laws in subcontinent since 1841: They all were studied word to word and nothing of substance was found in them that was unIslamic, since the values are universal. No faith will ask people to commit crimes. Few things where the spirit of Islam was missing was for instance in the punishment of the crime of murder. What was missing is now part of Pakistan’s law and that is if the people of the deceased pardon the murderer with or without compensation, the court has to nullify the punishment of death or life imprisonment penalty,” added Honorable Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday.Hmmmm.......The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers.America has Laws and a Constitution ,no need for Sharia law!Read the full assault story here.

• Turkey warns Israel against repeating 'flotilla mistake'.(Ynet).Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urges Israel not to stop next Gaza-bound flotilla. 'The Mediterranean does not belong to any nation,' he says. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned Israel against repeating "the same mistake" ahead of the Gaza-bound flotilla scheduled to set sail next month.In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Davutoglu added that "It is Israel's responsibility not to implement (a blockade) against Gaza. A fact-finding mission of the UN declared that this … is illegal." The Turkish foreign minister further added: ''In the flotilla last year, people were killed 72 miles (116 kilometres) from the coast, so this was in international waters. The Mediterranean does not belong to any nation.'' The Turkish FM said that his government had urged the IHH not to sail last year. ''We can advise, we can say something, but we cannot stop'' the flotilla, he said. ''In a democratic society, we cannot stop them''.Israel's Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy has asked the Turkish government to stop the flotilla scheduled to set sail in the second half of the month of May. On Monday, US President Barack Obama spoke to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and expressed his hope that Turkey and Israel will find opportunities to improve their relations in the interest of regional stability.Hmmmm......What's with the weekly calls between Obama and Erdogan, is Turkey dictating US foreign policy?He talks more to Erdogan then to the US Congress?Read the full story here.

• Islamist To Be Given Award By California Human Relations Commission.(BigPeace).He has wished for “the implementation of Sharia [Islamic law] in all areas” of society, said Muslims can never accept homosexuality and predicted God’s wrath on America for its support of Israel.Now, Muzammil Siddiqi is about to be honored by Orange County, Cal.’s Human Relations Commission. Siddiqi “has steadfastly worked with other faith leaders to build understanding of the great commonality that exists between all religions, despite the political clashes that can drive wedges between them,” an announcement from the board says. Siddiqi is among “amazing individuals and groups who have made extraordinary human relations contributions to Orange County!”Siddiqi, director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, is active in interfaith programs and even traveled to Auschwitz and Dachau last summer. He signed on to a statement acknowledging “chilling places where men, women and children were systematically and brutally murdered by the millions because of their faith, race, disability and political affiliation.”As the Investigative Project on Terrorism’s profile of Siddiqi shows, his views have not always been so tolerant of others.A year after 9/11, Siddiqi indicated the identities of those responsible remained unresolved. ” It is – the point is that we said – whosoever did it, we condemn it. We did not say it is Muslims who did it,” he told a convention of the Islamic Society of North America in September 2002. “We did not say this and that. But the point is that whosoever did it, it was wrong. And this is a basic point … We cannot say in surety whoever did it or not. But the point is that if the name of Islam is taken, we have to clarify the name of Islam.”Homosexuals need “to repent, turn to God and take Islam seriously,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2001. “Being gay and Muslim is a contradiction in terms. Islam is totally against homosexuality. It’s clear in the Koran and in the sayings of the prophet Mohammed.”In an online question and answer session two years later, Siddiqi called homosexuality “evil” and warned that tolerating it begs God’s wrath. “There are agencies and lobby groups that are working hard to propagate it and to make it as an acceptable and legitimate lifestyle,” he wrote. “For this reason it is important that we should speak against it. We should warn our youth and children about the evil of this lifestyle. We should make it very clear that it is Haram and absolutely forbidden. It kindles the wrath and anger of Allah.

God’s wrath was on Siddiqi’s mind during an October 2000 rally in Washington. The rally came a month after the second Palestinian intifada had started. The violent uprising started after Israeli political leader Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount, a holy place for Jews, but also the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had been planning the violence, and used Sharon’s visit as a pretext.

Israel was solely to blame for the conflict, Siddiqi said, although American support facilitated it. “We want to awaken the conscience of America. America has to learn that because if you remain on the side of injustice, the wrath of God will come,” Siddiqi said. “Please! Please all Americans, do you remember that, that Allah is watching everyone. God is watching everyone. If you continue doing injustice, and tolerating injustice, the wrath of God will come.”By the time the rally occurred, the Jewish Holy Site of Joseph’s Tomb was destroyed by Palestinian rioters and two soldiers were lynched in Ramallah”Siddiqi described the rally as “a gathering of all the Muslims of America, all the national organizations of Muslims of America together.” And he was not alone in making statements condemning American policy. Muslim Public Affairs Council founder Maher Hathout blasted Israel as an “apartheid brutal state,” saying of its leaders that “butchers do what butchers do.”Abdulrahman Alamoudi, then the head of the American Muslim Council and one of the nation’s most influential Muslim political activists, taunted the U.S. designations of Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist organizations. Alamoudi would plead guilty three years later to illegal dealings with Libya and to aiding a plot to assassinate a Saudi crown prince.No speaker at the 2000 rally called on Hamas or other terrorist groups to cease attacks on civilians.It is unknown whether Orange County officials were aware of Siddiqi’s history when they selected him for recognition. It’s also possible that Siddiqi’s views have moderated in recent years, though there is no public record of him recanting.In a letter to Orange County supervisors, retired law enforcement agent Gary Fouse suggested that Siddiqi “come forward before May 5 and publicly address these charges. If there is a credible explanation for these allegations, or if they are not true, let him make it clear. Then I would not oppose the award. If he cannot explain or refute these concerns, then I see no justification for this honor.”Read the full story here.

• Obama Says will Take More than One Term to Destroy USA.By: Sher Zieve.(NewZeal).As Obama and his Leninists continue to denigrate and rule over the USA and the American people, the Republican latent-integrity “go along to get along” electees — led by chief lame-pony John Boehner — continue to protect the Usurper-and-Dictator-in-Chief. After pretense upon pretense of shock as to how far the Obama syndicate has already taken the country into ruin, the wimpy “I sold my soul, how about you? And how much did you charge?” crowd of faux GOP-ers continue to vote with and for the tyrant.The bogus budget battle was the strongest clue that the GOP joined the Marxist Party in no longer being in favor of continuing the United States of America as a free and solvent country. That which was a big disappointment at a $38.5 Billion cut in spending turned into a slap in the face when it was realized that the number had been faked and the real ‘cuts’ dropped to $14.7 in discretionary spending and some reports are that they were barely over $300 millions. In other words, no one in Congress had any intention of doing any spending cuts at all.Given even half a chance, Obama will destroy the USA so that it has no chance of ever returning as a free nation. It is what he was hired to do; not by us but, by others. We are being destroyed from within by treason and Obama has already completed almost ¾ of his mission. Are there any leaders out there willing to step forward to help We-the-People save their and our country and loved ones? Any?If you haven’t already begun, now might be the right time to begin holding real survival-for-ourselves-and-our-country meetings within your neighborhoods. Planning sessions as to ‘who will do what’ in specific instances are strongly recommended. As We-the-People were in 1776, we are today… on our own.Hmmmm......Prepare the end is near?Read the full story here.

• The eternal Jerusalem time tunnels. (Haaretz).Horizontal excavations throughout the Old City of Jerusalem and Silwan are producing important archaeological discoveries, but opponents charge that they are undermining Palestinian foundations, in more ways than one. The excavation enterprise includes five different projects: the well-known and heavily trafficked Western Wall tunnels, which lead northward from the Western Wall plaza along the length of the wall obscured by the Muslim Quarter buildings; the City of David national park; the tunnel along the Herodian-era road, which connects the City of David to the Old City; a tunnel from the Muslim Quarter eastward toward the Western Wall; and Zedekiah's Cave, a gigantic quarry excavated over several thousand years, that extends under much of the Muslim Quarter. The partners in this immense excavation enterprise are the Western Wall Heritage Foundation (a nonprofit association that administers the Western Wall plaza and is controlled by the Prime Minister's Office ), the Antiquities Authority, the East Jerusalem Development Corporation (another government agency ), and the right-wing, nonprofit associations Elad and Ateret Cohanim.

Some of the tunnels were excavated for religious and tourism objectives: Work on the Western Wall tunnels, for example, took place over the past 40 years at the initiative of current and former Western Wall rabbis and the Religious Services Ministry. However, most of the subterranean enterprise is archaeological. The excavations have yielded significant findings and insights, and even critics admit there is much of interest in at least some of the tunnels.Being below ground helps detach the site from Silwan and reinforces Jewish control, say Elad's opponents on the left. "The story about the tunnels is a means of justifying Israeli settlement in Silwan and the Muslim Quarter. The tunnels form a Jewish-Israeli underground city and transform those who control it - the settlers - into residents, and those who are disconnected from it - the Palestinians - into temporary outsiders," writes archaeologist Yoni Mizrachi in a report on below-ground Jerusalem. Mizrachi, one of the founders of the nonprofit group Emek Shaveh, compiled a critical report, whose details are being published here for the first time, about the underground spaces in the Old City and Silwan. Hmmmm......One thing is clear "The Jews did it".Read the full story here.

• The Wrath of Abbas.On Obama : “We knew him before he became president,”.(Newsweek). Fed up with the stalled peace talks, the Palestinian leader defies Israel and vents about Obama.We’re somewhere over the Mediterranean, and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, is trying to get inside the head of Barack Obama. “We knew him before he became president,” he’s saying, struggling to understand what happened to the man who had seemed more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than any of his predecessors. “We knew him and he was very receptive.” Around us, Abbas’s closest aides are shuffling papers or typing on laptops, while his bodyguards lounge on long corduroy couches. Saeb Erekat, the ubiquitous adviser, is writing talking points for Abbas’s meeting the next day with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A man with a sidearm is shoveling pumpkin seeds into his mouth. In a space the size of two living rooms, most of the 20-odd passengers are puffing on cigarettes, and so is Abbas. At 76, he smokes more than two packs a day.Abbas is about as affable as politicians come—even hawkish Israelis like Ariel Sharon have said so. But occasionally, he can deliver a shot of scathing criticism, usually followed by a grandfatherly smile. A week earlier, he told me bluntly that Obama had led him on, and then let him down by failing to keep pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank last year. “It was Obama who suggested a full settlement freeze,” Abbas explained. “I said OK, I accept. We both went up the tree. After that, he came down with a ladder and he removed the ladder and said to me, jump. Three times he did it.” Abbas also criticized the mediation efforts of Obama’s special envoy, George Mitchell, who has shuttled between Israelis and Palestinians for more than two years. “Every visit by Mitchell, we talked to him and gave him some ideas. At the end we discovered that he didn’t convey any of these ideas to the Israelis. What does it mean?”Earlier in the week, the conversation with Abbas had turned to Mubarak and America’s handling of the revolution in Egypt. Abbas told me he thought the push Obama gave Mubarak was “impolite” and imprudent. “From day one, when it started with Mubarak, I had a telephone call with Madame Clinton. I told her, ‘Do you know what are the consequences? Either chaos, or Muslim Brotherhood or both,’?” he says. “Now they have both.”Hmmmm.....Middle East policy...?Read the full story here.

• Here’s What $80 Billion Bought us: 9 of the 11 “Worst Cars” are Made by Government-Owned GM and Chrysler.(WashingtonExaminer).Thank goodness we put up $80 billion to bail out GM and Chrysler. They are now building such wonderful cars that they have achieved total dominance of the Forbes “Worst Cars on the Road” list, which we could also call the “Bottom Eleven.”GM and Chrysler account for nine of the cars among the bottom eleven. IN other news, the UAW is grateful for your generosity in keeping their union from disappearing. It appears you’ve achieved little else with your donation.It is worth noting that all cars on this list except the Mercedes Benz S550 failed safety and/or reliability tests, in addition to being failures in such areas as value and gas mileage.Hmmmmm.......Sigh the good old days are back Lada , Volga , GAZ, Moskvitch and of course 'the Beast' Zill 41047.Read the full story here.