MFS - The Other News

                      Afternoon Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 13. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 13. Here (Al-Jazeera).

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 109.
  On 13.05.2011 at 03:40 GMT+2
  
  TEPCO officials confirmed today the months-long of suspicion that the Reactor No. 1 at Fukushima suffered a full meltdown. According to the disclosure today, workers discovered earlier this week that No. 1's containment vessel has been leaking water and today discovered a sizeable hole they believe was created by fallen fuel pellets. The water leakage not only indicates that the clean up efforts will take longer than originally expected but also that the worst case scenario was already underway when TEPCO said it had been avoided.
  Before anybody panics over the very scary phrase "full meltdown," it's worth pointing out that nuclear scientists don't necessarily agree on what that means. The difference between a "partial meltdown," which is what we were lead to believe had happened, and a "full meltdown," which is the term dominating today's headlines, is unclear and perhaps not even that important. According to Columbia's David Brenner, a "full meltdown" occurs when the exposed fuel melts through the bottom of the containment vessel. That's not the dangerous part, though. When asked in an interview about the danger of meltdowns, Brenner said:
  
  They’re certainly not good. You can contrast the two major nuclear incidents of the past: Both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island were meltdowns, but the difference in scale is enormous. Chernobyl was the equivalent of 1 million Three Mile Islands. A “meltdown” certainly is not a good thing, but the ultimate consequence is how much radioactivity is released into the environment. You can have a situation like Three Mile Island, where it’s extremely small amount, or a situation like Chernobyl.
  
  The Fukushima disaster is already as bad as Chernobyl according to the International Atomic Energy Association's scale, but the radiation levels released are yet to be determined. Semantics and classifications aside, the people of Japan's situation is scarier than before for one reason: that big hole that's leaking radioactive water puts a serious damper TEPCO's plan to cool the reactor by dousing it with water. Even if they plug the leak, it's unclear how much more radioactive water has seeped into the ground or ocean around the plant. This is the third leak discovered by officials, and it may very well not be the last.
  
  Situation Update No. 108 - On 12.05.2011 at 07:07 GMT+2
  
  Fuel rods in the No. 1 reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear power plant may have melted after being fully exposed, the plant's operator told the Kyodo news agency on Thursday. Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) said water levels in the damaged reactor where far lower than was earlier thought. "Based on the latest data after workers adjusted gauges for measuring the water level at the reactor, water could not be confirmed inside the pressure vessel at a point 5 meters below where the top of the 4-meter-long fuel rods normally are," Kyodo cited the utility as saying. The fuel rods are now being cooled by water at the bottom of the pressure vessel. The plant was badly damaged in a powerful earthquake and tsunami that struck of the northeast coast of Japan on March 11. More than 15,000 died in the twin disaster, and some 10,000 are still unaccounted for.
  
  Situation Update No. 107 - On 12.05.2011 at 06:54 GMT+2
  
  The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant reported new problems Thursday, including a water leak from a reactor vessel and another spill of contaminated water into the ocean. The update by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) came as emergency crews have been battling to bring the tsunami-hit and radiation-leaking plant into stable "cold shutdown" some time between October and January. The giant ocean wave triggered by the March 11 magnitude-9.0 seabed quake knocked out the plant's water cooling systems, leading fuel rods inside several of the reactor cores to partially melt down. Pressure and temperature build-ups have triggered a series of explosions, and workers have since doused the reactors and fuel rod pools with water to stop them from overheating and releasing greater amounts of radiation.
  
  TEPCO on Thursday said new measurements taken this week, after workers in protective suits fixed gauges in the badly-hit reactor one building, indicated that water pumped into the pressure vessel had quickly leaked out. The water level inside had fallen below the bottom of the four-metre (12 foot) long fuel rods, suggesting they had been exposed to the air, increasing the risk of a dangerous full meltdown. However, the vessel's relatively low outside temperature of 100-120 degrees Celsius (212-248 degrees Fahrenheit) indicated that the rods had dropped to the bottom of the vessel and were under water there, TEPCO said. "The temperature of the pressure vessel was 100-120 degrees, which is considered to be the level where the fuel rods are being cooled down in a relatively stable manner," a TEPCO official told said. TEPCO has been injecting around seven tons of water per hour into the reactor one pressure vessel and also plans to flood the wider containment vessel around it to cool down the entire system. The dousing operations -- in which tens of thousands of tons of water have been injected with fire trucks, concrete boom pumps and other pumping systems -- have created massive amounts of highly contaminated runoff water.
  TEPCO has struggled to stop spills into the Pacific Ocean but reported another one on Thursday, saying water had leaked into the sea from a concrete pit near reactor three, one of the plant's six units. Samples of seawater taken near the plant contained caesium-134 at a concentration 18,000 times the permitted level, the utility said, adding that the spill had been stopped by filling the pit with concrete. TEPCO spokesman Yoshinori Mori said: "Today we have continued to investigate the route of the leakage into sea and why it happened." Top government spokesman Yukio Edano called the leak "deplorable" and apologised to the fishing industry and to neighbouring countries
  
  
  Situation Update No. 106  - On 11.05.2011 at 19:00 GMT+2
  
  Tokyo Electric Power on Wednesday announced it had patched a newly discovered rupture permitting radiation-tainted water to flow into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, Kyodo News reported. Significantly contaminated fluid was moving into a depression near the facility's No. 3 reactor, Reuters quoted a representative of the plant's operator as saying on Wednesday. The spokesman at the time said testing was being done to determine whether any radiation-tainted liquid was reaching the ocean. Workers are battling to prevent further radiation releases from the six-reactor site, which was severely damaged in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan. Personnel again entered the plant's No. 1 reactor containment building on Tuesday to work toward achieving a cold shutdown of the reactor, the Asahi Shimbun reported. In cold shutdown, nuclear fuel rods within reactors are submerged in water that is kept under 100 degrees Celsius, curbing additional overheating and releases of radiation.
  
  Personnel on Tuesday prepared a system to verify water readings taken at the site's pressure container. The plant operator said impaired monitoring equipment had prevented it from determining how much coolant had moved into the reactor's pressure container. The system had received 9,911 tons of fluid as of midnight on Monday. "In order to confirm whether work is being carried out under safe conditions, having the water and pressure gauges operating properly and accurately knowing the condition of the core, is indispensable," a Tokyo Electric Power spokesman said. Separately, workers started an examination of pipelines expected to be linked to a heat removal apparatus. Inside the plant's No. 3 reactor, a remote-controlled camera recorded footage of debris covering the system's fuel rods, the London Telegraph reported. The reactor's fuel, though, might not have been significantly harmed, according to specialists. In the Netherlands, officials intercepted five of 19 containers from Japan that were found to be contaminated with radioactive material, Kyodo News reported.Source : Here .

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

• Has the fuse been lit in the Middle East powderkeg?Former Bahrain legislator warns Iran flotilla would be an act of war.(Al-Arabia).A former Bahrain legislator and Palestine campaigner has warned that Iranian plans to dispatch a flotilla to Bahrain in show of solidarity with the “oppressed people” of the majority Shiite country would be considered an act of war if carried out.Nasser Al Fadhala told Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News that it was unacceptable for Iran to use tactics with Bahrain similar to those used by human rights activists in trying to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. “They are using the same idea of sending an aid flotilla that was used last year in Gaza,” he said.“The Iranian government should understand that Israel occupation has been for years, while Bahrain is a free and independent country,” Mr. Fadhala said.“We want peace they (Iran) want war…Iran should stop interfering in our country's issues,” Mr. Fadhala said.The head of the Shiite Iran’s Islamic Revolution Supporters Society, Mehdi Eghrarian, said the vessels will depart for Bahrain from the Southern Iranian port of Bushehr on Monday.Mr. Eghrarian said the flotilla would represent an act of condemnation of Bahrain’s minority Sunni rulers for violently cracking down on a Shiite-led protest movement that began in mid-February 2011.If the Iranians do indeed organize the flotilla, they would run the risk of encountering armed resistance from Bahraini and naval vessels supported by the six-national Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Bahrain is a member.That, in turn, would raise the specter of a confrontation in the Gulf. And the situation would also pose questions about the role of the US Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.According to the society’s head, the flotilla will be named after a female Bahraini poet who he says was “raped and killed” by Bahraini forces during the crackdown. According to the AP the status of the woman, Ayat al-Ghermezi, could not be confirmed.The Bahrain uprising has created triggered tremors elsewhere in the region. Shiites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon have shown solidarity with the Shiite-led Bahrain opposition.In March, Bahrain expelled dozens of Shiite Lebanese for alleged ties to Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard after endorsement by the GCC to undertake such expulsion.The Gulf Arab countries in the recent summit meeting in Riyadh continued their denunciation of Iranian intervention. Bahraini King Hamad al-Khalifa has ordered an end a state of emergency by June 1 after imposing the measure in mid-March. Demonstrators want the king to introduce a constitutional monarchy that gives majority Shiites a fair representation in government.Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister, Heidar Salehi, warned of “repercussions” if the situation in Bahrain did not improve.One Gulf observer in Dubai said, “It seems to be the season for high political drama.”Hmmm....Don't you just love the 'change' Obama brought to the Middle East?Read the full story here.

• Third Intifada starting?'17-year-old seriously wounded'; 4 cops injured in e. Jerusalem.(JPost).Clashes break out in capital; 34 arrested as stones, Molotov cocktails thrown at security forces; up to 11 Palestinians injured in clashes.Four police officers and up to 11 Palestinians were injured in protests and disturbances that took place throughout east Jerusalem on Friday ahead of large demonstrations expected on Sunday to mark "Nakba Day." A 17-year-old Palestinian was reported to be in serious condition after being shot in his shoulder, Israel Radio reported, citing the Red Crescent.Thirty-four people were arrested for disturbing the peace and intending to use Molotov cocktails, police said.According to police, four police and Border Police officers were injured from stones thrown at them in several eastern neighborhoods of the city, including Silwan, Issawiya, Ras a-Mud, Shuafat and at the Kalandia checkpoint. One officer was evacuated to hospital for treatment while the others were treated on the scene. All were listed in light condition.Eleven Palestinians were injured throughout the day, according to the Red Crescent, while police put the number of Palestinian injuries at five. Among those injured, Palestinian sources reported, was a 17-year-old who was in serious condition after being shot in his shoulder. Police contended that he was in light condition and said they were investigating the circumstances of the incident.The disturbances began following Friday prayers in Jerusalem.Elsewhere, a disturbance was reported near Ramallah where Palestinians were throwing stones and blocking a road. Police, IDF and Border Police forces where on scene attempting to disperse the protest.Read the full story here.

• Palestinians: Prepare for 3rd intifada.(Ynet).Elements in West Bank, Gaza coordinate mass processions to mark day of mourning over Israel's inception. Protest organizers urge mass street presence, say will 'peacefully march to demand our natural right to return'.The Palestinians are preparing for "Nakba Day" – text messages were sent to tens of thousands of cellular subscribers in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, calling them to take part in the events marking the Palestinian day of mourning over Israel's inception and to ignite a third Intifada.Police intelligence suggests that the Palestinians intend on holding several prequel events on Friday and Saturday; and though the police believe chances of events escalating into riots are low, reinforced police and Border Guard forces will deploy in east Jerusalem, the Old City and Temple Mount plaza, to maintain order.The main concern is that local protests will prompt violent clashes and mass rioting. As part of security measures ahead of Sunday the police announced that it will restrict the entrance to Temple Mount on Friday to male worshippers over the age of 45, carrying Israeli IDs.In response to "Nakba Day" events, the Shomron Settlers' Committee said its activists are planning to distribute Israeli flags on Sunday at major intersections throughout the country.A pamphlet authored by Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika read: "On Sunday we will proudly wave the flag of Israel everywhere, as a response to the hysteria promoted by the Palestinian Authority and its public relations proxies in the radical Left."Meanwhile, Palestinians continued their preparations ahead of "Nakba Day," set for Sunday. On Friday, Palestinians will mark "the calling to the flag day" – a prequel event to "Nakba Day."Processions will take place throughout the West Bank, leaving from numerous mosques after Friday's prayers are concluded.Processions are also set to be held in Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Qalqilya. Another procession is slated to leave from al-Aqsa Mosque.According to the text messages, some of the activities planned for Friday are still kept secret, in order to prevent Israel from thwarting them.Also on Thursday, the organizers of the third intifada initiative in the West Bank and the "return procession" in the Gaza Strip published flyers detailing the guidelines and goals of Sunday's events. The flyers explained that the aim of the processions is "to demand our natural right to return to our land and implement UN resolutions."Read the full story here.

• Egyptians, Jordanians hold anti-peace rallies.(Ynet).Cairo protestors burn Israeli flags, chant 'millions of martyrs marching to Jerusalem' ahead of upcoming Palestinian 'Nakba Day'; Jordanian demonstrators demand end to peace treaty with Israel, expulsion of envoy.Arab hostility: Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered at Cairo's Tahrir Square Friday ahead of "Nakba Day," which will be marked by the Palestinians in two days to commemorate the "disaster" inherent in the State of Israel's establishment. The protestors at the square endorsed Palestinian unity and chanted anti-Israel slogans, including "millions of martyrs are marching to Jerusalem." Among other things, the demonstrators called for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Egypt and urged the government to sever diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.Some protestors burned Israeli flags at the site while others held up Palestinian flags. The event constituted a pre-planned rally ahead of major protests scheduled for Sunday. At one point during the day, Egyptian forces had to fire warning shots in the air to disperse thousands of people hurling stones outside Israel's embassy in Cairo.On Thursday, Egyptian authorities urged citizens not to take part in a solidarity march with the Palestinians Sunday to the Rafah border. A statement issued by authorities called on activists to "avoid implications that may stem from such march." Read the full story here.

• This might might 'stirr up things'!Libya says 11 clerics killed in NATO airstrike.(TodaysZaman).A Libyan government spokesman says 11 Muslim clerics were killed in their sleep by a NATO airstrike on the eastern oil town of Brega.The spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, says the clerics were among a large group of imams who had gathered in Brega to pray for peace in conflict-ridden Libya. He says 11 imams were killed and 50 people wounded, including five in critical condition. Read the full story here.

• Uh-Oh: Senator Inhofe On The Osama Bin Laden Death Photos.(BigPeace).In an interview with Fox News yesterday, Senator James Inhofe spoke about pictures of a dead Osama Bin Laden that he viewed at CIA headquarters. While describing some of the photos as “gruesome,” Inhofe insisted that Bin Laden is recognizable in them. “It was him,” the Senator remarked. To help members of congress identify the dead man, Inhofe explained that the agency also included three pictures of Bin Laden when he was alive or, as Inhofe put it, “when he had the black beard.” “The beard is a moving target,” Inhofe explained further, “because he dyes it all the time.”In claiming that Bin Laden dyed his beard, the Senator was presumably just repeating what he was told in the CIA briefing. But if the CIA is in fact showing members of Congress “live” pictures of Bin Laden with a dyed black beard, then we have a problem.As I further pointed out in my previous post, dyeing a beard black appears in fact to be “haram” (forbidden) per instructions laid out in the Hadith. Numerous discussions of the matter are to be found in Islamic discussion forums. In Sahih Muslim Book 24, Hadith Number 5244, Mohammad instructs a man with a grey beard to dye it, but to “avoid black.” In Abu Dawud, Book 33, Hadith Number 4200, he goes so far as to warn that those who use black dye “will not experience the fragrance of Paradise.” In the previous Hadith, however, he praises the use of colored dyes such as henna.Osama Bin Laden was an Islamic fundamentalist. The whole point of fundamentalist currents in Islam is to uphold the strictest possible interpretation of Islamic religious texts and to live one’s life accordingly. For Osama Bin Laden to flout the express dictates of the Prophet Mohammad would be highly unusual to say the least.This is why the black beard sported by Bin Laden in a 2007 video message represents a major prima facie reason for concluding that the footage is inauthentic. The same man, sporting the same beard, is also to be seen in the supposed Bin Laden video “outtakes” recently released by the Department of Defense.Of course, if the beard color is natural, then the man in the footage cannot be Bin Laden. The administration has forestalled such objections by asserting that the beard is dyed black. But if the beard is dyed black, then the man’s grooming habits are decidedly un-Islamic, which is likewise a major anomaly in this case. The administration – like the Senator – appears to be entirely unaware of the problem.Now it would seem, based on Inhofe’s remarks, that the CIA is showing members of Congress photos of the same man with the same black beard.Hmmmm....Who did Obama kill with his 'gutsy' call?Read the full story here.

• Obama: Freedom or Islam?White House panders to Muslims instead of pushing American values.(WashingtonTimes).President Obama is trying to hit the reset button on his outreach efforts to the world’s Muslims. He would do better to focus on aggressively promoting freedom rather than pandering to Islam.The first round of outreach - kicked off by Mr. Obama’s June 2009 speech in Cairo - was a spectacular failure. Opinion polling on sentiment towards the United States in countries with Muslim majorities showed an initial burst of enthusiasm, followed in 2010 by a collapse. In some cases, Muslim approval of America fell to levels lower than during the waning days of the George W. Bush administration.Now the White House is using the timing of Osama bin Laden’s death to argue that al Qaeda’s violent approach to political change is passe, and that the popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East represent the wave of the future. However, al Qaeda already has answered this argument. In the Spring 2011 edition of the terror group’s English-language magazine Inspire, the lead editorial by Yahya Ibrahim notes that a “line that is being pushed by Western leaders is that because the protests in Egypt and Tunisia were peaceful, they proved al Qaeda - which calls for armed struggle - to be wrong. That is another fallacy. Al Qaeda is not against regime changes through protests but it is against the idea that the change should be only through peaceful means to the exclusion of the use of force.”

Mr. Obama’s fixation on the means by which change is coming also overlooks that the substance of the change may be precisely what al Qaeda has always advocated. The White House has pushed for the participation of religiously-based parties in Egypt’s new government, but if the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power in Cairo, it will pursue domestic and foreign policies indistinguishable from those bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahri would implement if he were in charge. Islamism is the objective, whether achieved by bombs or ballots.The United States is not at war with Islam, but neither should our nation be promoting it. America has traditionally advocated the principles of freedom of conscience and individual liberty, concepts that are in dire need of support in most Muslim states. Taking an unadulterated stand for freedom in the Middle East would be the most gutsy move Mr. Obama could make.Hmmmm.....The 'Gutsy' move would be to impeach him,for favoring one religion contary to what is written in the constitution!Read the full story here.

• Turkey's Prime Minister Declares Support for Hamas.(InvestigativeProject).Hamas is not a terrorist organization, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared in an interview Wednesday night with PBS's Charlie Rose. Saying it was is to "disrespect" the Palestinian people."Let me give you a very clear message, I don't see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a political party -- it emerged as a political party that appeared as a political party," Erdogan told Rose. "It is a resistance movement trying to protect its country under occupation."The United States and European Union each has designated Hamas as a terrorist group.The Turkish Prime Minister said he was "very pleased" with the unity agreement Hamas signed with Fatah, and criticized Israel's policies towards the Palestinians. "How can you put all Palestine and Gaza in [something] like an open prison? Of course they will rebel [against this]."One year after the Mavi Marmara incident in which nine activists were killed while passengers tried to create a violent confrontation with Israel, Erdogan said that he is still waiting for three things from Israel: "Apology, compensation, and lifting of the embargo on Gaza."Erdogan maintains a close relationship with the Hamas-tied group IHH, the Turkish organization that was behind last year's deadly flotilla raid. Erdogan and his AKP party supported IHH with preparations for last year's flotilla as well as provided the group with political and propaganda support.He also defended Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, calling Assad "a good friend of mine" and saying it is still too early to call for his ouster. More than 700 protestors against Assad's authoritarian regime have been killed by Syrian government forces in recent weeks. The European Union is considering sanctions against Syria and Assad.Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 36 members of Congress wrote a letter to Erdogan requesting that he prevent Freedom Flotilla II from sailing to Gaza in June, fearing a repeat of last year's violence.Hmmm....On the other hand Obama makes weekly calls to his 'buddy' Erdogan?"I will stand with my Muslim brothers"?Read the full story here.

• Selfconfessed 'Christian' President Obama Invokes Bible to Push Immigration Policy.(Breitbart)."Immigration reform is a moral imperative, and so it's worth seeking greater understanding from our faith. As it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy [10:19], 'Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.' To me, that verse is a call to show empathy to our brothers and our sisters; to try and recognize ourselves in one another."Hmmm....A pitty he hasn't recalled his scriptures the last 2,5 years when the Muslims rape and murder Christians all over the world and in Egypt especially!Read the full story here.

• Censored! Bikini advert blacked out with spray paint by 'Muslim extremists who object to women in swimsuits'.(DailyMail).She is supposed to be advertising a sexy bikini.But instead the model on this poster, in Birmingham, has been defaced in an act of vandalism blamed on militant Muslims who were offended by her flesh.  Similar acts of vandalism have been carried out in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. Police there also believe extremists are responsible. The advert, which promotes a £3.99 bikini top from high-street fashion retailer H&M, a scantily-dressed model stands on a sun-kissed, white sand beach.The freestanding advertising unit, stands in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, which has a large Muslim population.Across the road from 'Muslim Students House Masjeed', an education centre, the poster is next to a busy main road.The fact that almost all of the model's flesh has been covered has led local residents to speculate that the vandalism was not random, but a religiously-motivated targetted attack.Delivery driver Robert Tonkins, 45, said: "You see a lot of women wearing the hijab around here, and what's been done to that poster looks very similar to it.'I don't think it's just kids messing around - they've spray-painted specific areas and covered up anything that might be offensive to very religious people.'It's a bit worrying, I don't think it's up to other people to decide what can and can't be displayed on our streets, especially because we're a Christian country.Hmmmm......"We don't want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• House Approves Bill to Lift Drilling Moratorium.(Politico).The House of Representatives voted to open more of the nation's oceans for oil and gas exploration on Thursday by a vote of 243 to 179.The "Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act," requires the Interior Department to set a production goal of three million barrels of oil per day for its 2012-2017 leasing plan.In order to reach that target, the legislation requires the department to hold lease sales off the coast of Southern California, in the Arctic Ocean, off Alaska's Bristol Bay, and in the Atlantic Ocean from Maine to North Carolina.Republicans say that the bill, along with two other drilling measures passed earlier this month, would create 1.2 million jobs and lower the price of oil. The Congressional Budget Office says that the offshore lease sales would generate $800 million in revenue over ten years.The Obama administration released a statement opposing the bill Wednesday. The White House argued that the proposal would undermine the current leasing process and mandate drilling leases without input from the affected states.Hmmm....Emperor Obama will never allow them to drill.Read the full story here.

• How the American Muslims see the 'killing of Bin Laden'.Bin Laden: Obama Snatches Defeat from Jaws of Victory.(MuslimObserver).As the news of Osama bin Laden’s death filtered out onto the streets of America it triggered unsightly scenes of undiluted hysteria, chest-thumping and back-slapping which has sadly become a trademark of the vengeful ‘hang’em high’ lobby that emerged from the rubble of 9/11.And just like George W Bush did on that horrific day way back in 2001, US President Barack Obama unashamedly wallowed in a flag-waving, nationalistic wave of emotion, crowing about national unity and everyone pulling together as he revealed the manhunt for the world’s most wanted man had finally been concluded.It mattered not the al-Qaida leader was unarmed – that detail was kept back as hugely distorted stories zoomed around the globe about how the evil Arab used his wife as a human shield while firing off rounds at the heroic soldiers who risked their all for Uncle Sam.The naked display of uncontrollable gung-ho emotion was bad enough but then a smug-looking Obama began sounding like Glenn Ford in a scene from High Noon as he lectured the world about “justice being done”.To quote my favourite journalist Gary Younge: “This was not justice, it was an extra-judicial execution. If you shoot a man twice in the head you do not find him guilty. You find him dead. This was revenge. And it was served very cold indeed.”Writing about the OBL killing he said the law “permits criminals to be shot in self-defence. They should, if possible, be given the opportunity to surrender, but even if they do not come out with their hands up, they must be taken alive, if that can be achieved without risk. Exactly how Bin Laden came to be shot (especially if it was in the back of the head, execution-style) therefore requires explanation. Why the hasty “burial at sea” without a post-mortem, as the law requires?”Why indeed? The trouble is various US Administrations have lied to the world – lied about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, lied about the existence of WMD, lied about Saddam being in league with al-Qaida.And the problem with serial liars is that when they do tell the truth no one believes them.Once again America has managed to shoot itself in the foot in the name of justice – a justice that has earned the admiration and praise of the chairman of the Israeli parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs and Security.Shaul Mofaz of the right wing Kadima is now urging the Zionist Government to assassinate Palestinian leaders like the “US did with Osama bin Laden”.He seems to have overlooked the fact that Israel has been “doing an Obama” for years as the leadership of Hamas can testify.Nevertheless, it seems that even though international law prohibits the use of extra judicial assassination policies, various states of terror may now starting “Doing an Obama”.Hmmmmm....Indeed 'More outreach to Muslims" is needed MR President.Read the full story here.

• Good News: Obama Frequently Calls CNN’s Fareed Zakaria For Advice About Islamic World.(WZ).Ironically, Fareed Zakaria’s latest book is titled The Post-American World.Hmmmm.....Together a team?Makes you wonder what all these think tanks are for?Can you IMPEACH a president for incompetence?Read the full story here.

• Obama Should Condemn Anti-Christian Violence in Egypt.(Aina).Even as he renews his outreach to Muslims, President Obama should seek to stem the growing tide of violence against Coptic Christians in Egypt by condemning last weekend's attacks that left a dozen people dead and scores injured.The attacks, about which Obama has been silent, also resulted in the burning of Coptic Orthodox churches and the destruction of Christian homes and businesses.The president needs to say more to stem religious violence that creates opportunities for Islamic extremists who want to seize power in Egypt, our most important Arab ally.Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Monday "strongly" condemned the violence, saying, "We stand behind the Coptic Christian community and their right to practice their faith in safety and security, free of persecution."The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Obama is preparing to try to reengage Muslims with a speech, possibly next week, that will make the case that Muslims should "reject Islamic militancy in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death and embrace a new era of relations with the U.S."Whether Obama views condemning Muslim violence against Christians as inopportune during the lead up to a renewed outreach to Muslims is unclear. But it's worth noting that after Obama seemed inexplicably slow off the mark supporting the masses of Iranian protestors two years ago, there was widespread belief that he was concerned about compromising his outreach to the Iranian government.Obama, though a Christian, seems to view his background, which includes a Muslim grandfather and several years living as a child in Muslim Indonesia, as giving him a special conduit into the Muslim world. But I doubt this type of personal outreach by one man changes the way people view the United States. And it shouldn't interfere with other aspects of U.S. policy.Obama commendably condemned a New Year's Eve church bombing in Alexandria, Egypt that killed 21. But he has said little -- actually nothing that I could find -- about the religious killings and tensions since then, which included the deaths of 12 people Jan. 30 during a raid of Christian homes in Upper Egypt.Obama also should speak about about the growing violence against Christians in Iraq, a country where we have some real sway. Four were killed and 171 injured in attacks over the weekend, prompting a reaction from Pope Benedict XVI.Hmmmm.....I would love to see his Baptisme certificate  or did The Rev. Jeremiah Wright forget to 'register' it?Read the full story here.

• Rapper Who Hails Stalinist Mass-Murderer Invited To White House.(BigPeace).For inviting the rapper-“poet” named “Common,” to the White House, our First Lady is currently taking some heat. Common’s lyric, it appears, are a trifle “racy,” plus in his “poetry,” he hails Black-Panther/Cop-killer Joanne “Assata Shakur” Chesimard.But for inviting a rapper who identified with a Stalinist mass-murderer who denounced President Obama’s co-citizens as, “hyenas fit only for extermination!” and who openly craved to incinerate millions of them with a surprise nuclear attack….well, not much.Such is the news cycle.

Above I refer to rapper Jay-Z, honored (on March 4th 2010) in the very white House his T-shirt idol craved to incinerate (in Oct. 1962) and the rapper’s idol, Communist mass-murderer Ernesto “Che” Guevara.“The U.S. is the great enemy of mankind!” raved Jay-Z’s T-shirt idol in his Message to the Tri-Continental Conference in 1966. “Against those hyenas there is no option but extermination! If the nuclear missiles had remained (in Cuba) we would have fired them against the heart of the U.S. including New York City. The solutions to the world’s problems lie behind the iron Curtain. The victory of socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims! We must keep our hatred against them (the U.S.) alive and fan it to paroxysms!”More interestingly still, the cop-killer hailed by current White House invitee “Common” in his compositions (along with dozens of other fugitives from U.S. law) has been sheltered for decades by the very regime Che Guevara co-founded.So we wonder: being as President Obama (apparently) violated Pakistan’s sovereignty in going after Osama Bin Laden, will President Obama now go after Assata Shakur in the same manner? Shakur, after all, was actually convicted of murder in U.S. courts. Seems he’d have a better case, in the view of international opinion, against her.Imagine the MSM uproar if Pres. George Bush had invited, say, a David Duke T-shirt wearer to the White House! Well, from his very diaries, here’s Jay-Z’s idol, Ernesto “Che” Guevara:The Negro is indolent and spends his money on frivolities and booze, whereas the European is forward-looking, organized and intelligent. The negro has maintained his racial purity by his well known habit of avoiding baths.In fact, this is not Obama people’s first public brush with Che Guevara. In Feb. 2008 Houston’s Fox TV station interviewed some Obama campaign volunteers (a precinct captain and head of the “Houston Obama Leadership Team”) who had festooned their offices with Che Guevara banners and Cuban flags. The MSM kept mum, but the conservative blogosphere spread the story. Intrepid blogger Henry Gomez (Babalu Blog), then uncovered 15 different pages of Che Guevara well-wishers on the official Obama campaign site.Hmmmm.....Dictatorship or democracy you choose.Read the full story here.

• Former Guantanamo Prisoner Organization 'Cageprisoner' Issues Provocative Mock Report: 'Breaking News: Barack Obama Is Dead'.(Memri).Following the May 1, 2011 assassination of Osama bin Laden, the London-based Cageprisoners organization published a provocative mock report on its website titled "Breaking News: Barack Obama is Dead." Cageprisoners is directed by a former Guantanamo prisoner, and its members include former Guantanamo prisoners and others.The "report," dated May 15, 2021, provides a detailed account of how "American War Criminal Barack Obama" was shot and killed in the U.K. by Pakistani forces, since he had been on the "top of Pakistan's 'most wanted' list" for ordering "almost 200 attacks in North and South Waziristan" in which "almost 2,000 people were killed." The events in the report mirrored those of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

The report also featured a faked photo of a dead Obama, captioned "Hoax picture sourced from Google images – picture is in the same style as the hoax picture of a dead Osama bin Laden published on the Daily Mail

The report concludes by saying, "All events are purely fictional – but you knew that already, didn't you?"

Cageprisoners, founded in 2003 and headed by Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo prisoner who was released without charge in 2005, defines itself as a "human rights organization... that exists solely to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It has faced local and international criticism for its championing of senior AQAP member Anwar Al-Awlaki and for its support for Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, "principle architect" of the 9/11 attacks; Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani serving a life sentence in the U.S.; "high-value" Guantanamo detainee Abu Zubaydah; Ibn Al-Sheikh Al-Libi, an Al-Qaeda operative who reportedly committed suicide in Libyan custody after being repatriated by the U.S.; prominent jihadist Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri; and American-born Taliban member John Walker Lindh.Following is the "report" in full:

"Breaking News: Barack Obama Is Dead

"American War Criminal Barack Obama has been killed by Pakistani security forces in the U.K., Prime Minister Hasan Abdullah of Pakistan has said. Obama was shot dead at a compound near Camberley, in a ground operation based on Pakistani intelligence, the first lead for which emerged last August. Mr. Abdullah said Pakistan forces took possession of the body after "a firefight"."Obama is believed to have ordered almost 200 attacks in North and South Waziristan between 2009 and 2011 in which almost 2000 people were killed, when he served as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. Obama is also believed to have ordered the continued bombardment of Afghanistan during the same period in which thousands of others were killed."He was top of Pakistan's 'most wanted' list."DNA tests later confirmed that Obama was dead, Pakistani officials said."Obama was cremated at the stake after a Christian funeral on board an aircraft carrier, ISI officials said."Announcing the success of the operation, Mr. Abdulla said it was 'the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat the CIA.Pakistan has put Muslims around the world on alert, warning them of the possibility of American reprisal attacks for Obama's killing."ISI director Mohammed Akram said America would 'almost certainly' try to avenge the death of Obama."Crowds gathered outside the Red Mosque in Islamabad, chanting 'Allah Akbar' after the news broke".Foreign Minister of Pakistan,Mullah Jundullah said the operation sent a signal to the Neoconservatives in both the U.S. and Britain. 'You cannot wait us out, you cannot defeat us, but you can make the choice to abandon the CIA and participate in a peaceful political process,' she said."Hmmmm....Indeed it seems Obama needs to 'renew' his outreach to Muslims.Read and see the full story here.

• Despite adviser's warnings, Obama calls bin Laden 'jihad' leader.(Politico).It didn't get much attention over the weekend, but, in his interview with "60 Minutes," President Barack Obama described Osama bin Laden as a leader of a global "jihad." That's a word that he and his advisers generally avoid."For us to be able to definitively say, 'We got the man who caused thousands of deaths here in the United States and who had been the rallying point for a violent extremist jihad around the world' was something that I think all of us were profoundly grateful to be a part of," Obama said. He didn't repeat the term during the exchange CBS broadcast Sunday night.Pundits and journalists frequently refer to bin Laden and his followers as "jihadists," but Obama and his team have been loathe to use that kind of terminology."Nor does President Obama see this challenge as a fight against 'jihadists,'" Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said in an August 2009 speech. "Describing terrorists in this way—using a legitimate term, 'jihad,' meaning to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal—risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself. And this is why President Obama has confronted this perception directly and forcefully in his speeches to Muslim audiences, declaring that America is not and never will be at war with Islam." Brennan made a similar point in a May 2010 address where he said the administration's policy was not to refer to members of Al Qaeda and related groups as “jihadists” or “Islamists.""Jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam, meaning to purify oneself or one’s community, and there is nothing holy or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children," Brennan said. "Indeed, characterizing our adversaries this way would actually be counterproductive. It would play into the false perception that they are religious leaders defending a holy cause, when in fact they are nothing more than murderers, including the murder of thousands upon thousands of Muslims."All of which makes it somewhat odd that Obama would use his first on-air question and answer with CBS's Steve Kroft to refer to bin Laden as leading a "jihad."During his trip to India last year, Obama himself was asked directly about the use of the term "jihad" and "jihadi." "The phrase 'jihad' has a lot of meanings within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations," the president said. He went on to talk of isolating "those who have these distorted notions of religious war."Hmmmmm...."I will stand with my Muslim brothers"?Read the full story here.

• Pakistani Protesters Call For ‘Revolution’ To Avenge Bin Laden ‘Martyrdom’.(BigPeace).Protests in Pakistan draw masses upset over the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, with some vowing a revolution to avenge his death. This comes as a military center is bombed, in apparent retaliation for the attack.Read and see the full story here.

• White teenage mother stabbed to death and dumped in canal after having baby with married Muslim.(DailyMail).A white teenage mother was stabbed repeatedly and her body dumped in a canal after she clashed with the Asian family of her lovechild, a court has heard.Laura Wilson, 17, had a brief relationship with Ishaq Hussain, 22, who lived close to her before giving birth to their daughter in June last year.Sheffield Crown Court was told that Hussain failed to acknowledge the child as his own and did not offer any support, leading to friction between Laura, her family and Hussain.Things came to a head last October when she went to Hussain's house and told his family he was the father of the child, prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC said.Hussain and his friend, who also had an affair with her and was said to be her first love, plotted to kill her, it is alleged.They sent a flurry of text messages to one another.They adopted the language of the cult British film 'Four Lions' about Islamic terrorists and mounted a 'mission to kill Laura Wilson', said Mr Campbell.Asghar allegedly sent a text message to Hussain which said: 'I'm gonna send that kaffir bitch straight to hell.'He later told a friend that Laura and her friends had brought trouble to his door and he was 'very angry'.Mr Campbell said Asghar sent text messages to the friend using words to the effect of 'I'm going to kill Laura.''She was a loose cannon and they had to get rid of her,' he said.Hussain, of Ferham Road, Rotherham, and Ashtiaq Asghar, also from Rotherham, deny murdering Miss Wilson some time between October 8 and October 11 last year.The teenage student went missing from her home in Holmes and her body was found two days later in a canal.After that Hussain and Asghar spent more and more time together. Text messages recovered later showed they even talked about getting a gun. In the language of the film Asghar said: 'I will make a show and make some beans on toast' - a reference to the carnage after a bomb blast, said Mr Campbell.It was clear the references to 'unbelieving kaffir b*****ds' referred to the 'mission' to kill Laura.Hmmm...... "The religion of peace".Read the full story here.

• Iran defender of the 'women rights' charges on it's white horse.Discrimination against Female Workers in US. TEHRAN (FNA)- A look at the current economy and working conditions in the United States displays that a lot of disparities affect women in a uniquely negative way. Here are a few brief examples. First, women in the United States are paid 77 cents for every man's dollar, regardless of the fact that women now make up the majority of the work force. Revised data released last week from the Labor Department showed that during four months in 2009, women held more jobs than men, and their lead was greatest just in January at 50.3 percent. These numbers reflect the nation's non-farm payroll jobs. Second, under the Family and Medical Leave Act women (and men) are only given 12 weeks of parental leave and are not paid for their time out of the office. This also only applies to parents who have been employed for at least a year at companies with more than 50 employees, leaving many workers without any parental leave guarantee. In addition, few workers can afford to take off 12 weeks without a paycheck - as a national survey has found. Lastly, US women do not have an Equal Rights Amendment which would bolster their workplace discrimination suits. Currently the US Constitution does not have any language indicating that all its protected rights are guaranteed to all citizens regardless of sex (aside from the right to vote). An ERA would greatly improve the economic status of women in the workplace.Read the full story here.