MFS - The Other News

                      Afternoon Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 06. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today  4.8! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 103.
  Source : Here .

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

• Live Blog on Qsama Bin Laden  Here (Al -Jazeera).

• P.S. Turns out now, those photos of Obama giving his 'I caught Bin Laden' speech were faked.(LA.Times).Could the Obama White House communications folks have found anything else to step in over the presentation this week of their boss and the dramatic recounting and re-recounting of the execution and really rapid remains disposal of Osama bin Laden?It turns out now that all of the non-White House still photographs of the president's dramatic entrance down the hall into the East Room and the late Sunday evening speech itself were faked.They were not taken during the actual event, which was photographed only by official White House photographer Pete Souza during the live TV broadcast.The widely distributed press photographs were, in fact, shot during a reenactment of the entrance, the firm presidential strides down the carpeted hall and the speaking by the president right after the real event, as reported by our astute colleague James Oliphant.These staged news photos were immediately flashed around the world for millions to see with varying captions about the president reading his statement for photographers, distinctions that may well have been lost in translations and publications.It is a minor matter unless truth is a concern.Yes, of course, Obama's guys wanted maximum coverage of his proud "I got him and you-know-who didn't" moment. And independent news organizations always prefer their own material over a White House handout.But to use this arguably misleading photo gimmick around something as sensitive as killing the world's most wanted murderer in an era of bounteous conspiracy theories about the 9/11 events he engineered is naive at best, moronic at worst.Take these numerous inconsistencies and conflicting details. Add them to these faked photos. Mix in Americans' chronic civic cynicism and post-Kennedy assassination susceptibility to conspiracy consumption.Then add Obama's subsequent decision, against the advice of his CIA director, to withhold any photographic proof of Bin Laden's death and burial at sea, ostensibly from concern over jihadist sensitivities.Hmmmm....Is there anything 'real' about this 'administration?Read the full story here.

• Obama on Soaring Gas Prices: “We Can’t Drill Our Way Out of The Problem”.But we can pay Brazil to drill for us?(TheHill).President Obama called for the elimination of billions of dollars in oil industry tax breaks Friday, while stressing that the United States can’t drill its way out of high gas prices.“We can’t just drill our way out of the problem,” Obama said during an energy policy speech in Indiana Friday. “If we’re serious about addressing our energy problems, we’re going to have to do more than drill.”Obama’s remarks come as Washington policymakers are feeling pressure to take action to address high gas prices, which are nearing a nationwide average of $4 a gallon.Hmmm..........Even if he has to blow up every oil well in the US he will force us to drive an electric car?Read the full story here.

• Republicans Blast Obama Over Proposed Executive Order Requiring Companies to Disclose Political Donations as “Blatant” Assault on Free Speech.(TheHill).Republican leaders in the House are urging President Obama to nix an executive order that would require federal contractors to disclose their political contributions.In a letter sent to Obama on Friday, 21 Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), called the proposed executive order “a blatant attempt to intimidate, and potentially silence, certain speakers who are engaged in their constitutionally protected right to free speech.”If implemented, the executive order would require companies bidding for federal contracts to disclose their contributions to parties and candidates, as well as donations to third-party entities that spend funds on “independent expenditures and electioneering communications,” according to a copy of the draft order.The draft order is similar to the Disclose Act that passed the House but stalled in the Senate in the last Congress. That legislation would have mandated the disclosure of political donations to nonprofit groups.Another signee on the GOP letter, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), called the proposed executive order a “brazen attempt to skirt the legislative process and force partisan policies rejected by Congress last year."“This biased approach to selective free speech does not pass muster and should be abandoned,” Lungren said in a statement. “Instead of looking for regulatory solutions to his party’s campaign problems, the President should focus on the mounting problems plaguing individuals and American companies growing increasingly frustrated with Washington.”Hmmmm.....Not so fast "Comrade Obama"?Read the full story here.

• 'He's taking the spotlight': Obama under fire from 9/11 families as he prepares to meet SEAL heroes who took out Bin Laden.(DailyMail).Obama will visit SEAL Team Six to thank them for killing Bin Laden.After facing criticism from the families of 9/11 victims who claim he 'took the spotlight' over Bin Laden's death, it has emerged that President Obama will visit Fort Campbell, Kentucky, today to personally thank the Navy SEAL commandos who took down the al Qaeda leader. Fort Campbell is home to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which it is thought flew the SEAL teams to Bin Laden's Abbottabad compound.According to a White House official, Obama has already met Vice Admiral William McRaven, thought to be the man in charge of the Bin Laden raid.The visit is part of a series of stops on a tour the President has embarked on since the SEALs took the terror leader out on Sunday.Yesterday, he started his trip to new York by visiting fire fighters who lost 15 men in the attack as well as laying a wreath at Ground Zero in a ceremony dedicated to the thousands who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.Despite keeping it deliberately low key - privately speaking to relatives of those who lost their lives as well as fire fighters and policemen caught up in the tragedy - he has had to fend off accusations that he was revelling in the death of Osama bin Laden on Sunday.Some relatives of the 9/11 victims have criticised him for his 'self-congratulatory' handling of the killing.One, Debra Burlingame, said the president was 'using families in what is a transparent political ploy'.Her brother, Charles Burlingame, was the pilot whose plane crashed into the Pentagon.She said she was pleased Bin Laden had been killed, but was shocked when Mr Obama turned his back when she confronted him over the prosecution of the CIA agents who interrogated 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.David Beamer, whose son, Todd Beamer, helped stop hijackers on the fourth 9/11 plane, also criticised the president.Mr Beamer said Bin Laden's death was 'a cause for joy', but he told Fox News: 'I feel some chagrin now, though, about how the rest of it has been handled.'And frankly it started May Day 2011 when the president announced what had happened. 'The excessive use of the personal pronoun that he used in his remarks, I really felt that was the beginning of the Commander-in-Chief putting too much spotlight on himself, taking too much credit for what the remarkable Americans had done.'Mr Beamer went on to criticise the praise heaped on Mr Obama for taking the decision to kill Bin Laden, saying once the CIA had found the compound there was nothing else he could have done.He said: 'It's been hailed as one of the greatest wartime decisions, bold, gutsy, but quite frankly under the facts and circumstances I think it was anything but that.'Hmmmm.....A 'Man' who would use anyone and anything for his own personal goal?Read and see the full story here.

• USS Michael Murphy: Navy SEAL Honored With Warship Bearing His Name.A Great Man and a real leader.Not someone who 'thrives' on the valor of others!Read the full story here.

• Fury erupts outside U.S. Embassy in London as hundreds stage mock funeral for Osama Bin Laden.(DailyMail).A protest by hundreds of Osama Bin Laden supporters sparked fury outside the US Embassy in London today as they staged a mock 'funeral service' for the terror leader.Police stepped in to separate the protesters and members of the English Defence League amid threats of violence from both sides.Radicals carrying placards proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' branded US leaders 'murderers' and warned vengeance attacks were 'guaranteed'.The protest came shortly after the verdict into the 7/7 inquest was released by Lady Justice Heather Hallett.She recorded that the 52 victims had been 'unlawfully' killed when four terrorists attacked three London Underground trains and a bus in 2005.Lady Justice Hallett made a string of recommendations to both MI5 to prevent further atrocities and to 999 workers to react more effectively to major events.Relatives of the victims wept openly as the judge announced her verdict and she paid tribute to their 'quiet dignity' before reading the name of each person who died.However just three miles from the Royal Court of Justice, Muslim protester Abu Muaz, 28, from east London claimed 'it is only a matter of time' before another attack and that the 'West is the enemy'.The capital has seen heightened security in recent days over fears of a revenge attacks by Al-Qaeda members.The protest against Bin Laden's death was organised by controversial preacher Anjem Choudary - who praised both 7/7 and the September 11 attacks.The former UK leader of the outlawed al-Muhajiroun and member of the 'poppy-burning' Muslims Against Crusades extremist group called on the U.S. to return bin Laden's body to relatives.An EDL member did manage to slip through police lines to unveil an effigy of Bin Laden in the middle of the 300-strong group of extremist Muslims.It prompted screams of 'USA, burn in hell' and 'Obama, burn in hell' from angry protesters.The protests from both sides left onlookers in Grosvenor Square unimpressed.Hmmmm.....Obama "Osama Bin Laden was not a Muslim".Read the full story here.

• Egypt Permits Requiem For Bin Laden.(Memri).The Egyptian Religious Endowments Ministry has permitted prayers for the soul of assassinated Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, at Al-Nour mosque in Cairo today. Ministry official Sheikh Shawki Abd Al-Latif, said that bin Laden died a Muslim and therefore must be prayed for, even if there is a dispute over his path. He added that the assassination was carried out in a way that was against human values.Read the full story here.

• Cut U.S. Funding For Osama’s Mourners.(BigPeace).Hamas, the Palestinian terror group that runs Gaza, is mourning the death of Osama bin Laden. He is a “martyr” to these jihadists. And Hamas has just concluded a pact with the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA), or Fatah, the group that the U.S. recognizes and to whom we give lavish foreign aid. We are currently giving $600 million to the so-called Palestinian Authority.Fatah has held an increasingly precarious control over much of the West Bank of the Jordan River since 1988. It was then that the U.S. brokered a deal in which the PLO morphed into the Palestinian Authority (PA), promised to give up terrorism, and promised to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Many of us never thought the PLO would keep any of those promises—but we knew they would cash our checks and pocket as well huge sums from the European Union. All of this in the name of “peace.”Among the things that the PLO has done on the West Bank is to terrorize Christian Arabs, to name public squares after suicide bombers, and to conduct an all-out Hate Israel propaganda campaign in their schools, universities, and controlled media.Good faith? Arafat instigated yet another intifada against Israel when he got 98% of his territorial demands met and not 100%. Intifadas are uprisings characterized by stone-throwing Palestinian youths confronting Israeli troops. The visuals are great for their propaganda purposes. Israeli soldiers in armored personnel carriers or tanks are shown confronting a hail of stones. But less often noted in the leftist media—BBC, CNN, Reuters, AFP—is that these young warriors of the intifada are deadly accurate. Their stones have been a deadly form of action in that region since biblical times.Now, the PLO has made a pact with Hamas, their supposed rivals who control the Gaza Strip. For a decade, Hamas and Fatah have been fighting each other. Hamas is openly committed to the eradication of Israel. All maps of the Mideast produced by Hamas show Arab lands with no Jewish state—what they call the Zionist Entity—at all. But Fatah’s maps likewise show no Israel.The somber news of the Fatah-Hamas deal came out of—Cairo. Apparently, the post-Mubarak government is being strongly influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is merely the Palestinian branch of the MB. So this is the “Arab Spring” we’ve heard so much about?It’s time to put teeth into U.S. policy. Yasser Arafat was the man who invented airline hijacking for terror purposes. He murdered Americans. It was never a good idea to trust his word or to trust any organization formed by him. We have gotten nothing for the billions we have showered on him and his corrupt and murderous cronies.What we see with the Hamas-Fatah rapprochement is merely the open and brazen acknowledgment of what has always been the case: Both Hamas and Fatah are terrorist organizations. Only now has Fatah dropped its mask.Secretary Clinton urged us to send Fatah another $160 million on top of the $600 million.Here’s a fine candidate for cuts. Let’s cut off all U.S. support to these organizations. And we should press our European allies to do the same. It’s time to follow up the brave actions of our U.S. Navy SEALs with brave action in the diplomatic arena.Hmmmm.....Why is the Obama regime financing a terror organisation?Is their hate towards Israel really that Big?Read the full story here.

• The 'Muslim Brotherhood' that Obama pledged 1,57 Billion to in 2012 Hold Pro-Osama bin Laden Rally.(JawaReport).Watch the whole thing below, but I think the screenshot above pretty much sums it up. Apparently they marched from Cairo's famous cemetery, which is actually slum built on top of the old cemetery, toward the US embassy.I think you'll get the gist without a translation. The akhis over at one of the forums say that part of it is translated kinda like:Khyber, Khyber, O Jews, Osama's army will return!Hmmm....With 'friends' like Obama the Jews don't need enemies?Read the full story here.

• 'Hamas must reform if US to talk with Palestinian gov’t'.(JPost).In Italy, Clinton says Hamas must adopt the Quartet principles of recognizing Israel’s right to exist, renouncing violence.“We’ve made it very clear that we cannot support any government that consists [sic] of Hamas unless and until Hamas adopts the Quartet principles,” Clinton said at a press conference with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, referring to the conditions set by the US, UN, EU and Russia.Frattini said he, like Clinton, was waiting for further details on the exact nature of the new Palestinian Authority government, but stressed that Italy, too, felt Hamas must comply with the Quartet requirements to be a suitable partner.“There is no doubt that complying with the principles of the Quartet is a prerequisite before Hamas can be considered by Italy as a potential interlocutor,” he said.The surprise deal between the rival Palestinian factions has scrambled diplomatic calculations on all sides in what was already a chaotic Middle Eastern juncture.Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be consulting with US President Barack Obama on the implications of Palestinian reconciliation among other regional developments when they meet in Washington on May 20.The White House put out an announcement on Wednesday night saying “the leaders look forward to discussing the full range of issues of mutual interest to the United States and Israel.”While in town, Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress, as well as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.Before the unity deal was announced, he was said to be preparing the outline of a path for reaching an accord with the Palestinians.In April, Clinton hinted that Obama would soon address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the changing Middle East regimes. But the Fatah-Hamas unity deal seems to have affected that plan.“President Obama has also been thinking about making a speech laying out his approach to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.When the agreement between Fatah and Hamas was announced last week, it caught both Washington and Jerusalem by surprise,” former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk told the Council on Foreign Relations.“That put an end for the time being to the idea that the president would come out with a peace plan, because if the environment was hostile before, it seemed to have grown even more hostile because of the Palestinian agreement negotiated by the Egyptians.”Hmmmm....The reconciliation was brokered with the help of Turkey,Obama calls Erdogan weekly,Obama surprised?Yeah whatevah!Read the full story here.

• A List of Who Supports the Hamas-Fatah Unity Deal.Read it all here.

• Morning Jay: If Our 'Food Stamp Recovery' Persists, Obama Will Lose Big.(WeeklyStandard).I have noticed something unsettling in my own life lately: I know a lot of people who are on food stamps or some kind of extraordinary government assistance. The count right now stands around 10 people, which is a lot for a small town denizen such as myself.That is a personal reminder of a very serious, yet rarely discussed economic, social, and indeed political problem: the fact that better than one out of seven Americans today requires government help to put food on the table.Call it the American "food stamp recovery:" take away the government supports, and the economic picture looks very bleak indeed.Read the full story here.

• Cornered Pakistan turns on India.(HindustanTimes).Initially on the defensive after US navy commandos raided Osama bin Laden's hideout in a Pakistani military town near Islamabad and killed the al Qaeda chief on Monday, Pakistan on Thursday charged the Indian establishment and armed forces with trying to subvert Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's peace agenda.In a statement that neither amused nor surprised New Delhi, Pakistan foreign secretary Salman Bashir warned that "any misadventure" would lead to a "terrible catastrophe" in the region.He was reacting to army chief General VK Singh's remarks on Wednesday that all three wings of India's defence forces were capable of carrying out a US-like operation in Pakistan. Though Bashir criticised the US for violating Pakistan's sovereignty by carrying out the operation without keeping Islamabad in the loop, his tough talk was aimed at New Delhi."Any other country that would ever act (similarly) on the assumption that it has the might... will find it has made a basic miscalculation," Bashir said.Responding to Bashir's statement, an Indian official said, "When cornered, Pakistan usually employs such tactics to divert attention. This time, it is to divert attention from the present mess Islamabad is in." Read the full story here.

• Oversight rep. demands answers on TSA pat-down of 6-year old.(DailyCaller).A leading Republican on the House oversight committee is demanding answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on why a 6-year-old girl was given an “enhanced” pat-down at an airport by TSA agents, an incident Napolitano defended as conducted “professionally and according to the protocols.”A video of the incident was posted on YouTube April 9 by the 6-year-old Anna Drexel’s parents, provoking outrage. Napolitano backed the procedure, and a blog post by the TSA said, “TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures.”But Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the oversight panel, says TSA has publicly stated that children younger than 13 years old are exempt from enhanced pat-downs.

“I am still failing to see how the [officer's] actions followed TSA’s publicly stated policy that children under the age of 13 are exempt from enhanced pat-downs and are to receive modified treatment. If the department has indeed conducted a thorough review of the incident, then I ask that it immediately produce its step-by-step analysis and findings to this subcommittee,” Chaffetz says in a May 5 letter to Napolitano.“On a related matter, I am also concerned that the department’s process and criteria for hiring personnel stationed at airports are substandard. For example, federal agents recently arrested Philadelphia International Airport screener Thomas Gordon Jr. for distributing child pornography via Facebook,” Chaffetz says, “The fact that Mr. Gordon had an opportunity to conduct invasive pat-downs of young children is sickening.”Chaffetz also asks for explanations, to be answered by May 20, including:

•TSA’s current policy on enhanced pat-downs for children under 13, and its policy the day Drexel was given an enhanced pat-down

•What a “modified” enhanced pat-down consists of, since on the video of Drexel’s pat-down appears the same as a normal enhanced pat-down

•A complete description of TSA’s hiring process

•A list of all TSA employees who have been arrested for, and convicted of, crimes, including sexual crimes.Read the full story here.

• House GOP (and 33 Dems) to Obama: Drill, baby, drill.(MichelleMalkin).The heat is on.And 33 Democrats joined the House Republican majority yesterday to put the White House on notice that they take America’s energy independence seriously.The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to approve a measure intendedThe Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act would direct the secretary of the interior to conduct offshore oil and gas lease sales off the state’s coast within one year of the bill’s enactment. It also would trigger lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico but exclude any tract off Virginia that would conflict with military operations.Virginia’s lease sale was scheduled for this year but delayed until at least 2017 after the April-July 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.The bill was the first of three House measures meant to speed up drilling. None of the three is likely to pass the Senate, where Democratic leaders are more focused on ending tax breaks received by oil companies.Hmmmm.....This Date in History: Obama Imposes Job-Destroying Drilling Moratorium.Knowing the Obama regime he will veto it.Read the full story here.

• Bomb set off in front of Turkey Premier’s convoy, Erdogan safe, blames separatists.(Al-Arabia).One police officer was killed and another injured when the Turkish prime minister’s convoy was attacked on Thursday while he was en route to a campaign rally in Cankiri reported local TV station NTV. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was not injured and immediately airlifted in a helicopter.A bomb exploded in front of the police convoy escorting the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party bus after it made a stop in Kastamonu in northern Turkey, according to news reports.No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Addressing a rally later in Amasya, Mr. Erdogan expressed his sorrow over the deaths and blamed the attack on separatist groups. “These dark minds who do not believe in democracy’s struggle; these separatist forces believe they can only achieve results this way and not through the ballot box,” the prime minister said.“We will not let anyone divide this land. My mighty nation will never yield to bandits,” the prime minister said, according to the BBC.Hmmmm......"My Mighty Nation" sounds more and more like Ahmadinejad .Read the full story here.

• Protest at Cairo embassy calls for intifada.(YNet).Hundreds rally at Israeli embassy to call for annulment of peace, Jews to 'return to birthplaces'.CAIRO – Hundreds gathered before Israel's embassy in Cairo on Friday to protest against the peace agreement with the state. Protesters waved Palestinian flags and called for another intifada on May 15, on which Palestinians in Israel mark the Nakba.Both men and women were present at the gathering, and participants were mostly young. They called to "return Palestine to the Palestinians" and held signs saying Jews should "return to their places of birth".Speakers at the rally said Jews who wanted to stay in "Palestine" should agree to live under Islamic rule. "On May 15 we should hold a convoy of Egyptian cars to Rafah," one young speaker said. Among the protesters were also those who demanded Egypt renege on its peace accord with Israel, and in addition refuse to sell natural gas to the state.Hmmmmm......War is coming closer by the day...thank you Hussein.Read the full story here.

• Prominent Writer on Jihadist Websites: All Americans and Europeans Are Now Legitimate Targets for Killing.(Memri).In a May 5 post, "Abu Shadia," a prominent writer on the jihadist forum Shumoukh Al-Islam, addressed all those who engage in "media jihad," urging them to launch a media campaign in response to bin Laden's reported death.Read the full story here.
• Related -Prominent Writer on Jihad Forums Proposes Unit For Assassinating All Those Connected To Bin Laden Assassination.(Memri). Focusing Efforts on Retaliation Against U.S., Israel, Pakistan.On May 5, 2011, "Abu Al-Fadl Al-Madi," a senior writer on the Shumukh Al-Islam jihadist forum, authored a post in which he suggested that Al-Qaeda not respond impulsively to U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement of the assassination of Osama bin Laden, but that it focus its efforts on retaliatory operations.Read the full story here.