MFS - The Other News

                       Afternoon  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 18. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 18. Here (Al-Jazeera).

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 112. Source : Here .

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

• AIPAC: Don't boo Obama.(TheHill).A reader forwards over an email from AIPAC President Lee Rosenberg to delegates to the organization's annual policy conference, which will feature President Obama's and Prime Minister Netanyahu's coming speeches to the organization.

It's titled "Welcoming Guests Into our Home" and I don't think anyone over there is worried the crowd will heckle Bibi:

The goal of the conference, as always, is to have every speaker, honored guest, member of Congress, Senator, and administration official who joins us feel that we have done everything we can to extend our hand in friendship. They must walk away from the conference knowing that we look forward to working together, with them, to make America and Israel stronger. Each speech and appearance at the conference is an important opportunity for us to accomplish that critical goal.We have always had the perspective that these speakers and guests have been invited into our home and we will treat them with the warmth, deference, respect, and appreciation that anyone would be accorded as such.Therefore, how we conduct ourselves during the conference, individually and collectively, is a matter of great importance. Because we know that you–Democrats, Republicans, and Independents–come to this conference with one overriding concern–a stronger U.S.-Israel alliance–we ask that you act and react to every speech, address, and briefing, that will be offered as part of the conference program in only the most positive manner.Thank you in advance for your positive participation in this year’s historic gathering....UPDATE: I'm told they've sent similar emails for the last four three years.Hmmmmm.......Heil Seizer?Read the full story here.

• Does Anyone in the GOP Want to Beat Obama?(BigGovernment).Republican Presidential contenders are melting like tourists on the Vegas Strip, without sunscreen, on a 117 degree day in July. Doesn’t anyone in the GOP actually want to run against the worst President in modern American history?It can’t be Obama’s record that’s scaring Republicans. Obama is overseeing the worst economy since 1929…contributed heavily to the worst sovereign debt crisis in history…presiding over the worst collapse in real estate ever…helping to ensure the highest gas prices in history by refusing to allow oil drilling until recently…the list goes on and on. You’d think the Republican contenders would be licking their lips at running against that record? Instead they are falling by the wayside.Doesn’t anyone want to beat Obama? Who’s left? Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels? Two boring middle-aged white guys with the charisma of Al Gore? That’s the best the GOP has? Watching wet paint dry is more exciting, than watching Pawlenty or Daniels deliver a speech. Sorry, boys, but wet paint drying isn’t going to defeat Obama. Not if he has his teleprompter working properly.Yes others could yet become the darkhorse for the GOP nomination- Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, perhaps even Sarah Palin.Hmmm....Who or what are they afraid off?Did someone scare the hell out of them?Is this what America has come to?Then for sure we need someone like Allen West,to clean out these Augean stables.Read the full story here.

• President ‘Control Freak’ or President Control?(BigPeace).Drudge, correctly, is trumpeting the White House shut out of the Boston Herald from pool coverage of a Boston fundraiser the President is attending today because the tabloid ran an op-ed by Mitch Romney on its front page ON MARCH 8, the date of Obama’s last visit to Boston.Not that the date affects the ugly level of media manipulation on display here; but it does add a touch of the maniacal to this childish but sinister display of White House muscle. “This is taking the control freak thing to new levels,” the Herald’s Joe Battenfeld wrote.Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom defended Romney’s March 8 opinion piece:“That op-ed was about jobs, which apparently is a sensitive subject for the thin-skinned people around the president. The White House may be able to manipulate pool coverage, but they can’t manipulate the fact that millions of Americans are out of work because of President Obama’s failure to create jobs and get our economy moving,” Fehrnstrom said in a statement yesterday.Here is the Romney op-ed the Herald dared to run on the very day King Obama graced Boston with His Presence. It must have given the O people one royal case of heartburn, for which I commend him. By the way, the Herald did indeed cover Obama’s March 8 visit in its online edition at least, running an AP story and five photos.Not good enough.Off with their heads.Hmmmm....Or an out of control President?Read the full story here.

• A Closer Look at President Obama’s Baby Steps on U.S. Drilling.(FedRaw). Big on hype, small on real actions that will actually increase American energy production.WASHINGTON, D.C., May 16, 2011 - With 69 percent of Americans supporting increased offshore drilling, it’s no surprise that President Obama recently shifted positions in his weekly address and is now embracing increased oil and natural gas production as an answer to rising gasoline prices.While the President’s announcement generated headlines, a closer examination of the actual proposals shows that it’s big on hype and small on real actions that will actually increase American energy production.Chairman Hastings noted last week, “One weekend address announcing minor policy tinkering, while positive, does not erase the Administration’s long job-destroying record of locking-up America’s energy resources.”Even with President Obama’s latest speech, our nation is still further behind in developing our American energy resources than we were when he took office. The Obama Administration has canceled onshore oil and natural gas lease sales, canceled offshore lease sales, effectively closed the entire Atlantic and Pacific Coasts to new drilling, and slow-walked permits in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama has taken our energy policy 10 miles backwards and now wants credit for moving 10 feet forward. The President may be headed in the right direction, but he still has a long, long way to go.Hmmmm.....What i say and what i do are two different things!Read the full story here.

• 42 Attorneys General Agree: Block Websites with Pirated Movie Content.Read the full story here.

• As Uprisings Transform Mideast, Obama Aims to Reshape the Peace Debate.(NYTimes).WASHINGTON — Six months after the Arab world erupted in a political firestorm, President Obama has been searching for ways to link the region’s historic transformation to the long-stymied peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. It is far from clear how he can do that. Mr. Obama will have a chance to reshape the debate on Thursday, when he delivers a major speech on the region at the State Department. The president plans to argue that the political upheaval raises the prospect for progress on all fronts, and will offer “some specific new ideas about U.S. policy toward the region,” the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said Tuesday. Officials said Mr. Obama was weighing whether to formally endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state — a move that would be less a policy shift than a signal by the United States that it expected Israel to make concessions in pursuit of an agreement. But several officials said the president did not plan to present an American blueprint for breaking the stalemate between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the absence of that, experts said, there is little he can do to draw the two sides closer, especially since the Arab upheaval has deepened the rift between them.For Arab allies of the United States, Mr. Obama is offering encouragement to pursue reforms. On Tuesday, he welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House and announced more than $400 million in American investments in Jordan, as well as aid in the form of 50,000 tons of wheat, which he said would help Jordanians and allow the government to speed up its overhaul of the economy. Mr. Obama’s speech comes during a hectic week of Middle East diplomacy. In addition to King Abdullah, the president plans to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday. On Sunday, he is to address a major pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. And later next week, Mr. Netanyahu plans to deliver his own speech, before a joint session of Congress. But the whirl of activity comes against one of the most forbidding backdrops for the peace process in many years. Israeli security forces clashed with thousands of Palestinian protesters who marched into border areas on Sunday. And the Palestinian Fatah party recently signed a unity agreement with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which Mr. Netanyahu condemned as antithetical to a peace deal. “I’ve never been more concerned about where this is headed than I am now,” said Robert Danin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who used to run the Jerusalem office of the group known as the Middle East quartet. “There seems to be increased momentum towards what could be a real explosion.” Hmmmmm....."Hamas"Antithetical?If heard a lot of descriptions this one is a first.Read the full story here.

• Russia expels Israel's military attaché over espionage allegations.(Ynet).Major diplomatic incident between Jerusalem, Moscow: Israeli army liaison suspected of spying, ordered to leave Russian soil.The Israeli military attaché to Russia has come under suspicion of espionage and was expelled from the country, Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth learned Wednesday. Military Attaché Colonel Vadim Leiderman has since been interrogated by Israeli security officials. He maintains that the allegations are baseless and false, and that the entire incident stems from a misunderstanding. The IDF and the Defense Ministry said that the suspicions have been investigated and found to be untrue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are being kept abreast of any development in the case. The last few days have seen hectic efforts by Israel to appease Moscow and stop the already grave diplomatic incident from escalating further, but the Russians seem adamant to exhaust all the legal measures at their disposal against the officer.Military attachés hold pivotal roles in Israeli missions worldwide. The military attaché represents Israel in all matters pertaining to security and its security interests, serves and the liaison between the IDF and the hosting nation's armed forces, represents the Israeli Military Industries, and is the ambassador's security advisor.The expulsion of a military attaché is a highly irregular episode and Jerusalem is treating it as an extremely serious event. Jerusalem sources noted that the exact reason for Leiderman's expulsion remains unclear, as Moscow has offered only scarce details on the case.Nevertheless, it seems the Moscow suspected Leiderman of using field agents to gather sensitive information. Israel has substantial political and security interests in Russia, which are compounded by its various arms deals with Syria. Jerusalem is now concentrating on damage control.Hmmmm.....Anything go's to 'corner' Israel.Read the full story here.

• Video - Former Mufti of Egypt Sheik Nasr Farid Wassel: Bin Laden Is a Martyr, Who Was Killed by the American Enemy.Hmmm......Yup high time the Obama regime gives some more Billions of Dollars in aid?Stop this madness!Read the full story here.

• USDA wants to send potatoes packing !!! Ban Spuds from School ???Hmmmm....."Move" over?Read and see the full story here.

• White House May Limit Despised Paper’s Access.(WhiteHouseDossier).The openness administration says it has the right to limit the access of the Boston Herald to the press pool covering President Obama’s trip to the city today because it regards its reporting as unfair, the Herald writes. I can tell you, I’ve covered the White House for many years and I’ve never heard of a publication being excluded from pool duty owing to its politics.The in-town pool in Washington, which follows the president around and is allowed into small scale events at the White House so they can report back to the rest of the press corps, features many publications that lean right or left, including the Huffington Post, the Washington Times, the Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, and the Washington Examiner, to name a few.Mr. Lehrich has no basis to use access to the president to try to control coverage. In China, yes. Not here.This all comes on the heels of a report the White House banned a San Francisco Chronicle reporter from the press pool for using a camera to record a protest at one of his fundraisers.Hmmmm......Dictatorship Rising,what's next Jail like in Turkey or Predator drones like in Pakistan?Read the full story here.

• The 'All American' Ronald McDonald in the crosshairs of the 'food police'.(Fox).NEW YORK (AP) - Ronald McDonald is having a midlife crisis.His floppy shoes, painted-on smile and flaming-red hair may be a harder sell to today's kids who are trading in their dolls and trucks for manicures and mobile game apps at ever younger ages. He also seems out of step with McDonald's Corp.'s new efforts to appeal to adults. The 48-year-old spokesclown has fallen flat in new ads this year, according to Ace Metrix, a group that tracks TV advertising.And the government is getting strict on marketing unhealthy food to children. That has both marginalized Ronald as more of a mascot than a product pitchman and landed him in the middle of the bigger debate about food makers' responsibilities in stemming the rise in childhood obesity.McDonald's says it is proud of the food it offers and that Ronald teaches children to be active.Critics say it's time to hang up the yellow jumper.A group called Corporate Accountability International plans to ask Ronald to retire at the company's annual meeting on Thursday. They say Ronald encourages kids to eat junk food, contributing to a rise in childhood obesity and related diseases such as diabetes.The group, which campaigned against the Joe Camel cigarette mascot in the '90s and complained about Ronald as a role model at McDonald's annual meeting last year, has stepped up its campaign. The group has taken out full-page ads Wednesday in the Chicago Sun-Times, New York Metro and four other papers to call for his head. The ads, signed by more than 550 health groups and professionals, carry the headline, "Doctors' Orders: Stop Marketing Junk Food To Kids.What follows is an open letter to McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner, that says in part, "We ask that you heed our concern and retire your marketing promotions for food high in salt, fat, sugar, and calories to children, whatever form they take — from Ronald McDonald to toy giveaways."McDonald's defended Ronald against the group's attack at last year's annual meeting and is adamant that it has never considered retiring or even downplaying their smiling mascot."It's totally unfounded," said Marlena Peleo-Lazar, the company's chief creative officer, who describes Ronald as "a force for good."Read the full story here.

• Glenn Beck announces "Rally In Jerusalem" in August.(MuslimsagainstSharia).On Monday, May 16th, FOX news personality and conservative talk show host Glenn Beck announced his intention of organizing a major rally in Jerusalem that is scheduled for August. During his morning radio program, he reminded his listeners of his previous rally, held in Washington, DC on August 28, 2010 called "Restoring Honor" which drew hundreds of thousands of people. Mr. Beck exhorted "all decent people and people of faith" to join him in Jerusalem in a rally called "Restoring Courage". Having recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he visited the Temple Mount, he said upon his departure, "The Temple Mount almost pulsated. I could feel it.”As a vocal advocate and fervent supporter of Israel, Mr. Beck has made Israel and the Jewish people a focal point of his broadcasts. On Feb. 4, 2011, Mr. Beck offered his prognostications on the revolution in Egypt by telling his television audience that, "If President Hosni Mubarak does step down, however, the Muslim Brotherhood would be the most likely group to seize power. They've openly stated they want to declare war on Israel and they would end the peace agreement with Israel and they would work towards instituting something we told you about, a caliphate."Often declaring his deeply held conviction that Israel and the Jewish people are being "set up", Mr. Beck has consistently addressed the exponential rise in anti-Semitism. "Old hatreds are coming over the horizon; it's a well-laid plan. Right now, when you're paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, it's tough. Pretty soon, you're going to want somebody to blame. And politicians always are there to give you someone to blame. And mark my words, we will be paying 10 dollars a gallon for gasoline. When that happens and someone comes to you and says, "It's the Jews. It's Israel. If they would just give up Jerusalem. If they would just divide Jerusalem." It is coming. This will be the mantra come September. "If they just divide Jerusalem, they just give it up! Go back to the '67 lines." It's coming", he ruefully observed. Issuing an impassioned appeal to his listeners earlier today, Mr. Beck warned that Israel is in imminent danger, "Things in Israel are going to get bad. They are going to spread across the Middle East. The things that I've told you are coming, will come. It's only a matter of time." Making an oblique reference to the upcoming meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Beck said, "There are people that will promise you "peace" in the coming months. They are going to attack the center of our faith; our common faith, and that is Jerusalem but it won't be with bullets or bombs. It will be with a two-state solution that cuts off Jerusalem; the Old City, to the rest of the world."Alluding to the dramatic escalation in global anti-Western and anti-Israel animus, Mr. Beck said, "There are forces in this land, and forces all over the globe that are trying to destroy us, but remember, 'we are the great Satan and Israel is the little Satan'". Offering a historical retrospective, he said, "Many in the history of man have had the opportunity to stand with the Jewish people; Poland, Russia, Germany, and time and time and time again, they have failed."As a devout Mormon, Mr. Beck spoke of his religious beliefs in the unfolding of geo-political realities. "The only seat of government that can and will solve this problem, with or without us is G-d. It is time to return inside the walls that surround Jerusalem and stand with peoples of all faiths, all around the world." Beseeching his listeners to join the rally in Jerusalem, Mr. Beck exclaimed, "As a citizen of America and a brother in the family of man, I come to you today and ask you to stand; stand with me in Jerusalem."Candidly admitting that he didn't know how many people would show up, or how much the event would cost, he declared that the rally would be "a life altering event" and warned that the "very gates of hell" would fight his attempts to hold the rally.Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Conservative Public School Teacher Calls Florida Exam ‘Soviet-Style Propaganda’.(BigGovernment).There are many conservative teachers sounding the alarm about the hijacking of their profession and the radicalization of school curriculums by left-wing union leaders. Exhibit A: Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis saying they’re not teachers but “education workers.”Dean Kalahar is a Sarasota, Florida high school economics teacher. On his blog, he says his guiding principles include private property rights, free market entrepreneurial capitalism and the U.S. Constitution.Kalahar recently brought attention to the new Florida high school senior exit exam, which he says will “indoctrinate children into a progressive and revisionist model critical of America.”Kalahar wrote:“The new Florida exit exam standards are a shocking move toward what one can only equate to soviet style propaganda to create a monolithic citizenry. In the case of high school American history, a look into the specifics of the exit exam is all that is needed as proof to an agenda directed in a planned process by groups that have no problem using whatever means necessary to acquire power and promote a twisted vision of America. Florida exit exams in the social sciences need to be stopped immediately and there needs to be a serious reconsideration of the entire process before moving ahead.”Among the questions Kalahar exposes are:

Analyze the major factors that drove United States imperialism.

Examine the controversy surrounding the proliferation of nuclear technology in the United States.

Assess key figures and organizations in shaping the Black Power Movement.

Analyze significant Supreme Court decisions relating to reproductive rights.

Describe efforts by the United States and other world powers to avoid future wars.

Examine the failure of the United States to support the League of Nations.

Kalahar says teachers will be legally bound to teach these perspectives.Hmmmm....Communist Dictatorship or Democracy?Read the full story here.

• EU, OSCE ask Turkey to reconsider Internet filtering plan.(HurriyetDaily).Two key international bodies have warned Turkey about its attempts to control and filter the Internet, with the representative of one group saying that plans to filter Internet access are against international norms.In a letter to Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, or OSCE’s, representative on media freedom expressed concern about the Turkish government’s plans to introduce mandatory content filtering for all Internet users.“This regulation would limit the right of individuals to access information they want and impose regulation of Internet content by the authorities,” OSCE representative Dunja Mijatovic wrote, adding that Internet users must have the freedom to make independent decisions about the use of content filters.“If enforced, this regulation would contravene OSCE and international standards on free flow of information.” Mijatovic added.Turkey also received international criticism from the European Commission, with a spokeswoman for Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule telling reporters Tuesday that the body is closely following developments regarding the filtering of online access in Turkey and other restrictions on the Internet.She also expressed the European Commission’s uneasiness about Turkey’s blocking access to Internet sites frequently and disproportionately in terms of content and time, the Anatolia news agency reported.As of Aug. 22, all Internet users in Turkey users will have to choose among one of four Internet filtering packages, under a regulation by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK. All of the packages will block certain websites, and the filtering criteria will not be made public.Fule’s representative also objected to the plan, saying shutting down Internet sites based on general banned-word lists could violate the freedom of expression as well as people’s right to information.The former minister in charge of communications until recently has meanwhile rejected claims about online censorship, saying, “There is no such ban in Turkey,” while also expressing his opposition to banning websites on the Internet.Speaking during a press meeting Tuesday, former Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım said rumors about government filtering of the Internet were the result of a “communication mistake.”“There is no such ban in Turkey,” said Yıldırım, adding that it is not possible to monitor the 35 million people who access the Internet every second, both domestically and internationally. “To create such a monitoring system the state would have to deploy more than 100,000 people,” he said.Hmmmm.....Welcome to Turkey Iranian style.Read the full story here.