MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 138.Source : Here .

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

• Biden to Union Members: If You Vote Republican, Don't Ask Me For Any Help.(Fox).Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged it wasn't a political event, but it still didn't prevent him from sending this warning to Teamsters union members during his address at their annual convention in Las Vegas this past Friday."And don't any of you, by the way, any of you guys vote Republican," Biden said. "I'm not supposed to say, this isn't political. ...don't come to me if you do! You're on your own, Jack!"Biden provided the closing address at the 28th Annual International Brotherhood of Teamsters Convention at the Paris Hotel on Friday. The Vice President, who is known for his straightforward style, didn't hide his feelings about the current labor union fights across the country. He believes they are under attack by his Republican rivals for no apparent reason."Look at Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Florida, Pennsylvania. Did you ever think in 2011 you would be fighting for the right to work for less again?," said Biden. "What in God's name did any organized labor union do to the collapse of this economy? ... [I]t's bizarre, but that's the case they're making."Republican governors in several states have sought to curb Union power in an effort to balance their state's budgets.Biden also jokingly took a jab at the GOP, suggesting they change their logo."Jimmy," said Biden, referring to Teamsters Union president James R. Hoffa, "your (the Teamsters Union) logo is the horse's head. Their (GOP) logo should be the other horse's end."Hmmmm.........Still beats a "Swastika" and it might feed you.Read the full story here.

• Who Is The Real 'Reich Wing'?(DougRoss).A favorite pejorative used by the progressive left is 'Reich Wing', designed to tar conservatives as Nazi-like extremists. Notwithstanding its nature as a premature violation of Godwin's Law, the term implies a certain set of characteristics presumably endemic to conservatives.But let's examine those attributes to see if they have merit.

On the Constitution

While conservatives advocate for fidelity and loyalty to the nation's highest law -- the United States Constitution -- the progressive left tries to evade it. The term they use is "living and breathing", which simply means that the left can morph the law into whatever shape it wishes.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan outlined the progressive's perspective in a 1993 tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall. She quoted from a 1987 speech Marshall in which he said the Constitution as originally conceived and drafted was "defective" and that the mission of the Supreme Courtwas to “show a special solicitude for the despised and the disadvantaged.”

In other words, the Constitution could be "adjusted" to benefit certain parties at the expense of others -- certainly a far cry from the image of justice as a blindfolded seer weighing the merits of two arguments.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler subverted Germany's Weimar Constitution using subterfuge and pretext to eradicate civil rights.

Less than a month after Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, suspending several constitutional protections on civil rights. The articles affected were 114 (habeas corpus), 115 (inviolability of residence), 117 (correspondence privacy), 118 (freedom of expression /censorship), 123 (assembly), 124 (associations), and 153 (expropriation).

On Free Speech

Conservatives believe in free political speech, in each and every situation. But that is not the case with today's leftists.

Put together the left's advocacy of "the Fairness Doctrine", its insistence on "Community Standards" for media, its hatred of the "Citizens United" decision, its efforts to "sabotage" certain news outlets, and one can come to no other conclusion but that it appears terrified of free speech.

No less an eminence grise than then-SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan asserted that the United States government can ban political books and movies if necessary.

Elena Kagan argued on behalf of Citizens United essentially stating it would not be a violation of the First Amendment to have movies or even books banned. Of course, she only meant certain movies/books for specific times, but even so, I believe the point remains... all tyrants find a pretext for their tyranny. That tyranny may even begin with a humble, caring act, but one day we awake to find we have lost all freedom.

In Nazi Germany, officials banned at least 4,100 different publications. Censorship of media was a regular occurrence and all political messaging emanated from government bureaucrats.

On Intimidation by Uniformed Civilian Forces

Tea Party protests by conservative activists were uniformly civil and represented a true "rainbow coalition" of people with every background, race, religion, and culture.
In Wisconsin and other states, the Left used uniformed civilian enforcers -- including purple-clad SEIU thugs -- to threaten, intimidate and coerce lawmakers and taxpayers.In Nazi Germany, the term Sturmabteilung (also known as 'Brown-shirts') was used to describe a para-military force deployed by Hitler prior to 1934. They were employed as street thugs and enforcers to attack the Nazis' political rivals in order to secure more power for Hitler's ring of leaders.

Leader Cult

From chants of 'Yes We Can' to a curious iconography that lives on even today, the rise of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign was orchestrated using a marketing approach that could be considered the construction of a "cult of personality."Obama was deified in the mainstream press, highlighted in scores of photos using a "halo effect", and lobbed softball questions during television appearances that seemed more like infomercials than serious journalistic affairs.

Such was the case with the rise of the Third Reich. Hitler's power "transcended his official title, reaching into the depths of Germans and German society [and] Hitler became a seemingly flawless revolutionary figure for the German people [and he took] specific measures [designed] to promote the view of himself as larger than life."

Who Is The Real 'Reich Wing'?

Who abuses the Constitution for crass partisan purposes? Who despises free speech and attempts to censor legitimate public opinion? Who rallies around a figure portrayed as some sort of messianic savior? Who uses uniformed thugs to intimidate lawmakers and taxpayers?

We all know who the "Reich Wing" is: it is today's far left Democrats that are now so radicalized even Communists are surprised.Hmmmmm.........National Socialist German Workers' Party( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei),abbreviated NSDAP..a.k.a. NAZI.Read the full story here.

• HHS/Obamacare Prepares to Collect LGBT Health Data: race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status.(hhs).HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced new draft standards for collecting and reporting data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status, and announced the administration’s plans to begin collecting health data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations. Both efforts aim to help researchers, policy makers, health providers and advocates to identify and address health disparities afflicting these communities.Under the plan announced today, HHS will integrate questions on sexual orientation into national data collection efforts by 2013 and begin a process to collect information on gender identity. This plan includes the testing of questions on sexual orientation to potentially be incorporated into the National Health Interview Survey. The department also intends to convene a series of research roundtables with national experts to determine the best way to help the department collect data specific to gender identity. “The first step is to make sure we are asking the right questions,” Secretary Sebelius said. “Sound data collection takes careful planning to ensure that accurate and actionable data is being recorded.”The proposed standards for collection and reporting of data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status in population health surveys are intended to help federal agencies refine their population health surveys in ways that will help researchers better understand health disparities and zero in on effective strategies for eliminating them.The race and ethnicity standards, for example, will provide additional categories from which racial and ethnic differences in health care and outcomes can be examined in more detail, particularly among Asian, Hispanic/Latino and Pacific Islander populations. The disability standards would consist of six items that are already being used successfully in the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. It is intended to improve researchers’ ability to monitor health disparities.“These new data standards, once finalized, will help us target our research and tailor stronger solutions for underserved and minority communities,” added HHS Director of the Office of Minority Health, Dr. Garth Graham. “To fully understand and meet the needs of our communities, we must first thoroughly understand who we are serving.”Read the full story here.

• Obama's Amnesty for Illegals Sidesteps the Law Again.(HumanEvents).The only announced Democrat candidate for President has repeatedly called for complete immigration reform while consistently failing to enforce the federal immigration laws on the books now.Large majorities of Americans in repeated polls want border security first, jobs for Americans first and "path to citizenship" last. Obama wants amnesty first to get the undocumented Democrats to the polls in 2012, has bullied Republican employers with workplace raids to get their support for amnesty, and will never secure the border any more than his immediate predecessor did.

Senators Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.) and Bob Menendez (D.-N.J.) have introduced in Congress Obama's "comprehensive immigration reform," and Durbin introduces his Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act legislation every year, but the only ones dreaming are those two.

Because the public opposes these Obama priorities, Congress won't pass his amnesty agenda. In fact, Congress wants to pass mandatory E-Verify for employers to check whether job applicants are legally in the country. Obama opposes it.Not to worry, big employers looking for cheap, exploitable, illegal labor. Not to worry, Democratic Party desperately looking for a way to win in 2012. Obama has simply dictated the amnesty. Mission accomplished. On to wiping out corporate jets. How did amnesty for illegals happen?Failing to get support for Obama's legislative agenda in Congress, La Raza and other open-border advocate groups have long pressured Obama to issue an Executive Order to implement the DREAM Act (placing illegals ahead of citizen students in college), and the "path to citizenship" (illegals get an immediate green card while learning English and paying back taxes at their leisure). Obama publicly refused to do so, proclaiming, "That's not how democracy works."But this is how dictatorship works. An "Executive Order is not even necessary. On June 17, 2011, Obama's Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton issued new guidelines to ICE agents, basically calling off deportation prosecutions of other than criminal aliens.  In school? Don't worry. No deportation even if caught. (DREAM Act accomplished.) Longtime illegal resident? Don't worry. No deportation. (Amnesty accomplished). Got an illegal job? Don't worry. No deportation.

Well, they've done it again. This time, congressional investigators have a draft memo from Homeland Security that describes the goal as to "reduce the threat of removal" for illegals and calls it "a nonlegislative version of amnesty."How much more clear does dictatorship have to be?Through nonenforcement of the law (Defense of Marriage Act, immigration), through regulation without authorization by Congress (EPA, NLRB, FCC), and now through "prosecutorial discretion," Obama does not govern, he rules.Hmmmmm........Dictatorship or Democracy.Read the full story here.

• Why is the Obama administration defying federal law by funding ACORN?(BigGovernment).Judicial Watch discovered that the president is flouting the will of Congress by surreptitiously giving federal taxpayer money to ACORN, his former employer and legal client. This is the first such grant to surface this year but more are certain to follow.Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave a $79,819 grant to a Florida office of the largest branch of the ACORN tree, the massive conglomerate known as ACORN Housing Corp. (AHC). AHC filed papers last year legally changing its name to Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA). Despite the nifty new moniker, it’s the same old corrupt, antisocial organization.As I wrote in my new book, Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers, ACORN Housing grew out of crime: trespassing. It emerged from a 1982 squatting campaign in which ACORN built a squatters’ tent city behind the White House. Rampaging ACORN activists break in and illegally occupy property already owned by others – and your tax dollars subsidize this criminal activity.The secretary of HUD is Shaun Donovan. Donovan and ACORN are tight. (Donovan and ACORN’s then-chief organizer Bertha Lewis are seen in the above screen grab from footage shot for the documentary film Battle for Brooklyn.)“Perhaps no administration official has had more interaction with ACORN than” Donovan, the New York Times has reported. Reinforcing the newspaper’s point, ACORN’s Bertha Lewis praised the HUD secretary. “We grew to respect him, and he grew to respect us,” she said.Roll Call said Lewis admitted “ACORN has friends in high places for the first time in a long time.” She acknowledged “that she has particularly good relationships with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan and with Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director.”Donovan’s close ties to ACORN might help to explain why the cabinet member went into overdrive two years ago publicly distancing himself from the group. That’s around the time Big Government began promoting the undercover brothels-for-pedophiles videos that showed ACORN employees giving two conservative activists helpful advice on how to break the law without getting caught.No doubt Donovan was personally involved in making sure ACORN landed this new grant.Moving along, it needs to be said that the $79,819 HUD grant that has gone to ACORN funds a political agitation and indoctrination program. Saul Alinsky himself couldn’t have devised better euphemisms than the ones HUD uses to describe the program:

Education and Outreach Initiative grants (EOI) – HUD awarded $6.8 million to organizations that educate the public and housing providers about their rights and obligations under federal, state, and local fair housing laws. Groups will also conduct fair lending workshops, community meetings, and individual counseling activities focused on homeowners at risk for discrimination.According to HUD, the grant money came out of fiscal 2010 appropriations.That’s a big problem.As I reported previously, in 2009 Congress passed four separate appropriations measures that contained language blocking federal funds from flowing to ACORN during federal fiscal year 2010, which ran from Oct. 1, 2009 through Sept. 30, 2010. All four of the laws prevent ACORN and its affiliated groups from receiving federal taxpayer dollars.The funding prohibition in Public Law 111-117 (PDF) applies specifically to HUD. It spells out in pretty clear terms that ACORN shouldn’t be getting any government funding. Let’s see just how clearly it spells it out: Division A – Section 418. None of the funds made available under this Act or any prior Act may be provided to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, or allied organizations. [p. 80 of PDF]

Division B – Section 534. None of the funds made available under this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries. [p. 125 of PDF]

Division E – Section 511. None of the funds made available in this division or any other division in this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries. [p. 279 of PDF]

Yet despite the ban, President Obama, who worked for ACORN as an employee and as the group’s lawyer, found it in his heart to hand over $79,819 of your money to his thug friends at ACORN.

America needs to know that ACORN is restructuring in time to help re-elect President Obama in 2012. Obama used to work for ACORN and represented the group in court as its lawyer. These radical leftists who use the brutal, in-your-face, Machiavellian pressure tactics of Saul Alinsky want to destroy America as we know it and will use any means to do it.Hmmmmm......THUGOCRACY in motion.Read the full story here.

• Report: Iran smuggled weapons to Iraq, Afghanistan.(Ynet).The Iranian military smuggled new deadly munitions to its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent months in order to accelerate the US withdrawals from these countries, The Wall Street Journal reported.Citing unnamed US officials, the newspaper said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has supplied its allies with rocket-assisted projectiles, which have already killed American troops.The officials said Iranians had also given long-range rockets to the Taliban in Afghanistan, increasing the insurgents' ability to hit US and other coalition positions from a safer distance, the report said. "I think we are likely to see these Iranian-backed groups continue to maintain high attack levels," Major General James Buchanan, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, told The Journal. "But they are not going to deter us from doing everything we can to help the Iraqi security forces." Violence killed more Iraqis last month than at any time since September, figures showed on Friday after the US reported deaths that also made June the deadliest month for its troops in Iraq for three years.The Baghdad government blames al-Qaeda for most of the 271 deaths of its citizens last month, while the US military accuses Iranian-backed Shiite insurgent groups for the attacks that killed 14 Americans. Data compiled by the health, interior and defence ministries showed that 155 civilians, 77 policemen and 39 soldiers died in attacks last month, 34 percent more than the 177 killed in May.The majority of American troops killed in June died in rocket attacks against military bases, or by roadside bombs that targeted their convoys. Last month's toll was the highest since June 2008, when 23 American soldiers were killed, at a time when US forces were directly involved in fighting insurgents.Hmmmmm......All applaud the 'military genius'.Read the full story here.

• Obama's 'partners': El-Erian to Masrawi: The Brotherhood Would Oppose the Army if It Adopts the Notion of ''Constitution First''.(IW).In a challenging clear tone, the vice president of the FJP emphasized the impossibility of changing the path set by the constitutional declaration regarding holding the parliamentary elections in September this year, then the election of a Constituent Assembly to develop the new constitution. He said: “The country has a straight line to abide by and a clear road map to follow, but there are those who want to obstruct the progress that would go according to this line. The road ahead is going to be a proclamation of a Constitution that is based on a process that gives it official legitimacy of sovereignty. There is nothing that can stop that path; neither a hundred million signatures or demonstrations, nor any effort to cancel the result of the referendum. What is approved can only be abolished by a new referendum, which is kind of impossible, because this would mean returning to square one.” He added: “Among the slogans of the revolution was that “the army and the people are one hand”, and we (the Muslim Brotherhood) criticized the military a lot and are still doing so, and we will tell the army - if it violates the Road Map set out by the Constitutional Declaration - that we bid to differ and we clearly say "no" to any such attempt. If the army adopts the notion of “Constitution First”, we will be the first to stand against that." El-Erian said that the essence of the referendum is the constitutional declaration, despite some changes in the articles that were approved in the national referendum. El-Erian also said that the only way is to have an agreement among the various political forces and parties to avoid any differences, adding that the ''features of the final status of the document that would be governing the actions of those forces in the next elections should be defined'', together with discussing all proposals and security concerns as well as economic development matters. Regarding proposals to have some constitutional articles, and the debate on the civil state and state identity, Dr. Essam El-Erian said that the people should be the authors of the Constitution, calling for everyone to sit at one table to say what they want. He said that the Muslim Brotherhood says that all parties and factions should sit at one table and reach a consensus, then throw that to the people and see how the people will decide about these proposals. El-Erian said he believes that there is no dispute that the State should be for all Egyptians, with a democratic political system and the Islamic Sharia as the reference. He said: "Those who opposed Islamic law before the referendum have now returned and agreed to the principles of Islamic law - and these principles are to ensure and guarantee the rights of all Egyptians. This very same idea has been expressed by Pope Shenouda himself, as he said that Islamic Sharia gives him what he wants regarding the personal status (i.e. marital) law."Regarding adding a paragraph to the second article of the Constitution that allows for non-Muslims to resort to their own rituals and laws in family matters, Dr. Essam El-Erian said: "The party that is allowed to add new clauses, phrases or paragraphs to the constitution is the people, and thus, the Constituent Assembly is the entity that would decide on all such issues." He also pointed out his opinion that there is no harm in adding such phrase or statement in the event of it being approved."In response to the inquiry about the position of the Muslim Brotherhood regarding having a woman or a Copt assuming the post of the presidency of the republic, El-Erian said that "no one has the right to withdraw the right of any Egyptian citizen – man or woman – from exercising his/her rights, even if this was not stated in the Constitution". El-Erian also said that the FJP sees that there are two ways to handle the issue of exporting Egyptian gas to Israel, which he described as a crime committed by the former regime against all Egyptians. The first way out is "procedural"; i.e. re-consideration and revision of these agreements and the global gas prices and comparing this with the present deal made with Israel, and thus, we should study the consequences of stopping exporting gas in case the contract is cancelled. The second would be to treat it realistically said El-Erian, which would be stopping exporting the gas through shutting down the pipeline. He said that this solution is easier, and such solutions are employed by states at certain times. He said that this is a kind of interruptive measure that takes the form of a combat maneuver.The vice-president of the FJP said that he believes the will of the people should decide on the peace agreement signed with Israel; so if the people decide to reject it, we must respect their will. He said that the Camp David Treaty is between the two parties, and all treaties are subject to review.El-Erian was challenged with the idea that it is known that the Muslim Brotherhood raised the slogan "Islam Is the Solution" in any electoral process, and still, the FJP did not confirm or categorically deny that it would use the same slogan in the upcoming parliamentary elections. When he was asked about this issue, El-Erian said: "'Islam Is the Solution' was a slogan used in the era of challenging the former regime and proving the identity of the group.At the end of his interview with Masrawi, Dr. Essam El-Erian sent a message to Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, and said: "I address a message to Dr. ElBaradei here, telling him that we are waiting for your congratulations to us – which is highly overdue now – for the establishment of the FJP."Hmmmmm........"Islam is the solution".......What was the question again?Read the full story here.

• Egypt - FJP Demands Swift Investigations Into Friday's Tahrir Square Violence.(IW).Alexandria’s Freedom and Justice Party FJP) Secretary Hussein Ibrahim condemned the violence in Tahrir Square earlier this week which took place between families of the martyrs and security forces. The clashes, which left over 1000 people injured, occurred few hours after a court ruling to dismantle municipal councils nationwide. Ibrahim stressed that the party rejects both the violence by the police against citizens, and rioting by citizens. He stated that these clashes benefit nobody and in fact hinder the revolution’s success and the development of the nation.He urged the ruling authorities and Sharaf’s government to take immediate action against those who advocated such violence and to take measures to stem further sedition.Hussein appealed to the people not to be misled and deceived by what he described as plans by remnants of the regime to undermine the revolution’s success. He asserted that unity and solidarity are significant to achieve stability at these critical time of the nation's history.Hmmmm.......Welcome to Egypt .....Iranian style.Read the full story here.

• Erdogan's Turkey : Imprisoning Turkish Generals — and Ending Secularism,but who's commanding now?by Andrew Bostom.Turkey continues its regression to full re-Islamization—a process already begun within a decade of Ataturk’s death in 1938—and about to be fully realized under the fundamentalist Erdogan regime.Shredding the Turkish Constitution, which institutionalized Turkey’s harshly imposed secularism by assigning the military as “protectors of the secular order,” there are now more generals that have been imprisoned for purported “coup attempts” against Erdogan’s fundamentalist rule than are in active service for the military.The total of 34 officers being held at the military prison in Hasdal, explained the daily, was reached following the arrest of rear admiral Mucahit Sislioglu…Hmmmm........US ambassador Ricciardone says Turkey’s democracy an inspiration for the Middle East.Read the full story here.

• The poorer you are, "the less you will have to account for in this life and the next".Saudi Arabia's clerics challenge King Abdullah's reform agenda.(Guardian).On a Friday at one o'clock, Sheikh Saad Bin Naser al-Shethri is leading prayers in a small mosque in an upmarket neighbourhood of Riyadh, the Saudi capital. The faithful fill two floors, listening to the cleric's sermon on the true sense of the traditional greeting "salaam aleikum" – peace be upon you. This, Shethri says, means love thy neighbour.It is a moderate message from a man who even in fiercely conservative Saudi Arabia, home to the most rigorous strands of Muslim practice in the world, is considered a hardliner. Only 18 months ago, Shethri, 46, was fired from the country's high council of religious scholars by King Abdullah, who has ruled the kingdom since 2005.His offence was to have criticised the king's decision to allow male and female researchers to work together at the new multibillion pound science university built on the Red Sea coast. The king had called the university, a key part of Saudi Arabia's drive towards economic modernisation, a "beacon of tolerance". Shethri retorted that "mixing [genders] is a great sin and a great evil ... When men mix with women, their hearts burn and they will be diverted from their main goal [of] education."Shethri remains unrepentant. In an interview with the Guardian, his first with a western newspaper, he says the duty of religious scholars is to advise sovereign rulers but also "to make governors fear God if they err from the right path and to remind them of God's punishment if they continue to err".More than 10,000 people have been arrested on terrorism charges, sometimes on flimsy evidence, human rights campaigners say. Many senior extremists have fled to Yemen. Last week, the trial of alleged militants accused of an assault on a housing compound full of expatriates in 2003 started. Dozens of death sentences are expected.Less serious offenders are dealt with more leniently. Hadlaq runs a team of counsellors, psychologists and clerics who work to rehabilitate former militants at a centre on the outskirts of Riyadh. Since it opened in 2007, hundreds of recently released prisoners, all convicted for militant activity, have "graduated".Recidivism rates, Hadlaq said, were around 10% for those involved in support activities or who had travelled to Iraq to fight American troops there but approached 25% for the 123 Saudi citizens who had been incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay.Many of these "Gitmo veterans" now head the Ministry of Interior's wanted list, according to General Mansour al'Turki, a senior official. Several are now leaders of the "al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula" group, based in Yemen.Last week, Prince Nayef, the most conservative of senior princes and minister of interior, told a local audience that terrorism had "wronged many, damaging the image of Islam, the Arabs and in particular the kingdom of Saudi Arabia."Nayef is head of the religious police who continue to enforce, even if less brutally and intrusively than previously, Saudi Arabia's fierce puritanism and is known to be opposed to any major social reforms in the country.The erosion of Saudi Arabia's deep conservatism is a reality but is neither a uniform nor linear process. It is extremely unlikely even the more moderate elements within the royal family will seek to accelerate the pace of reform and risk alienating the clerical establishment. Should Prince Nayef succeed – he is currently 76, second in line to the throne and eleven years younger than the king – most analysts expect a new reactionary atmosphere.Many Saudis will be pleased."You have democracy. We have our religion," said Abdallah al'Utaiba, 32, a camel dealer who listened to the news of the Arab spring uprisings on a radio in a tent in the dusty hinterland on the fringes of Riyadh. "You have lost your traditions. We have not. It is better that it stays that way."Hmmmmmm..........Read the full story here.

• Will France drop more weapons for the Lybian rebels?(Al-Jazeera).In a telephonic message delivered to thousands of supporters, Libyan leader tells NATO to leave or "face catastrophe".Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has delivered a telephone address through loudspeakers to thousands of supporters gathered in Tripoli's Green Square, warning the NATO-led alliance to stop its war support or face "catastrophe".In the Friday speech, 100 days after NATO first entered the country, Gaddafi gave multiple warnings to foreign forces that have been militarily supporting anti-regime rebels for months, to a crowd of supporters who waved green flags and posters of the head of state."We advise you to retreat before you face a catastrophe... If we decide to, we are able to move to Europe like locusts, like bees," Gaddafi said.Addressing the West, Gaddafi warned that Libyans could take revenge on Europe for supporting of rebel forces."We can decide to treat you [Europe] in a similar way," adding, "if we decide, we can also move it [the war] to Europe, to target your homes, offices, families, which would become legitimate military targets, like you have targeted our homes.""I advise you to ground your planes... and to hold discussions with the Libyan people," Gaddafi said, denouncing an arrest warrant against him issued on Monday by the International Criminal Court [ICC].In his speech, the embattled Libyan leader addressed the thronging crowd of supporters, giving them specific direction surrounding a French weapon drop earlier in the week."March on the jebel [Nafusa] and seize the weapons that the French have supplied [to rebel forces]. If later you want to pardon them [the rebels], that's up to you."Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said in Vienna on Friday that this week's arms drop was meant only to defend peaceful civilians from Gaddafi's forces and thus fell in line with existing UN resolutions on the conflict."Civilians had been attacked by Gaddafi's forces and were in an extremely vulnerable situation and that is why medicine, food and also weapons of self-defence were parachuted," Juppe said, speaking on France Inter radio.Friday's was one of the largest pro-government rallies in recent weeks, coming just days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi and two others.Earlier in the day, anti-government forces who had advanced to within 80km of Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital were forced to retreat after coming under a barrage of rocket fire from government forces.A rebel advance five days before to the outskirts of the small town of Bir al-Ghanam had raised the possibility of a breakthrough in the four-month old conflict that has become the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings.Rebel fighters who had been on the outskirts of the small town of Bir al-Ghanam and preparing for an attack were forced to pull back under fire from Russian-made Grad rockets, said a Reuters photographer in Bir-Ayyad, 30km to the south.He said the rocket barrage was now reaching as far back as Bir-Ayyad, a road junction in the foothills of the Western Mountain range southwest of Tripoli from where the rebels had launched their advance last week.The reversal underlines the resilience of Gaddafi's forces, who have withstood 15 weeks of bombardment by NATO missiles and warplanes, and attempts by rebels on three fronts to break through their lines.Meanwhile, the African Union [AU] on Friday said it will not execute an ICC arrest warrant issued for the Libyan leader.African leaders at the AU summit in Equatorial Guinea said the warrant issued last week "seriously complicates" efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Libyan conflict.The warrant "seriously complicates the efforts aimed at finding a negotiated political settlement to the crisis in Libya, which will also address, in a mutually reinforcing way, issues related to impunity and reconciliation," it said.An assembly of the summit decided that "AU member states shall not cooperate in the execution of the arrest warrant," according to a text of the decisions.Hmmmmm.........."No Boots On The Ground"?Warning Video contains violant images,read and see the full story here.

• Christian Iranian man facing execution.(Persian2English).Based on the latest unconfirmed reports, the Iranian Supreme Court may have overturned the death sentence for Yousef Nadarkhani.According to reports received from Nadarkhani’s relatives, which HRANA has been unable to independently confirm, the Supreme Court has expressed its opinion by offering three options:

1. The case be returned to the same preliminary court for retrial.
2. The case be referred to a court on the same level as preliminary court with new charges laid, and old charges thrown out.
3. The case and the charges be dismissed.

This ruling has not yet been issued to Nadarkhani’s lawyers. The lawyers are unable to confirm this ruling. The source of the report is an oral report received by the defendant and his family.Nadarkhani’s relatives have told HRANA that branch 11 of the Gilan Judiciary has asked the defendant to be interrogated on his Islamic beliefs and one of the three following decisions be made:

1. If he is a Muslim, he would be released.
2. If he is a Christian convert, he is asked to repent [and then would be released].
3. If he is a Christian convert, and insists on his Christian beliefs, he would be executed.

Branch 11 has based its approach on section 167 of the Islamic Republic constitution that states: “The judge is bound to make a decision on each case based on the codified law. In the case of the absence of any such law, he has to deliver his judgement on the basis of authoritative Islamic sources and authentic Fatwa [religious decrees]. He, on the pretext of the silence of or deficiency of law in the matter, or its brevity or contradictory nature, cannot refrain from admitting and examining cases and delivering his judgement.” The relatives of Mr. Nadrkhani say that based on the fact that out of the three options given by the Supreme Court, the case has not been sent to another court, nor has it been dismissed. It is probable that the case will be retried all over again, and preliminary investigation and interrogation be launched.Given the sensitivity of the case, HRANA will try its best to report on the developments as accurately as possible. - Iranian Supreme Court upholds death sentence of man on charge of “apostasy” June 30, 2011.On June 28th, the Supreme Court of Iran rejected the appeal of Yousef Nadarkhani against his death sentence and upheld his conviction and the sentence.According to HRANA, Yousef Nadarkhani is accused of abandoning Islam and converting to Christianity at the age of 19. According to judicial authorities, he has been preaching and propagating Christianity since his conversion.He was sentenced to death by branch 11 of the Gilan (province in Iran) Judiciary for “apostasy and preaching Christianity” to his Muslim compatriots.Yousef Nadarkhani has been imprisoned since October 12, 2009.If the execution is conducted, it will be the first execution of such a [charge] in 20 years. The last [person executed on a similar charge] was Hossein Soudmand. he was hanged in a prison in Mashhad (capital city of the Khorasan province) on December 3, 1990 for insisting on his Christian beliefs. Hossein Soudmand is the only priest/preacher who has been officially executed by Iranian authorities for refusing to deny his Christian beliefs.Translator’s note: Yousef Nadarkhani is also mentioned on page 7 of a 2011 Amnesty International report on Iran.Hmmmmmm........."The Religion Of Peace".Read the full story here.

• Jewish Orthodox chief Rabbi claims that anti-discrimination policies had fuelled an “erosion of religious liberty" in Britain.(Telegraph).New equality laws are forcing religious people to flee the country because they are being denied the freedom to live in accordance with their beliefs, the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, has warned. The Orthodox Jewish leader claimed that anti-discrimination policies had fuelled an “erosion of religious liberty" in Britain that was leading to a new “Mayflower”, a reference to the flight of the persecuted Pilgrim Fathers to America in the 17th century.His comments follow growing alarm from leading religious figures over the increasing influence of equality laws. The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, has called on the Prime Minister to review equality legislation amid concerns that religious freedoms and Britain’s Christian heritage are under threat.Speaking to the House of Commons public administration select committee, Lord Sacks said there was "no doubt'' numbers of religious believers in Britain were "extraordinarily'' low.He continued: “I share a real concern that the attempt to impose the current prevailing template of equality and discrimination on religious organisations is an erosion of religious liberty.“We are beginning to move back to where we came in in the 17th century - a whole lot of people on the Mayflower leaving to find religious freedom elsewhere.”The Pilgrim Fathers sailed on the Mayflower from Plymouth to America in 1620 to escape religious intolerance in England.Charles Wookey, the assistant general secretary of the Catholic bishops conference of England and Wales, told the MPs that religious organisations were struggling with “rapid social change”. This meant they were forced to alter practices that had been in place for many years, he said.Recent months have seen a series of clashes of rights reach the courts as a result of equality legislation which was introduced under Labour and designed to prevent discrimination on the grounds of religion or sexuality.Roman Catholic adoption agencies have closed because they cannot reconcile the requirements under the new laws with their belief that children should not be placed with gay couples.“These days, you can lose your job if you have 'incorrect' views. At the Christian Legal Centre we have 50 cases and have seen a number of Christians sacked or disciplined because of their beliefs.“We were a nation admired the world over. Now people look at us in astonishment unable to believe that we have let such heritage slip so quickly and dramatically.”Hmmmm.............Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Secret Treasure Found in India's Kerala Temple Could Be Worth $10 Billion .(TheGatewayPundit).Researchers discovered a treasure of gold inside a hidden vault in one of Kerala’s oldest temples.The treasure at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram may exceed over Rs 50,000 crore or $10 billion.Thiruvananthapuram: One of Kerala’s oldest temples may soon turn out to be one of the India’s richest. A seven-member Supreme Court-appointed team is at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram taking stock at the shrine.The chambers near the temple’s sanctum sanctorum are believed to contain priceless gold and silver ornaments. The chambers had been kept shut for the last 130 years but were finally opened on June 27 following a Supreme Court order.One of the chambers believed to have remained shut for nearly a century revealed precious jewels, stones, ornaments and metal lamps of rare heritage and antique values when it was opened and examined on Thursday.The inner recess of this chamber was believed to have previously been opened during the reign of Travancore ruler Sree Visakham Tirunal about 130 years back. The opening of the first four chambers showed that three of them housed gold ornaments, vessels, jewels and precious stones worth hundreds of crores of rupees. It also had gold chains, diamond-studded bracelets, a crown and a golden bow. The temple, built in 18th century by King Marthanda Varma of the Travancore royal lineage, is run by a trust under control of the royal house and Lord Padmanabha is the family deity of Travancore Royal house.The Supreme Court appointed committee consists of two former Kerala High Court judges. The actual worth of the treasure will only be revealed in a report to the Supreme Court.Read and see the full story here.