MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity New Zealand 5.7 ! More info here.

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

• BREAKING NEWS: Sarah Palin has just announced that she is NOT running for President.(MarkLevin).The former Alaska Governor and VP candidate sent the following letter to her supporters on Wednesday:

October 5, 2011

Wasilla, Alaska

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country! God bless America. – Sarah Palin.Source.

• Reid Uses Procedural Maneuver to Block Vote on Obama’s Jobs Bill, then accuse Republicans of “obstruction” and engaging in a “political stunt.”(Heritage).Senate Republicans sought to answer President Obama’s demands for a vote on his jobs plan this afternoon, but were thwarted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who used a parliamentary maneuver meant to block amendments on the Senate floor. Reid then proceeded to accuse Republicans of “obstruction” and engaging in a “political stunt.”. Reid used a procedural move known as “filling the tree” – a tactic Reid has perfected during his tenure in the Senate leadership. Filling the tree involves loading legislation with amendments until the limit is reached. Since the majority leader enjoys the right of first recognition – which means he can offer amendments before anyone else – Reid managed to fill the tree before Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) could offer the president’s jobs plan as an amendment to a bill cracking down on Chinese currency manipulation.McConnell said he would vote against the measure, but that the president is “entitled to a vote on his jobs bill.” With the president suggesting that Republicans were preventing consideration of the legislation, McConnell said, “I wanted to disabuse him of the notion that somehow we’re unwilling to vote on his proposal.”Reid also confirmed during his floor debate with McConnell that Democrats would not present a unified front on the legislation – let alone capture the seven Republican votes needed for a filibuster-proof supermajority. “A majority of Democrats will support the president’s jobs bill,” Reid said, tacitly acknowledging that at least some would not.Far from having notable support among the president’s party, Obama’s jobs bill has garnered no cosponsors in either the House or the Senate. Nonetheless, the president has on at least 12 occasions called on Congress to immediately pass the legislation – though Reid insisted that “’right away’ is a relative term” – and in some cases said that Republicans were blocking its consideration.Obama’s 2012 campaign manager sent an email around the time Reid blocked consideration of the president’s plan. It had the subject line, “They won’t even vote on it.” That email mentioned House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, but not Reid.The bill’s inability to gain traction even among members of the president’s own party stems from the unpopular nature of many of its proposals – and its accompanying offsets. ”In the Administration’s poorly crafted and contradictory jobs package, the American people get permanent tax hikes that would enlarge the federal government to offset the cost of temporary jobs policies that would not create any jobs,” Heritage’s Curtis Dubay explained. “In the long run, the tax hikes in this plan are more likely to destroy more jobs than the jobs policies create.”Hmmmm.....It's not about the bill, they don't care about the jobs their goal is to make people revolt against Congress and grab power.Read the full story here.

• Judicial Watch Obtains Documents from National Labor Relations Board Concerning Boeing Lawsuit.“These documents confirm that the Obama NLRB is abusing its power on behalf of a powerful union to attack a major U.S. corporation". (JW).Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has received documents from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) concerning the NLRB’s decision to file a lawsuit against Seattle-based Boeing for opening a $750 million non-union assembly plant in North Charleston, South Carolina, to manufacture its Dreamliner plane (Judicial Watch v. National Labor Relations Board (No. 11-1470)).The documents, obtained pursuant to Judicial Watch’s original July 14, 2011, Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent lawsuit include internal correspondence amongst NLRB attorneys discussing the Boeing lawsuit. Among the highlights:

A May 5, 2011, email from Barry Kearney, Associate General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, to colleagues at NLRB concerning a press release issued by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) attacking Boeing: “Hooray for the red, white and blue.” NLRB attorney Miriam Szapiro responded shortly thereafter, “Good. I like this part [at last they can put it to some good use]: “the NLRB's long-term professional Regional Staff, National Office of Advice and General Counsel reviewed this case for a year.…” [emphasis in original]

• A July 12, 2011, email from NLRB Regional Director Richard Ahearn to NLRB hearing officer Peter Finch, responding to an article in The Hill newspaper about a request from Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, seeking documents related to the NLRB Boeing lawsuit: “We will politely decline.” (Mr. Ahearn signed the NRLB complaint against Boeing.)
• A May 5, 2011, email from NLRB attorney Miriam Szapiro warning an unknown recipient (name blacked out) about reading a Wall Street Journal article supporting Boeing and criticizing compulsory unionism: “don’t look at yesterday’s WSJ; you’ll puke.”
• In response to an April 29, 2011, Wall Street Journal article, calling on President Obama to explain the NLRB lawsuit against Boeing, NLRB attorney Jayme Sophir issues a one word email response on May 2, 2011, to NLRB attorney Debra Willen, Division of Advice: “Ugh.”

The NLRB filed a lawsuit in April 2011, against Boeing, claiming that the company’s decision to open a Dreamliner production line in South Carolina was in retaliation against The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for a series of union strikes that reportedly slowed production of the plane in 2008 in Washington State. According to Boeing, the NLRB’s “claim is legally frivolous and represents a radical departure from both NLRB and Supreme Court precedent. Boeing has every right under both federal law and its collective bargaining agreement to build additional U.S. production capacity outside of the Puget Sound region.”Last year, President Obama bypassed the U.S. Senate and recess-appointed Craig Becker to head the NLRB’s five-member board. The Becker appointment was made after the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate refused to move forward on his confirmation. An ally of ACORN, Becker had previously worked for the SEIU and the AFL-CIO, major financial backers of Obama and the Democratic Party. Controversially, Becker has refused to recuse himself from certain NLRB decisions affecting his former union clients.“The NLRB is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of labor disputes, not a cheerleader for unions,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These documents confirm that the Obama NLRB is abusing its power on behalf of a powerful union to attack a major U.S. corporation. No wonder Judicial Watch had to sue the Obama administration to obtain these records.”Judicial Watch expects additional documents will be released to it by the NRLB.Read the full story here.

• Senate Democrats rewrite Obama's jobs bill.(AP).By EricaWerner.WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats are scrambling to rewrite portions of President Barack Obama's jobs bill, even as Obama tries to blame Republicans for Congress' failure to act.Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell moved to call the president's bluff Tuesday by pushing for a quick Senate vote on the bill, but Democratic leader Harry Reid derailed the effort as all sides maneuvered for position in a potentially defining battle in the 2012 presidential campaign.In the Senate, Democrats made plans to jettison provisions that Obama recommended to pay for the $447 billion jobs bill, substituting them with a tax increase on millionaires, officials said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door developments.Reid, D-Nev., outlined plans for a 5 percent surcharge in a meeting with the rank and file Tuesday, according to participants in the session, as Obama traveled to Texas to deliver his most caustic challenge yet to House Republicans who have not allowed a vote on the legislation unveiled nearly a month ago."What's the problem? Do they not have the time? They just had a week off. Is it inconvenient?" he said in Mesquite, Texas, singling out House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for special criticism.Cantor has said the White House's "all or nothing approach is unreasonable."But after three weeks of presidential demands for Congress to pass his jobs bill without delay, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said Obama was open to Reid's changes."We offered a balanced way to pay for the American Jobs Act, but if Congress has a better idea that ensures that everyone pays their fair share, we're open to it," Pfeiffer said.McConnell said he was ready for an immediate vote on the bill, even though he opposes it. Reading aloud on the Senate floor from a copy of Obama's speech, he said, "I do think the president makes an important point that he is entitled to a vote."The request was blocked by Reid, who called it a "political stunt" and said he would make sure the bill comes to the floor this month. Aboard Air Force One, White House press secretary Jay Carney accused Republicans of gamesmanship.The parliamentary dance aside, the day's events underscored that, as submitted by the White House, Obama's bill would not only fail in the Republican-controlled House, but faced enough opposition from Democrats to endanger its prospects in the Senate, as well."There's the good, the bad and the ugly. The ugly was $447 billion," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said of the bill's price tag.Democrats said Reid's proposed millionaires' surtax was designed to quell much if not all of the opposition from his own rank and file.To pay for his package of tax breaks, unemployment benefits and new spending on public works projects, Obama has proposed higher taxes on family incomes over $250,000 and on the oil and gas industry.The first request troubles Democratic senators from states like New York, New Jersey and California, where large numbers of families could be hit by the increase. The second has drawn opposition most prominently from Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, whose state is home to numerous oil and gas operations.The president also proposed higher taxes on hedge fund managers and corporate jet owners, but those increases, too, would disappear under the changes Reid is expected to unveil as early as Wednesday.In political terms, Democrats appear to be hoping that Republicans will oppose both the higher taxes on million-dollar earners and the president's call for new spending aimed at reducing joblessness, thus leaving themselves open to a charge of protecting the wealthy at the expense of the unemployed.Reid's office declined to comment on the emerging plan for a higher tax on millionaires, but several Democrats said it was being drafted to cover the entire $447 billion cost of the legislation.Reid predicted that by the time the jobs bill comes to the Senate floor, almost all Democrats would be behind it.While Republican lawmakers appear receptive to tax cuts the president has called for, they have expressed strong opposition to his proposed new spending.Read the full story here.

• Dems Want Law To Keep Obama Records Secret.(JW).In an obvious effort to protect President Barack Obama, a group of congressional Democrats has introduced legislation to create an official process that will allow the commander-in-chief to keep presidential records secret after he leaves office.Ironically, Obama revoked a similar George W. Bush order in one of his first official acts as president. In 2001 Bush penned an executive order severely limiting public access to his presidential records. Shortly after swearing in, Obama killed it as part of his much-ballyhooed commitment to government transparency. At the time, the new president claimed that he was giving the American people greater access to “historic documents.”It was the right move. The Bush Administration did indeed demonstrate a disappointing penchant for secrecy and Judicial Watch was a frontrunner in the effort to make records public. Examples include: The Dick Cheney Energy Task Force records that JW pursued before the United States Supreme Court; Attorney General John Ashcroft’s order advising government agencies to withhold all discretionary disclosures; invoking executive privilege to block the House Government Reform Committee’s probe of the Campaign Financing Task Force.  If the Democrats’ proposed measure (Presidential Records Act Amendments of 2011) becomes law, former presidents will be allowed to assert a new “constitutionally based privilege” against disclosing records of their liking. Here is how it would work; the Archivist of the United States would be required to notify the former president, as well as the incumbent, of intentions to make records public. Anything that either the former or current president claims should be kept private won’t be released.The veteran Brooklyn congressman (Edolphus Towns) who recently introduced the law in the U.S. House has yet to explain why it’s necessary. What’s certain is that Obama has failed miserably to keep his promise of running the most transparent administration in history. For examples read highlights from Judicial Watch’s testimony before Congress earlier this year. JW was invited to testify in separate House and Senate hearings during “Sunshine Week,” a national initiative by the news media, nonprofits and other organizations to promote government transparency and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).Hmmmmm.........Hypocrisy Reigns Supreme"Transparency for you , but not for me".Read the full story here.

• 'The man enrolled her in school as her father and went home every night and raped her': Harrowing tales of sex slaves in NYC.(DailyMail).A shocking nationwide survey stated that 3,000 young girls have been forced into marriage, including over 300 from New York.The new data dispels the myth that forced marriage is a foreign issue and it discovered that there were instances in 47 of the country's 50 states within the last two years. In one of the most disturbing cases, a 13 year old girl arrived in the U.S. only to be forced into a marriage where her new husband enrolled her in a school in the Washington D.C. area by saying he was her father, only to rape her every night when she came home.Compiled by the non-profit Tahirih Justice Center, the report examined cases of forced or suspected forced marriages where families often made their young daughters marry older men in order to benefit financially from the coupling or avoid 'losing face' for the family name. 'We’ve already learned enough in the survey to tell us we’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg,' said Layli Miller-Muro, executive director of the Tahirih Center. The practice differs from arranged marriages, which are common practice in some cultures, because forced marriages happen without consent from the bride, and often involve under age girls. 'I think the problem that you encounter sometimes is that people view it as cultural- so they don't really want to help,' said Yasmeen Hamza, a representative from the Arab-American Family Support Center in Brooklyn. The practice is most common among South Asian families, the Tahirih report states, but they did find examples from families of 56 different countries. (There are 50+Islamic majority states).In addition to cultural misunderstanding, the lack of legal cover does not help advocates who are trying to get the girls out of the custody of their parents before the marriages are finalized. Ms Hamza's group has had some success working with the Administration of children's Services to take custody of the girls, but there are still many cases that are left untouched.In one such case, a 14 year old girl from the Bronx escaped to the Sauti Yetu Center for African women for help because her parents were forcing her to marry a West African man. The Centre appealed to ACS to take custody of the girl, but because there were no clear signs of abuse or imminent danger, they were unable to take custody. After returning the girl to her parents, Centre representatives never heard from her again.ACS spokesman Michael Fagan said that forced marriage cases come up 'infrequently,' but they do fall under the administration's jurisdiction because they cover all incidents that 'places a child under 18 at risk for abuse, injury, or harm'.'There is legislation that exclusively addresses this issue in developing countries, but there's an absence of similar legislation addressing this issue domestically,' said Julia Alanen, founder of the D.C.-based Global Justice Initiative.The United Nations declares forced marriage a violation of human rights and child abuse if involving girls under the age of 18. The UK is looked to as a model to follow because there is formal legal recognition of the problem.In 2007, the Forced Marriage Act was created in the UK which includes preventative legal measures, such as an order that allows anyone that suspects that a girl is in danger of being forcibly married to call in to police and have an injunction placed against the girl's family. Since the order's implementation, more than 300 cases have been reported to authorities. Hmmmm.....A case of 'too little, too late?Read the full story here.

• A Day That Will Never Be Forgotten: Anonymous Hackers Declare War; Threaten to “Erase” the NYSE On October 10th.(SHTF).The hacker group known as ‘Anonymous’ has posted a video claiming that they will attack the NYSE on October 10, 2011 in a declaration of war against the stock exchange:

Greetings, Institutions of the Media.
We are Anonymous.
The events transpiring within Wall Street have caught our eye.
It seems that the government and Federal agencies enjoy enforcing the law a little bit too much. They instate unjust laws as mindless automatons, blindly following orders with soulless precision.
We witness the Government enforcing the laws that punish the 99% while allowing the 1% to escape justice, unharmed, for their crimes against the people.
We have observed this same Government failing to enforce even the minimal legal restraints of Wall Street’s abuses. This Government who has willingly ignored the greed at Wall Street has even bailed out the perpetrators that have caused our crisis.
We will not stand by and watch the system take over our way of life.
We the people shall stand against the government’s inaction.
We the people will not be witnesses to your corruption and ill gotten profits.
We will not labor for your leisure.
We will not assist you in any way.
This is why we choose to declare our war against the New York Stock Exchange. We can no longer stay silent as the population is being exploited and forced to make sacrifices in the name of profit.
We will show the world that we are true to our word. On October 10th, NYSE shall be erased from the Internet. On October 10th, expect a day that will never, ever, be forgotten.
Vox Populi, Vox Anon.
The Voice of The People is The Voice of Anonymous.
We are Legion. We are the 99%.
We do not forgive. We do not forget.
Wall Street: Expect us.

Considering Anonymous claims October 10th, 2011 will be a day that will never be forgotten, we can only surmise that they will be attacking the stock exchange of the NYSE itself, rather than the web site of the NYSE, though no additional information about this has been provided.If it is the NYSE exchange, then we can consider this the first cyber attack of its kind (unless the day of the “fat finger” was a cyber op also), and it will be very serious in nature, the consequences of which are hard to predict at this time. A government response on the order of the internet kill switch comes to mind – though, admittedly, that may be blowing things out of proportion.Anonymous has thus far attacked the web sites of various financial institutions around the world, as well as organizations they believe to be operating against the interests of the general public, but they have yet to do any significant damage (that we know of) on the level of what may occur if they were to directly take aim at financial markets.Of note is that October 10, 2011 is Columbus Day, however, stock markets will reportedly be open for normal trading (unless of course Anonymous stays true to their word).Read the full story here.

• Only 2% Of Food Imported Into The US Inspected.(Blacklistednews).Critics, including the U.S. Government Accountability Office, say the FDA is simply not up to the task of ensuring the safety of food imports, which are entering this country in ever-growing numbers. The FDA expects 24 million shipments of FDA-regulated goods to pass through the nation’s ports of entry this year, up from 6 million a decade ago. Studies show that glass-half-empty types don't live as long as those who look on the bright side. But if you're not the happy type, what can you do? Cancer kiss-off: Getting dumped after diagnosis As farmers markets thrive, so do concerns Cancer spike in men tied to HPV from oral sex More parents think it's safer to delay vaccines About this projectThis three-part food safety series is the result of a partnership between msnbc.com and the Carnegie-Knight News21 program. The project, "How Safe is your Food?" was reported by 27 journalism students from Arizona State University, Harvard University, University of Maryland, University of Missouri and the University Nebraska.During that time, the number of FDA investigators stayed constant at about 1,350. The agency began adding investigators in 2009 and now has about 1,800 — still far short of the number required to keep up with the pace of imports.In 2010, FDA inspectors physically examined 2.06 percent of all food-related imports. The FDA expects only 1.59 percent of all food imports to be examined this year and even less — only 1.47 percent — next year, according to its Office of Regulatory Affairs.Which shipments get inspected is increasingly determined by a new computer system called PREDICT, or Predictive Risk-based Evaluation for Dynamic Import Compliance Targeting, that is now used at 70 percent of U.S. import operations at land, sea and air ports. It analyzes information such as a manufacturer’s history with the agency, lab test results and even current weather patterns, assigning a risk-based score to each shipment to direct investigators toward the riskiest ones.After a shipment is flagged, it's up to a person to investigate further. Investigators give top priority to the items with the highest scores and work their way down — at least, to the point they can with limited staff.This summer, the FDA gave News21 unusual behind-the-scenes access at its largest operating district to show the ways in which front-line operations attempt to keep unsafe food from reaching American supermarket shelves and dinner tables.Hmmmm.....Now we have warned every potential food terrorist about the poor inspections.Read the full story here.

• Report: Assad threatens to attack Tel Aviv in case of NATO strike.(YNet).Syrian President Bashar Assad on Tuesday threatened to set fire to the Middle East, and especially Israel, if NATO attacks Syria, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.In a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Assad said: "If a crazy measure is taken against Damascus, I will need not more than six hours to transfer hundreds of rockets and missiles to the Golan Heights to fire them at Tel Aviv." Davutoglu reportedly conveyed a message of warning from the US to Assad. The Iranian report has not been verified by other sources. According to the Fars news agency, the Syrian president stressed that Damascus will also call on Hezbollah in Lebanon to launch a fierce rocket and missile attack on Israel, such that Israeli intelligence could never imagine."All these events will happen in three hours, but in the second three hours, Iran will attack the US warships in the Persian Gulf and the US and European interests will be targeted.Hmmmm.....Erdogan's reaction?Read the full story here.

• Erdogan says Israel’ s nuclear arsenal makes it a regional threat.(AlArabiya).Israel is a “threat” to its region because it owns nuclear weapons, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. “I right now see Israel as a threat for its region, because it has the atomic bomb,” Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency, during an official visit to South Africa.He also accused Israel of committing “state terrorism.”Erdogan in the past has accused the West of “double standards” in the way that it has tried to ban Iran from building nuclear weapons without taking similar measures against Israel.Israel has never officially admitting to possessing nuclear weapons.Turkey downgraded relations with one time ally Israel after the latter refused to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla, in which its nine Turkish activists died on May 31, 2010.Last month, Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador and froze military ties and defense trade deals. Ankara has also threatened to send warships to escort any Turkish vessels trying to reach Hamas-ruled Gaza.Hmmmm.....Why am i not surprised?Read the full story here.

• Egypt military uses violence with Coptic Christian sit-in.(Bikyamasr).CAIRO: Egypt’s military police have fired in the air in an attempt to disperse a few hundred Coptic Christians who had entered into a sit-in on Tuesday evening after marching through the streets of Cairo demanding their rights be heard. Protesters also told Bikyamasr.com early Wednesday morning that military police and others had on a number of occasions violently attacked the peaceful protesters.According to witnesses and protesters in front of the National Television and Radio building, or Maspero, the military fired “live ammunition” into the air to force the Copts to leave the area.The protest, which began with a few thousands marching from the middle-class area of Shobra through downtown Cairo before reaching the iconic media building, has blocked off the streets leading both ways on the Nile street.“The military fired into the air and one officer threw one of the crosses we carried onto the ground,” said one witness. “We are scared it could become very, very violent.”“My family and I joined the march after the burning of the Aswan church and we will continue on protesting until change is done,” Mona, a house wife in her 50s, told Bikyamasr.com.She added that there is still doubt that “protesting will change much, but it is what we can do now.”“We are sending a message to the SCAF and the prime minister warning them from the Coptic anger,” Mina Sabet, a member of the political committee of the Maspero Youth Union told Bikyamasr.com.“The people who toppled the former regime are capable of throwing out the current one,” he added. “It is a series of attacks and we are not sure who is behind them but they have angered Copts much.”Several men held a cardboard box shaped as a coffin with one side saying it was “Egypt’s funeral.” Another held a sign that said “if a church is burned or tore down, then you are definitely in Egypt.”After arriving at the Court of Cassation in downtown Cairo, the Copts Without Borders organization decided to not continue with the march to Maspero, and said they would not participate in the planned sit in. The march stopped traffic on the streets leading to the Maspero and checkpoints were erected at both ends, similar to those that marked the entrance to Tahrir Square during the liberal activists’ sit-in during July.Several riot police trucks soon followed the protesters, but remained at the edge of the street. Priest Flopire Gamel spoke to the crowd and encouraged them to remain non-violent.“Stay calm and feel safe, it is safe here,” he told the crowd while standing on the back of a pick-up truck. He advised the crowd to not engaged with police or army. “Dont let them drag you into violence,” he said.He also announced that there would be blankets and food soon to be available for those deciding to stay and told the masses that the decision to stay is not the church’s decision but the people’s, and youth in the crowed started chanting “We are staying, we are staying, we will not leave,” in reply. The crowd then began chanting a Christian song.Gamel said the sit-ins are not just in Cairo, but there are “many happening in Sohag, Minya and Alexandria.”The crowd continued their chanting: “prosecution, prosecution”, “We are the free Copts, we don’t fear gun shots” and “why are silent, justice is not realized.”The march was not without altercations, as aggressive passersby became obviously angered at the stopping of traffic and pushed their way through the crowds with their vehicles on a number of occasions.Read the full story here.

• In a letter to Erdogan, Aram I says the Armenian people still waiting for justice.(AsiaNews). Recent steps by Turkish authorities to return properties seized from religious minorities after 1936 are “incomplete”, Catholicos Aram I Kechichian said in an open letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.For the head of the Armenian Orthodox Church, whose titular see is located in the Turkish province of Cilicia, justice for the Armenian people will come only when Turkey acknowledges the genocide of 1915 and when private and Church assets seized at the time are returned.Here is the text of his letter (translated by AsiaNews):

By way of the press, we have learnt that your government plans to return properties seized from religious minorities after 1936. Such a decision undoubtedly stems from recent rulings by the European Court of Human Rights as well as inquiries by the US Congress into Turkish pressures on Christian minorities (See Nat de Polis, “Historic decision: Erdogan returns seized property to religious minorities,” in AsiaNews, 29 August 2011).

As spiritual and lawful head of the Holy See of Cilicia (Armenian Orthodox), which was uprooted from its historic see and installed in Lebanon, and as representative of the children of the Armenian Church who were exiled from Turkey and dispersed throughout the world, we consider your decision of 27 August 2011 to be incomplete and unjust.The Holy See of Cilicia remains the lawful owner of numerous buildings, churches, hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, cemeteries and other properties that belong to the church, seized by Turkish authorities at the time of the Armenian genocide of 1915.The same is true for the children of the Armenian people, who are the lawful owners of houses, businesses, estates and other assets passed down from their ancestors and lost during the genocide planned and executed by the Ottoman Turkish government.Your government’s decision may meet the requirements of the European Union, but it may never be considered as just or legally relevant.Mr Prime Minister, although taken in the name of justice, your decision is biased and selective and denies history and democratic values and principles.Of course, international institutions like the European Court of Human Rights and the European Parliament and its parliamentary bodies are tasked with defending democratic principles and values and ensure that they are respected; however, the people is the conscience and memory of such principles and values.As League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Nobel Peace Prize winner for 1922 Fridtjof Nansen said in Armenia and the Near East that the Armenian people never lost hope, bravely working and waiting. “They continue to wait,” he wrote.Allow me to add that the Armenian people will never cease to demand justice from Turkey for the Armenian Genocide. The Armenian people will never cease to demand the restoration of their human rights.Mr Prime Minister, your attachment to justice and human rights will gain in credibility only when you recognise the Armenian Genocide.Hmmmm......Amen.Read the full story here.

• Belarus Looks to Iran, Russia for Loans.(WSJ).By William Mauldin.MOSCOW—Belarus said on Monday it is close to securing a $400 million loan from Iran as the authoritarian Eastern European nation scrambles to line up financing from its few allies amid a deepening economic crisis. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund will visit the country starting Tuesday after rebuffing requests for a loan last month, although few observers expect an IMF deal anytime soon. Iran may lend the country $400 million, while Russia's biggest state-controlled bank may lend up $1 billion backed by shares in the Naftan oil refinery, officials from President Alexander Lukashenko's government said on Monday, according to the official state news agency. Since his controversial re-election last year, Mr. Lukashenko has increasingly become isolated from the U.S., which recently toughened sanctions, as well as from Europe and even Russia. The Belarusian ruble has lost three-fifths of its value against the dollar in the past year, and foreign reserves have fallen to a level that puts the economy at risk, according to officials and analysts. The IMF will be looking for progress in reforms that might justify a loan. Belarus is seeking about $7 billion in IMF financing, but analysts have said a smaller sum is more likely, or perhaps no loan at all. Minsk should also roll back wage increases that were part of Lukashenko's re-election campaign, among other structural economic reforms, the fund said. Overall, the IMF visit is "technical," and since political tensions are running so high, there is no talk of a loan agreement any time soon, VTB Capital analyst Petr Grishin said. Meanwhile, the immediate problem of the country's large current-account deficit has been solved by the steep ruble devaluation, he said.Hmmmmm....."Belarus freezes plan to give up uranium stockpile"....now why would Iran lend them the money????Any 'educated' guess?Read the full story here.

• Iran: NATO radar in Turkey serves to protect Israel.(Ynet).Iran criticized Turkey on Tuesday for agreeing to allow NATO to station an early warning radar in the southeast of the country that will serve as part of the alliance's missile defense system. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed the defense system was meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks in the event a war breaks out with the Jewish state. "The missile defense shield is aimed at defending the Zionist regime. They don't want to let our missiles land in the occupied territories (Israel) if one day they take action against us. That's why they put it there," Ahmadinejad said in an address to the nation on state TV late Tuesday. Turkey agreed to host the radar in September as part of NATO's missile defense system aimed at countering ballistic missile threats from neighboring Iran. Ankara claims the shield doesn't target a specific country and had threatened to block the deal if Iran was explicitly named as a threat. A military installation in Kurecik has been designated as the radar site, according to Turkish government officials. Kurecik in Malatya province lies some 700 kilometers (435 miles) west of the Iranian border.In September, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said the United States hopes to have the radar deployed there by the end of the year. Ahmadinejad said his government has conveyed Iran's displeasure to Turkish officials. "We told our Turkish friends that it was not a correct job (decision) they did and that it's to their detriment," he said. "Such shields can't prevent the collapse of the Zionist regime." Turkey has built close economic ties with Iran and has been at odds with the United States on its stance toward Iran's nuclear program, arguing for a diplomatic solution to the standoff instead of sanctions. But the agreement over the radar facility comes at a time when Turkey and Iran appear to be differing on their approach toward Syria, with Turkey becoming increasingly critical of Iranian ally Syria's brutal suppression of anti-regime protests.Hmmmm......Beware of your eggs Farmer when the fox preaches the gospel.Turkey will NEVER protect Israel in case of an Iranian attack.Read the full story here.

• Archaeologist Makes a Case for Discovery of a Judean Town of the Time of King David.(ArcheologyDaily).Archaeologist at the City of David Conference in Jerusalem presents evidence that he suggests supports the identification of an ancient biblical Judean town built by a centralized authority during the time of King David.The traditional view based on the Biblical account is that in the 10th century King David ruled over a United Monarchy consisting of Judea in the south and Israel in the north. By the 9th century it had split into two kingdoms, Israel that continued to exist until the Assyrian conquest in 721BCE and Judea that continued until the Babylonian destruction in 586BCE. In contrast the Minimalist school refuted the idea of a United Monarchy and saw David as a mythical figure. The kingdom of Israel established itself first, in the 9th century (low chronology) and a monarchy developed in Judea only after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel in the late 8th century. With the discovery of the House of David stele at Dan the Minimalists had to grudgingly concede that David could exist but was a minor chieftain who ruled over a limited area, not an extensive kingdom ruled from a centralized location. With the discoveries at Khirbet Qeiyafa, a site in the Elah valley Prof. Yosef Garfinkel of Hebrew University is convinced that he has uncovered a Judean town that is dated to the 10th C. To build fortifications like those at Khirbet Qeiyafa, requiring moving 200,000 tons of stone, could not have been a local initiative but would have required a centralized government.

The site is small, 23 dunam enclosed with a casement wall situated on a hill overlooking the Elah valley with human occupation for about 20 years. Garfinkel suggests that the site was destroyed by Phillistine Gath/Tel Safi a larger town only 12 km to the west (Maier who heads the excavations at Safi concurs); the Bible decribes numerous border disputes in the Elah Valley region during the 11th-10th century BCE. There are only 3 buillding strata: 1) the late Roman/Byzantine period, 4th to 6th century when it included a fortress or caravansery at the center of the site, 2) late Persian or early Hellenstic period (ca. 350-270BCE) and 3) the lowest stratum directly on the bedrock dated to Iron Age IIA, existing in the late 11th to early 10th century. The dating is based on pottery and artifacts correlated with the results of radiometric (Carbon 14) dating of 4 burnt olive pits that yield a calibrated date of 1051 to 969BCE with 77.8% probablity which supports the high chronology" of the biblical traditionalists.

Features and artifacts unearthed at the site suggest that it was a Judean settlement.

The structural style of the casemate walls was classically Judean, matching similar construction at the ancient excavated sites of Beersheva, Tell en-Nasbeh, and Tell Beit Mirsim. Thousands of animal bones were found (goats, sheep and cattle) but no pig bones, found commonly at nearby Phillistine sites like Ekron and Gath/Tell Safi. Pottery found is different than that at nearby Gath. Fragments of an almost complete pottery baking tray hinted at a culture that was unlike that of the nearby Phillistine sites. Khirbet Qeiyafa is the only archaeological site discovered in Israel so far that has two gates. Garfinkel says, "Even cities three or four times its size, such as Lachish and Megiddo, have only a single gate." Based on location, dating and the two gates Garfinkel identifies it as Shaarayim (Hebrew for two gates) mentioned 3 times in the Bible.

 In the city list of the tribe of Judah it appears after Socoh and Azekah (Josh 15:36). Socoh is located 2.5 km to the southeast of Khirbet Qeiyafa and Azekah 2 km to the west.

After David killed Goliath the Philistines escaped through the ""road of Sha''arayim"" (1 Sam 17:52).

In the city list of the tribe of Simeon, Sha''arayim is mentioned as one of the cities ""until the reign of David"" (1 Ch 4:31– 32).

Read and see the full story here.