MFS -The Other News - What the main papers don't say.

  Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Indonesia 5.4 - 5.2 ; Fiji 5.1!More info here.

• Islam’s Establishment of Government Religion Not Protected by First Amendment.(BP).By Jack L. Treese, CWO US Army, Retired.The federal appeals court in Denver recently threw out an amendment passed by 70 percent of the voters of Oklahoma that would have prevented Oklahoma courts from recognizing international or Islamic law. Further, the court upheld the right of the executive director of the Oklahoma Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muneer Awad, to challenge the laws constitutionally.The First Amendment states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…I contend that Islam is not a true religion and should not be classified as such. The basic element of most religions is worship; it is not controlling people’s lives through making and enforcing laws. It is not running countries through mullahs with puppet dictators like Ahmadinejad. It is not trying to impose its laws, customs and way of life through the court system of sovereign nations.The “Islamic Law” known as Sharia controls every aspect of a Muslims life. These laws have been promulgated over the centuries using the Quran and Hadiths.Britannica.com describes the Hadith as a: …record of the traditions or saying of the Prophet Muhammad, revered and received as a major source of religious law…second only to the authority of the Quran…the biography of Muhammad. Provisions of law are the primary element, enlarging Quranic legislation. According to Wikipedia:Hadiths are regarded by traditional Islamic schools of jurisprudence as important tools for understand the Quran and in matters of jurisprudence.According to Dictionary.com jurisprudence is defined as:

1. The science or philosophy of law.
2. A body or system of laws.
3. A department of law: medical jurisprudence.
4. Civil Law, decisions of courts, especially of reviewing tribunals.

Traditional Islamic schools of jurisprudence use the Hadith and the Quran in matters of jurisprudence and the four definitions of jurisprudence listed above all contain the word “law”.Webster’s defines “law” as:…any written or positive rule or collection of rules prescribed under the authority of the state…” Therefore, it is my opinion that Sharia laws should be considered statutes which of themselves are enactments made by governments.According to Webster’s a theocracy is:…a form of government in which God or a deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, the God or deity’s laws being interpreted by the ecclesiastical authorities. The website Islam 101 also provides a precedent for classifying Islam as a “government”; under the title “Essential Features of the Islamic Political System” are the following subheadings:

1. Democracy in Islam.
2. Purpose of the Islamic State.
3. Executive and Legislature.

Doesn’t our own constitution define democracy, the state, and the executive and legislative branches?While Islam may be a religion I believe I have presented compelling justification to classify it as a “government” controlled and dictated by a religion. Therefore it should not be protected by the first amendment! Our judges need to wake up; “if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.”Read the full story here.

• Iran - MP: Deployment of Iranian, Russian Flotillas in Syrian Coasts Clear Warning to US.(Fars). Tehran - A senior Iranian lawmaker stressed on Sunday that the deployment of Iranian and Russian flotillas along the Syrian coasts is a serious warning against Washington's adventurist plots against Damascus."The presence of Iran and Russia's flotillas along the Syrian coasts has a clear message against the United States' possible adventurism," Vice-Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Hossein Ebrahimi told FNA. "In case of any US strategic mistake in Syria, there is a possibility that Iran, Russia and a number of other countries will give a crushing response to the US," he added. The US and other western countries have intensified their interfering policies while the Syrian government has declared February 26 as the date for a referendum on the country's new draft constitution that would lay the ground for a multi-party political system. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made the decision after he received the draft from a committee set up in October to draw up the new constitution. In January, Assad said that the new constitution will replace the current one which endorses his Baath party's dominant role.Read the full story here.

• EGYPT, YOU ARE FINISHED!Baha'is threaten Egypt's national security.(AM).A spokesperson for the Salafi movement in Alexandria has said that the religious minority of Baha’is poses a threat to Egypt's national security.Abdel Moneim al-Shahat, a prominent Salafi leader and former parliamentary candidate, said that the state should move to protect itself from those who claim that the Baha'i faith is a religion. Shahat has previously claimed that watching and playing football is prohibited under Islam, in the wake of violence following a Port Said football match."We will prosecute the Bahai's on charge of treason," Shahat said, in a telephone call with al-Haqiqa (The Truth) TV program host Wael al-Ibrashy on Dream 2 channel. "We as Salafis refuse to deal with Baha'is, because they do not exist by virtue of their faith.”According to Shahat, Bahai’s are not entitled to rights under Islam because they do not belong and are not recognized by the religion, and any new constitution should not include an amendment protecting their rights. He cited an Al-Azhar ruling that said Baha’is are not Muslims.Baha'is, who number between 500 and 2,000 in Egypt, call their faith's 19th-century founder, Bahaa, a prophet -- sacrilege to Muslims who believe Mohamed to be God's final messenger.Rights activists say Baha'is face systematic discrimination in the conservative Arab country, which does not officially recognize the faith. In 2008, Baha'is won the right to obtain government identity papers so long as they omit any reference to their faith.Read the full story here.

• Tunisia protests Egypt sheikh who supports FGM.(BM).CAIRO: Hundreds of Tunisians protested the visit of Islamic cleric Wagdy Ghonem near the capital Tunis after Ghonem’s statements stirred anger among in the country. Ghonem, who was visiting the country, said statements in favor of female genital mutilation (FGM), which angered Tunisians strongly and drove them to the street to protest.The crowd held signs reading “Ghonem must leave,” “purify your mind and heart Ghonem” and “we don’t accept hate language.”Ghonem, who began his visit over the weekend, successfully brought together different groups to protest his visit, including young men and women who were offended by his support of the controversial practice of cutting a young girl’s genitalia.He was called an “extremist” and an “intruder.”Ghonem, who sadly has been referred to as the “Egyptian Sheikh Ghonem” called for Islamic law to be applied in Tunisia and called for the circumcision of girls.He also attacked liberals and secularists in harsh tones.Tunisian women, who were previously the most liberated and had the most rights of all women in the MENA region, are fearing losses of those rights with the growing of political Islam in the country.FGM is banned in Tunis and in neighboring countries like Egypt, yet conservatives who believe the habit promotes “virtue” do it anyway, often in unprepared clinics, causing many young girls to bleed to death or get serious infections.Al-Azhar, the Sunni’s world most respected institution, condemned the practice years ago and said it was “un-Islamic” and encouraged families to not have the procedure done on their daughters.Read the full story here.