Video - Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Christ is risen indeed! Amen!

What If the liberal media covered Jesus' birth today?

What If the liberal media covered Jesus' birth today?HT: IsraelMatzav.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

        A Merry Christmas to all my readers.

Egypt's Coptic Christians prepare to choose new Pope.

Egypt's Coptic Christians prepare to choose new Pope.(AA).About 12 boys will be chosen on Saturday to attend Egypt’s 118th Pope inauguration ceremony, one of them will become his mother’s pride if he wins the honor of selecting a new pope for millions of Coptic Christians in Egypt. The interim head of the Coptic Church, Father Pachomius, will choose 12 boys to be invited to the ceremony. On Sunday, he will instruct that one of them be blindfolded. That boy, aged between five and eight, will choose a piece of paper bearing the name of the 118th Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa in the Holy See of St. Mark the Apostle. 
This is going to be the first such contest since 1971, when pope Shenuda III was selected by the same method more than four decades ago, Bishop Pola told AFP. The names of the three candidates to succeed pope Sheunda will be written on separate pieces of paper and placed in a box on the altar of St Mark’s Cathedral, for God to guide the boy’s hand towards the winner -- in the beliefs of the Church and the faithful. The candidates are Bishop Rafael, 54, a medical doctor and current assistant bishop for central Cairo; Bishop Tawadros of the Nile Delta province of Beheira, 60; and Father Rafael Ava Mina, the oldest of the five original candidates at 70. 
The finalists were chosen after nearly 2,500 eligible voters made up of Coptic public officials, MPs, journalists and local councilors have selected them in the church’s election last week. The final choice will be left to a boy who will be blindfolded and asked to pick one name on Sunday. Bishop Pola told reporters that strict measures are taken to ensure there is no foul play: the three pieces of paper are all the same size, tied up the same way and placed in a transparent box. The entire process will be televised before a large, live congregation. “A lot of families propose the names of children, that’s why we lay down precise criteria and ensure the faithfulness of the family and the child to the Church,” said the bishop. Dozens of families have come forward. “I pray my son George is selected to carry out the will of God,” said one mother, Merihan Moros. The newly chosen Coptic pope will serve as the spiritual leader of the country’s Christians, who make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt’s 83-million-strong population.
Read the full story here.

Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Christian church, dies at 88.

Pope Shenouda III, head of Egypt's Coptic Christian church, dies at 88.(Yahoo).CAIRO - Pope Shenouda III, the patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church who led Egypt's Christian minority for 40 years during a time of increasing tensions with Muslims, died Saturday. He was 88.
His death comes as the country's estimated 10 million Christians are feeling more vulnerable than ever amid the rise of Islamic movements to political power after the toppling a year ago of President Hosni Mubarak. The months since have seen a string of attacks on the community, heightened anti-Christian rhetoric by ultraconservatives known as Salafis and fears that coming goverments will try to impose strict versions of Islamic law.
Tens of thousands of Christians packed into the main Coptic cathedral in Cairo on Saturday evening hoping to see his body. Women in black wept and screamed. Some, unable to get into the overcrowded building, massed outside, raising their hands in prayer.
"He left us in a very hard time. Look at the country and what's happening now," said Mahrous Munis, a Christian IT worker in his 30s who was among the crowds. "Copts are in a worse situation than before. God be with us."
Shenouda died in his residence at the cathedral, and the state news agency MENA said he had been battling liver and lung problems for several years. Yasser Ghobrial, a physician who treated Shenouda at a Cairo hospital in 2007, said he suffered from prostate cancer that spread to his colon and lungs.
U.S. President Barack Obama paid tribute to Shenouda as "an advocate for tolerance and religious dialogue.""We will remember Pope Shenouda III as a man of deep faith, a leader of a great faith, and an advocate for unity and reconciliation," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House. "His commitment to Egypt's national unity is also a testament to what can be accomplished when people of all religions and creeds work together.""Baba Shenouda," as he was known to his followers, headed one of the most ancient churches in the world. The Coptic Church traces its founding to St. Mark, who is said to have brought Christianity to Egypt in the 1st Century.
For Egypt's Christians, he was a charismatic leader, known for his sense of humour — his smiling portrait was hung in many Coptic homes and shops — and a deeply conservative religious thinker who resisted calls by liberals for reform.
Above all, many Copts saw him as the guardian of their community living amid a Muslim majority in this country of more than 80 million people. Christians have long complained of being treated as second-class citizens, saying they face discrimination and that police generally fail to prosecute those behind anti-Christian attacks.
Shenouda's method was to work behind the scenes. He sought to contain Christians' anger and gave strong support to Mubarak's government, while avoiding pressing Coptic demands too vocally in public to prevent a backlash from Muslim conservatives. In return, Mubarak's regime allowed the Church wide powers among the Christian community.
The Brotherhood's political party offered its condolences "to the Egyptian people and its Christian brothers."
Parliament speaker Saad el-Katatny, a Brotherhood member, praised the pope in an evening session, calling him a "man respected among Coptic Christians and Muslims" for his love of Egypt and his opposition to Israel's annexation of Jerusalem. Under a long-standing order, Shenouda barred his followers from pilgrimage to Jerusalem as a protest of Israel's hold on the city.
Under Church law, the process of choosing Shenouda's successor can take up to three months, though an interim leader will be picked within a week. A synod of archbishops, bishops and lay leaders will then form a committee to come up with three candidates. The names are then put in a box and a blindfolded acolyte picks one — a step meant to be guided by the will of God.
Two leading contenders are close associates of Shenouda. Archbishop Bishoy, head of the Holy Congregation, the main clerical leadership body, is seen as the more conservative figure; Archbishop Johannes, the pope's secretary, is younger — in his 50s — and seen as having a wider appeal among youth.Hmmmm.... Obama calls him "a leader of a great faith" to hard to recognise Christianity as a Religion?Read the full story here.

Obama: "Son of Islam"?........Or Not?

Obama: "Son of Islam"?......Or Not?(SG).By Raymond Ibrahim.

According to Sharia law, if one's father is Muslim, one automatically becomes Muslim. "Most of the Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not a Muslim."

Many in the media are indignant with Reverend Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Invited on "Morning Joe" last Tuesday to discuss Christian persecution, Graham was asked whether he thought President Barack Obama was Christian or not.
Although Graham concluded that Obama "has said he is a Christian, so I just have to assume that he is," he appeared skeptical, suggesting Obama's policies disagreed with Christian principles, thus earning the full ire of much of the fourth estate.
Graham, however, was absolutely right to say that, "under Islamic law, the Muslim world sees Barack Obama as a Muslim, as a son of Islam": according to Sharia law [Islamic religious law, which regulates all parts of a Muslim's life], if one's father is Muslim, one automatically becomes Muslim. The reason behind last week's church attack in Egypt, when thousands of Muslims tried to torch a church and kill its pastor, is that a Christian girl fled from her father after he converted to Islam: she did not want to be Muslim, and was rumored to be hiding in the church. This is not the first time in recent months that churches have been attacked on similar rumors.
In short, Sharia law's position is that anyone born to a Muslim father is a Muslim—with the death penalty should they seek to apostatize: the 34-year-old Iranian pastor sentenced to death simply for converting to Christianity is just the most visible example.
Because of this automatic passage of religion from father to son, and because Obama attended a madrassa (Muslim religious school during his youth in Indonesia), many Muslims are convinced that Obama is a "secret" Muslim. In a Forbes article, "My Muslim President Obama: Why members of the faith see him as one of the flock ," writer Asma Gull Hasan elaborates:

[S]ince Election Day, I have been part of more and more conversations with Muslims in which it was either offhandedly agreed that Obama is Muslim or enthusiastically blurted out. In commenting on our new president, "I have to support my fellow Muslim brother," would slip out of my mouth before I had a chance to think twice. "Well, I know he's not really Muslim," I would quickly add. But if the person I was talking to was Muslim, they would say, "yes he is." …. Most of the Muslims I know (me included) can't seem to accept that Obama is not Muslim. Of the few Muslims I polled who said that Obama is not Muslim, even they conceded that he had ties to Islam…. The rationalistic, Western side of me knows that Obama has denied being Muslim, that his father was non-practicing, that he doesn't attend a mosque. Many Muslims simply say back, "my father's not a strict Muslim either, and I haven't been to a mosque in years." Obama even told The New York Times he could recite the adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, which the vast majority of Muslims, I would guess, do not know well enough to recite.

Read the entire article, which is more eye-opening than the author probably intended.Read the full story here.

Hmmm.......Was President Obama Baptised or not ? Is he a Christian ?

Anyway Obama himself writes that he was only baptised in his mid 20's !
Nobody, except Obama knows if his conversion to Christianity is real or not. Although some reports and even Obama have referred to a "baptism", there doesn't appear to be any record of a baptism.
Chicago-based journalist, broadcaster and critic Andy Martin, when asked about Obama's baptism, wrote, "I have never been able to obtain any evidence that he was baptized, although I asked for those records."

It seems that Obama's conversion occurred when he answered one of Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright's altar calls by walking down the aisle of Trinity Church to make a formal commitment of his faith.

Cathleen Falsani, religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, writes, "He (Obama) described his conversion experience in his mid-20s, how he walked the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ one Sunday in a public affirmation of his private change of heart."I came to Christianity through the black church tradition where the line between evangelical and non-evangelical is completely blurred. Nobody knows exactly what it means."
Falsani warns us that Obama’s walking the aisle at Trinity is poles apart from what Christians commonly refer to as being "saved, transformed or washed in the blood."
In other words, it’s not to be confused with what Jesus called being "born again." As Mr. Obama himself explains, "It wasn’t an epiphany … but just a moment to certify or publicly affirm a growing faith in me."
Unlike traditional Christianity, which Mr. Obama bemoans for its "call to evangelize and proselytize," the good senator’s faith is strictly a personal and private affair. Although he has no qualms about parading it in public in hopes of bolstering his political career, he would never dream of preaching it to others in hopes of converting them to Christ.
At the core of Obama's faith -- whether lapsed Muslim, new Christian or some mixture of the two -- is African nativism and Obama's having pledged allegiance to the Black Value System raises political issues of its own.
The phrase, “having been baptized,” is apparently based on Obama’s claim about being baptized. Our major media haven’t questioned the claim.

Miller went on to say, “His baptism presents its own problems. The senior pastor at Trinity at the time of Obama’s baptism was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., the preacher who was seen damning America on cable TV…”

Notice the formulation, “at the time of Obama’s baptism.” She carefully does not say that Wright performed the baptism. In fact, there’s no evidence it was a baptism in the traditional sense that it was performed by Wright or anybody else. It looks like Obama walked down the aisle and made a profession of faith. That is not a Christian baptism.

The Canada Free Press published a very interesting article in February by Madeline Brooks, who asked, “Where is the baptism certificate? We do not see one because there was no baptism. That central part of Christianity was not required at Obama’s former church, the Trinity United Church of Christ, during the years Obama attended…”
She cites the research of a pastor, Usama Dakdok, who had called Obama’s church to ask about membership:
“Do I have to be baptized to join the church?” asked Pastor Dakdok. “No, you don’t,” was the answer. “You can be a member without being baptized.”
“And what exactly is required to become a member?” The answer: “You attend two Sunday school classes in a row about membership, and then you walk the aisle.”
The phrase, “having been baptized,” is apparently based on Obama’s claim about being baptized. Our major media haven’t questioned the claim.I'm sure any Islamic scholar will agree that "attending two Sunday school classes in a row about membership, and then you walking the aisle" doesn't mean renouncing your Islamic Faith!
Instead of concentrating on his so called Islamic past we should concentrate on his so called Christian past !Read the full story here

PM Netanyahu’s Christmas Greetings to Israel’s Christian citizens and to Christians throughout the world.

MFS - The Other News

                       Afternoon Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 13. Here .(Al-Jazeera).
• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.5 and 5.4! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 84.On 12.04.2011 at 02:59 GMT+2. Here .

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

• HT:BigGovernment.Obama’s ‘Framework’ for Perpetual Deficits and Higher Taxes.Big Government has received an outline of President Obama’s ‘framework’ for reducing the federal budget deficit. The White House claims the ‘framework’ will trim $4 Trillion, over 12 years from the deficit.The President believes that we need a comprehensive, pro-growth economic strategy that invests in winning the future, lays the foundation for strong private-sector job growth and ensures that shared prosperity will keep the American dream alive for generations to come. A key component of that strategy must be a commitment to fiscal responsibility and to living within our means. Today, the President is laying out a comprehensive, balanced deficit reduction framework to cut spending, bring down our debt and increase confidence in our nation’s fiscal strength, while supporting our economic recovery and ensuring we are making the investments we need to win the future.Hmmmm....Call me old fashion but what interest me is what's the spending numbers for the next 12 years,considering the number of Trillions he adds in a year to the US debt?Read the full story here.

• HT:Politico.Most 'transparant' administration White House visitor logs leave out many.A foot of snow couldn’t keep Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jennifer Hudson and other celebrities away from a star-studded celebration of civil-rights-era music, hosted by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama at the White House in February 2010.Dylan’s haunting rendition of “The Times They Are a-Changin’” was a highlight of the dazzling evening. The digitally friendly White House even posted the video of his performance on its website.But you won’t find Dylan (or Robert Zimmerman, his birth name) listed in the White House visitor logs — the official record of who comes to call at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., which is maintained by the Secret Service.Ditto Joan Baez.Similarly, the logs are missing the names of thousands of other visitors to the White House, including lobbyists, government employees, campaign donors, policy experts and friends of the first family, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.The White House website proudly boasts of making available “over 1,000,000 records of everyone who’s come through the doors of the White House” via a searchable database.Yet the Center’s analysis shows that the logs routinely omit or cloud key details about the identity of visitors, whom they met with and the nature of their visits. The logs even include the names of people who never showed up. These are critical gaps that raise doubts about the records’ historical accuracy and utility in helping the public understand White House operations, from social events to meetings on key policy debates.

Among the many weaknesses found by the Center’s review of the database:

• The “event” description in the logs is blank for more than 205,000 visits, including many that involved small meetings with the president and his key aides.

• Five junior staff aides together received more than 4,440 visits. By contrast, then-chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, famed for his workaholic schedule, is listed as having fewer than 500 visits.

• Less than 1 percent of the estimated 500,000 visits to the White House in Obama’s first eight months — a time when the new administration was bustling with activity — have been disclosed, according to the Center’s analysis.The Center’s analysis is based on visitor logs through February; additional names released in late March are not included in this analysis. “If this is transparency, who needs it?” said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. He called the White House visitor logs “very thin gruel.”Hmmmm.....For all i know even Osama Bin Laden could be visiting Hussein and staying in the guestroom?Read the full story here.

• Iran benefits from regional turmoil as price of oil soars.At the same time, Hezbollah is concerned with the ongoing protests in Syria and the possibility that President Bashar Assad will lose power.According to foreign reports, Syria is storing an unspecified number of long-range Scud missiles inside a base near the Syrian-Lebanese border. Other reports have mentioned that Syria is also storing advanced surface-to-air missiles on Hezbollah’s behalf.Iran is believed to still be suffering from technical setbacks due to the Stuxnet computer virus that attached its Natanz uranium fuel enrichment facility over the summer but has gotten most of its program back on track.According to assessments within the defense establishment, Iran’s current strategy is to prepare all of its nuclear assets for the day that it will decide to go to the breakout stage and begin developing a nuclear weapon.Hmmmm......Read the full story here.

• Top White House aide delivers Obama letter to Saudi king.A top White House aide delivered a personal letter from President Obama to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Tuesday, as the administration moved to calm tensions between the two countries over how to respond to upheaval in the Arab world and deal with their mutual adversary in Iran.The stakes are high for both sides, perhaps higher for Obama.

Saudi Arabia, in addition to being the world’s largest oil exporter and the site of the Muslim world’s holiest sites, is the leading U.S. regional partner on counterterrorism matters. An extensive bilateral intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure has been established over the past decade. A pending $60 billion arms deal with the Saudis is the largest in U.S. history.Underlying the current tensions is Saudi Arabia’s long-standing concern that it “has been taken for granted by the United States,” said another member of the Shura, part of a group that visited Washington last week.

The Saudis consider themselves “the voice for moderation and stabilization in the Middle East,” he said, and resent the U.S. implication that the administration is more attuned to threats such as Iran, or that the Saudi monarchy needs to move toward its own reforms at a faster pace than it believes is wise or necessary.

Some foreign policy experts in this country agree that Obama needs to pay more attention to the relationship. The Saudi king needs to know “that the president will provide a secure safety net of support, rather than undermine him” in the event of trouble in the kingdom, Martin Indyk, the director of the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program, wrote in The Washington Post early this week. Saudi uncertainty was reflected in a visit to Pakistan last month by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the head of the Saudi National Security Council.But others are more dismissive of Saudi concerns. “Our friends are mad at us because we said Mubarak had to go,” Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) said Tuesday at the U.S.-Islamic Forum, a conference in Washington jointly sponsored by Brookings and the government of Qatar. “We didn’t say that . . . the Egyptian people did,” Kerry said. “We acknowledged a reality.”“For leaders worried about their regimes, royal families and governments,” Kerry said, “this is an opportunity to adjust to how they stay in power.”Hmmmm......C'Mon Abdul no hard feelings wasn't planning to stab you in the back down the road....well not right now perhaps later in an alley?Read the full story here.

• EU slaps sanctions on 32 Iranians over rights abuses.AFP LUXEMBOURG — The European Union imposed assets freezes and travel bans on 32 Iranian officials on Tuesday, saying they had been involved in human rights violations.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on the sidelines of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers that the 27-nation bloc wanted to hit back at the "appalling human rights record of Iran."He denounced the jailing of Iranian opposition leaders, the detention of more journalists "than any other country in the world," and an "excessive use of the death penalty, often on vague charges."The EU "is agreeing today restrictive measures on 32 individuals in Iran we believe are responsible and instrumental in these policies," he said.The measures were decided at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, following in the footsteps of the United States, which imposed similar sanctions in September 2010.The list of names will soon be made public in the EU Official Journal.The EU ministers had already agreed in principle to the sanctions in March, when they voiced concern about the "deterioration" of human rights in Iran.They also voiced alarm over the "dramatic increase in executions in recent months and the systematic repression of Iranian citizens."Iran has already been hit by a raft of sanctions imposed by the United Nations over its refusal to halt its controversial nuclear programme.The United States and the European Union added their own unilateral sanctions on top of the UN measures last year.The United States hit eight Iranian official with sanctions last year, including current and former ministers, accusing them of committing serious human rights violations during the disputed presidential elections of 2009.Read the full story here.

• Sweden Plans Deportation of Christian-Convert Imam.A former imam who converted to Christianity is facing extradition from Sweden to his native Iraq, where he may face imprisonment or death for his "apostasy" from Islam. . According to an article at Dagen.se (translated by Google): A former imam, who lives in Karlskoga and who converted to Christianity must be deported to Iraq, the Administrative Court of Appeal has decided. Bengt Sjoberg, local politician from Filipstad and heavily involved in refugee issues, said that the former Imam [had] been baptized in the Baptist church in Karlskoga and openly share[d] [his] faith with others. “This is absolutely horrible. This is a genuine conversion and many of us can testify that there is a man who lives as a Christian.”Given the latitude which has been shown by Western nations for generations in extending protection to individuals claiming sanctuary from the tyranny which would confront them at home, the decision of Swedish authorities to deport a man whose conversion would make him a target seems reckless. The bloody persecution which has been inflicted on the Church in Iraq in the past few years has driven much of the Christian remnant out of the country; even the homes of Christians in Baghdad were subjected to Jihadist attacks this past Christmas.According to an entry (“Mänskliga rättigheter, asylsökande och dop/Human rights, asylum seekers and baptism”) on Mr. Sjoberg’s website, the Church of Sweden is making the situation worse for converts because it is urging that those foreigners who become believers in Christianity should not be baptized, if there is a possibility they could be deported. As Mr. Sjoberg writes (again, via Google translation): It's good that the Swedish Church declares that it is dangerous to be a Christian if you come from certain countries such as Afghanistan and Iran.Certainly one of the most basic rights recognized in the West is the freedom of conscience in matters of religion. While Islamic nations threaten to execute those who "blaspheme" Islam, and Jihadists murder the only Christian in the Pakistani government, the moral obligation of Western nations is to protect immigrants from such nations as would imprison or murder them for their religious beliefs, as we once offered a measure of protection to those who fled from the Communist nations.It is not surprising that some of the recent émigrés from the Islam-dominated countries will come to the realization that they had previously been deceived regarding the nature of Christianity. Rev. Elijah Abraham, a former Muslim from Iraq who converted to Christianity, has a ministry, Living Oasis Ministries, which has as its goal bringing the Gospel to adherents of Islam. (Rev. Abraham was interviewed by The New American last year, and the first portion of that interview may be found here.) Rev. Abraham explained that his life as a Muslim in Iraq was one which was filled with hatred:

I grew up with hatred: hatred toward Christianity. I had a lot of Christian neighbors and friends and I loved them, but the Christians I could not separate from Christianity because my community and Islam told me I could not separate America from Christianity ... England from Christianity ... colonialism from Christianity. So that was the hatred — hatred toward the West — imperialism, capitalism, etc. — and hatred toward the Jews, and Israel, and Zionism. Nobody told me why I needed to hate. The culture of hate is just a way of life, and not just hatred toward Christians and Jews, but also toward other factions within Islam. There is no peace. There is this constant struggle, on a personal, community, or national level. That’s why it’s a really great opportunity to share the Gospel with Muslims, because as human beings we always want to have peace of mind. We always want to be at rest and ease. That’s the void that only God can fill. So it’s a great opportunity when I witness to Muslims and give them that option. Yes, they will give me typical Muslim objections to the Gospel, but I’m prepared to answer those questions.Such converts from Islam have a great deal to teach Christians in the West through their willingness to suffer for what they believe. As Sjoberg observes, “We never baptize someone who has not received proper training and if you come from a Muslim background you may be given a long time to think about the risks it entails to become a Christian and be baptized, [as you] may be deported to a country where capital punishment [is inflicted] on any converts. If you still stand fast in the desire to fully become a Christian, we can not deny anyone to make this powerful spiritual experience.”Hmmmm......Why not appeal to the Pope to put pressure on the Swedes?Read the full story here.

• The Obama Administration Embraces Radical Islamists.But the clueless Obama administration’s “faith advisor” Dahlia Mogahed is mimicking Alfred E. Neuman’s line in Mad Magazine: “What, Me Worry?According to a report on the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood website that has since been mysteriously removed, Ms. Mogahed, presumably reflecting the views of her boss, has reportedly said in a recent interview that Washington has no worries concerning the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.The news media – even Fox News – has dropped the ball in not covering this latest piece of evidence that the Obama administration is legitimizing our number one ideological enemy – radical Islam .In the interview, Obama’s faith advisor revealed that the Obama administration:

does not want to make an enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood and in fact respects them;

foresees the Muslim Brotherhood acquiring a majority of the seats in Egypt’s upcoming parliamentary election; andbelieves the relationship between the United States and an Egypt governed by a Muslim Brotherhood majority will be much more that of equals.Obama’s faith advisor did not stop there. In an article she posted on the Huffington Post website entitled “The Fruits of Faith in the Arab Spring,” Ms. Mogahed argued that Islam is playing a role in the Arab nation revolutions akin to the role that religious faith played for this country’s civil rights movement.She said that

Islam contains rich resources for liberation philosophy.

I highly doubt that the Iranian dissidents whom have been killed, beaten, arrested, and tortured at the behest of the oh-so-devout Islamic mullahs running the Islamic Republic of Iran would be impressed with Islam’s version of a “liberation philosophy.”That’s not all. Ms. Mogahed also claimed that Islamists’ rejection of any man-made law that conflicts with Allah’s law is a good thing : Its most central theological principle is that of God’s absolute oneness, meaning that only He is worthy of unquestioning obedience and submission, and only He should be truly feared. This focus on God’s glory minimizes the supposed supremacy of tyrants, making them seem miniscule and powerless. When protesters declare “God is greater,” they are saying that the Devine (sic) dominates the dictator.Hmmmm.....,A pitty her boss has a tendency to leave the word GOD out?Ah my mistake ....that's the Christian God.Read the full treason story here.

• HT:Memri.Al-Azhar Sheikh: Pope's Apology A Condition For Interfaith Dialogue.As part of yesterday's Cairo visit by the Vatican envoy, Al-Azhar Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb demanded an official apology from Pope Benedict XVI for his insult to Islam, calling it a basic condition for renewing the interfaith dialogue between the two institutions. Al-Azhar decided to freeze the dialogue with the Vatican in late January following Pope Benedict XVI's criticism of Muslims' treatment of Christians in the Middle East.Hmmm......My guess you got your answer a while back“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” Pope Benedict XVI. Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Video - New Islamic Council Established In Spain.The plan is to subsidize the building of more mosques and Islamic schools. Goal is the “further integration of Islam into Spanish society.”Hmmmm....El.Cid planning to be re-burried at the vatican?Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Memri.GCC Countries Call For Cancelling Baghdad Summit.Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad al-Khalifa is reported to have declared that the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council have demanded the cancellation of the Arab summit, which is set for Baghdad on May 10-11. The GCC's decision reflects the tension between the Gulf states and Iraq over the issue of Bahrain. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki said on March 19 and reiterated on March 26 that "Bahrain differs from Libya and Egypt; it is a case between Sunnis and Shi'a and the entry of forces from Arab countries regarded as Sunni in support of the Sunni government of Bahrain has created a situation that appeared like Sunni mobilization against the Shi'a."Al-Maliki has warned of a sectarian regional war.Hmmmm.....Where does Sunni Turkey stand in all this?Read the full story here.

• Hmmmm....The US must bend to the will off the Muslim Brotherhood?Forum seeks more US action in Muslim world conflicts.The head of a global Islamic group called Tuesday for the United States to be more active in solving conflicts in the Muslim world, particularly the long-running dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.In a speech to open the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, secretary-general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, said the Middle East peace process should be the cornerstone of U.S.-Muslim world relations and called on Washington to take a "more active role in seeking solutions to conflict-ridden situations in the Muslim world."The Muslim world has "seen improvements" in relations with the United States since President Barack Obama took office, said İhsanoğlu, but tensions between the two sides will persist if the Israel-Palestinian conflict is not resolved. "There are certain concerns – I should say certain grievances – concerning the Palestinian issue," İhsanoğlu told reporters."This should be addressed in a concrete way. Without addressing these issues properly, we will still find certain problems between the Muslim world and the United States," he said.Those parameters would include a reference to the borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War, and the establishment of Jerusalem as the capital of both states. The Palestinians also want the quartet to issue a condemnation of continuing Israeli settlement expansion.On Tuesday, as the U.S.-Islamic World forum opened, diplomats at the United Nations said Washington had blocked a bid to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process by not agreeing to a meeting in Berlin where Britain, France and Germany wanted to outline a settlement to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.Read the full story here.

• Women block road in Syria after hundreds arrested.Thousands of women staged a sit-in Wednesday on a main highway in northern Syria to demand the release of hundreds of people arrested in protests in the region, a rights activist said."More than 5,000 women are gathered on the main road linking the towns of Tartus and Banias to demand the release of hundreds of people arrested yesterday in Baida by security forces," Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France-Presse."Dozens of people were arrested" in the nearby flashpoint town of Banias, said Abdel Rahman, who was speaking by telephone from London where his organization, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, is based.Syrian security forces closed the coastal town of Banias, 280 kilometers north of Damascus, and raked Baida with gunfire on Tuesday, witnesses told AFP by telephone.One witness said gunfire on Baida was "intense like rain" while another said Banias was "surrounded by tanks" and "like a prison" with no one able to go in or out of the town.Residents also complained of bread shortages and said shops and petrol stations were closed.The army has kept a stranglehold on Banias since Sunday, when regime agents opened fired on residents, particularly those in mosques, killing four people and wounding 17, according to witnesses.The official SANA news agency had said nine soldiers, including two officers, were killed on Sunday when their patrol was ambushed outside Banias.A human rights activist told AFP that the crackdown on Banias was "probably aimed at arresting" Anas al-Shuhri, one of the leaders of the pro-democracy protests.Read the full story here.

• Kerry: Obama wasted time on settlement freeze.Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry slams US president's 'wrong approach' to Israeli-Palestinian peace process.WASHINGTON – Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry (D), slammed Wednesday President Barack Obama's efforts to advance the Mideast peace process, saying he adopted "the wrong approach."Speaking at a Brookings' Saban Center for Middle East Policy conference, Kerry blamed Obama for "wasting" more that half of his presidential term by publicly demanding that Israel suspend all settlement expansion.Kerry, who has a 2004 presidential bid under his belt, served as a special envoy for the Obama Administration to Syria and Afghanistan. The senator explained his opposition to Obama's policy, saying he believes a plan involving public pressure was doomed to fail, and "unachievable." He went on to say that the American president's choice of action was the same as "putting the cart before the horses," adding the key to resolving the issue was reaching an agreement that clearly addresses security issues and borders. Kerry qualified his words, saying he did not believe this could be achieved at this point in time.Still, the Democratic senator added he had every faith that Washington would soon try to reignite the stalled peace process, likely during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to DC next month. Kerry added Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are likely to actively partake in the process and will do what they can to advance it before September – and the scheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.The Palestinians intend to bring before the Assembly a proposal calling for UN recognition of a Palestinian state win line with the 1967 borders.Kerry added that he believed the Palestinian effort to unilaterally push the issue was "a mistake." He further warned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that such a move would be perilous. The US, he concluded, will make a true effort to stop things from spinning out of control.Hmmmmm.......Words come cheap these days.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:Ahmadiyyatimes.Eye on common sense: The true blasphemers.It is not Aasia Bibi who deserves to die or Dr Valiyani who merits persecution; not only should there be a repeal of the blasphemy laws, Pakistan needs an ultra-rapid detoxification from its rabid mullahs that have hijacked Islam and misrepresented the Prophet (PBUH). They are the true blasphemersOne wonders what Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) would have thought of the clamour in the Muslim world to force respect for him, especially when it involves killing and brazen persecution of minorities. Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was sent “as a mercy to all mankind” (Quran, 21:07), and we are enjoined to study his life and model our character after him for he is described as such: “You, O Mohammad, are of most sublime and exalted character” (Quran, 68:4).Would Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) have looked kindly at the blasphemy laws enacted during the tenure of Pakistani dictator Ziaul Haq? The infamous blasphemy laws have been used to advance political agendas, continually endanger minorities, and even make Muslims more Muslim.Lower court judges, frequently fearful for their own safety, have pronounced death sentences on alleged blasphemers but higher courts have revoked them. Hopefully, this will be the case for Aasia Bibi, a 45-year old Christian mother of five, whose situation now represents the madness that has become Pakistan. While working in her village, she allegedly offered water to her Muslim co-workers who refused to accept it on the basis of her being ‘unclean’. Reports vary but the one used to pronounce her death sentence claims sworn statements by the other women that Aasia Bibi was disrespectful to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). She was arrested the next day and is in jail awaiting a decision by the Lahore High Court.The flames of fanaticism have put out a reward of $5,000 for anyone who is able to kill her while she is in jail! A few years ago, two Christian men charged with blasphemy were acquitted by a higher court but killed as they left the court. The disconnect between the spirit of Islam and this insanity leaves non-rabid Muslims incredulous and pained. “Let there be no compulsion in religion,” says the Quran (2:256). So why do Muslims feel they can force conversion or pressurise the observance of respect when none is felt?Islam literally means submission to the will of God and the Quran states clearly that He directs those to the light that He wills (26:35). Not only have Pakistanis become the judge and the jury, they have taken on the mantle of being God and the Prophet (PBUH)!Another current day ludicrous event is the arrest of Dr Naushad Valiyani, again on charges of blasphemy, this time for throwing the business card of a pharmaceutical representative named Muhammad Faizan in the trashcan. Dr Valiyani is an Ismaili, another minority Shia community in Pakistan. If this perverse logic is to be extrapolated, no one with the name of Muhammad, which happens to be the most common in the world, should be punished, reprimanded or questioned for it would activate the blasphemy laws.During the rule of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Ahmedis, a small community in Pakistan, were classified as being non-Muslim, with mention of this status on their passports. As though this travesty were not enough, Ahmedis are killed on a regular basis at the instigation of well-known, so-called ‘scholars’ of Islam.Pakistan is 96 percent Muslim, unlike secular Turkey, which is 99 percent so. Pakistan’s constitution protects minorities and the white strip at the edge of its flag represents minorities while the larger green area represents Muslims.In Pakistan’s educational system, the best and the brightest become doctors and lawyers. The orphaned and the disinterested become imams, mullahs and sheikhs. And they get captive audiences during the Friday sermon and prayer. There is a personal, national and international agenda at work with these blinkered mullahs and giving out of context hate-filled sermons is now national fare.It is not Aasia Bibi who deserves to die or Dr Valiyani who merits persecution; not only should there be a repeal of the blasphemy laws, Pakistan needs an ultra-rapid detoxification from its rabid mullahs that have hijacked Islam and misrepresented the Prophet (PBUH). They are the true blasphemers.
  Hmmmm......."With mention of this status on their passports"?Read the full story here.

• "DisHonor Killing" - Trial begins for Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter in hit-run attack because she was 'too westernised'.Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, faces life in jail if convicted of so-called 'honour killing'.Prosecutors claim a history of violence and threats against pretty 20-year-old. An Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because he believed she was too Westernised goes on trial this month in Arizona in a case that raised awareness about incidents of so-called 'honour killings' in the U.S.Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, faces life in prison if convicted. In October 2009, he slammed his Jeep into his daughter, Noor Almaleki, 20, prosecutors said. The woman, who longed to live a normal American life, was in a coma for two weeks before succumbing to her injuries - in a case that caused outrage from people nationwide.Faleh Almaleki moved his family from Iraq to the Phoenix suburb of Glendale in the mid-1990s. He and Noor had a tumultuous relationship, according to police and court records and her close friends. At 17, she refused to enter into an arranged marriage in Iraq, enraging her father, according to a court document filed by prosecutors. At 19, Noor moved into her own apartment and began working at a fast food restaurant but quit and left her new place after her parents kept showing up at her work, insisting that she return home, the document said. Later in 2009, she moved into the home of her boyfriend and his parents, Reikan and Amal Khalaf.They say that she claimed her parents had beaten her.Almaleki is accused of regularly harassing his daughter and the Khalafs.Mr Khalaf said Almaleki told him that if Noor didn't move out of the Khalaf home 'something bad was going to happen'. On October 20, 2009, Noor spotted her father when she and Mrs Khalaf visited a Department of Economic Security office in Peoria. She is alleged to have sent text messages to friends, telling them that her father was at the office and expressing her fear.When the two women left the office, Faleh Almaleki allegedly hit them with his Jeep before speeding off and fleeing the country, prosecutors said. Law enforcement soon caught up with him and returned him to Phoenix. Noor underwent spinal surgery but died on November 2, 2009. Amal Khalaf survived.Hmmmmm......There's no honor in murder.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.Angry Copts Attack Vehicle Carrying Egypt's Top Muslim Clerics.Angry Coptic Christians pelted a vehicle carrying Egypt's top Muslim religious leaders shortly after they met with Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III. Mourners also gathered for mass inside the Saints Coptic Church in Alexandria to grieve for the victims of an explosion outside the church early Saturday.Egypt's top religious leaders met in a frantic attempt to prevent further sectarian violence, following an explosion Saturday outside a church in the port city of Alexandria.Eyewitnesses say tempers flared after the meeting when an angry crowd of Coptic men pelted a vehicle carrying top Muslim leaders. Reports say Egypt's grand mufti and the Sheikh of al Azhar were not hurt. A spokesman for the mufti indicated that he "understood the anger" of the crowd.A group of old women in black wailed and cried as they left a mass to mourn loved ones killed in the blast outside Saints Coptic Church. Egyptian TV showed workers cleaning blood stains and sandblasting the church to remove traces of Saturday's explosion.After the mass, a priest at the church, Father Maqar Fawzy, tried to put a damper on the angry pulse of worshipers and those outside the church.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina.Christian Persecution in Iraq.When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, 1.4 million Christians lived there. Now there are about half a million, and that number is falling as persecution of them increases.Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq's Christians kept their heads down but basically lived in peace. Mostly members of sects that had been in the Middle East since the time of Christ, they were a minority among a largely Muslim population.Although Saddam's government was secular, the dictator maintained an aura of Islamic piety. But for the most part, that did not express itself in persecution of Iraq's Christians.The situation changed after the U.S. invasion. Intra-Muslim conflict between Shiites and Sunnis has often turned into anti-Christian violence.Iraq's Christians have not consciously allied with U.S. forces, but anti-American sentiment in Iraq has focused to some degree on the fact that most American troops consider themselves Christian. From there it is a small step for Muslim extremists to attack Iraq's indigenous Christians.The attacks have been intense in recent months. They made Iraqi Christians' observance of Christmas dangerous and thus restrained. With U.S. withdrawal from Iraq scheduled for this year, it might be time for President Obama to consider a program that would admit Iraqi Christians to the United States.
  Hmmmm....Don't they know that Obama doesn't care about Christian suffering?He even invents Muslim victims when they bomb christians.Read the full story here.

• Pope: The attacks in Egypt and Iraq are an offense against God and humanity.“An offense to God and humanity " is how Benedict XVI described the" serious attack against the Coptic Christian community in Alexandria and bombs against the homes of Christians in Iraq”."This cowardly act of death, - continued the Pope – like that of planting bombs close to the homes of Christians in Iraq to force them to leave, offends God and all humanity, who only yesterday prayed for peace and began the New Year with hope. "The Pope speaks of a real "strategy of violence that has targeted Christians." In fact in Iraq, after the massacre in the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad, groups linked to al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack and declared that Christians in the Middle East are a "legitimate target" because "they pollute " the Arab world. Since then, armed groups have killed Christians, by breaking into their homes or, as happened last December 30, by putting bombs in front of their homes.This strategy, says Benedict XVI "has consequences for the whole population." In fact, the violence against Christians takes place in a climate of total insecurity and barbarism of coexistence.Hmmmmm.....It's about time that the Pope realises that a "War strategy " is being waged against Christianity.Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Legal personality problem persists for some non-Muslim groups.Obtaining a legal personality for some non-Muslim groups, including Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, various evangelical free churches and the Baha'I, still remains a problem in Turkey. The lack of legal personality, these groups claim, is preventing these sects and religious groups from accessing rights and protections afforded to minorities, particularly in the fields of education, charitable organizations and property ownership. Although there are ways to circumvent restrictions, such as organizing themselves as associations, they demand recognition in accordance with EU norms.Turkish authorities say that the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the main agreement regulating minorities in Turkey, recognized only Jews, Armenians and Greek Orthodox communities as minorities, meaning many others, including Roman Catholics, Syriacs and Protestants, were left out. The European Union Progress Report for Turkey this year also underlined the problem of the legal personalities and recalled that “in March, the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe concluded that the fundamental right to freedom of religion, as protected by Article 9 read in conjunction with Article 11 of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), includes the possibility for religious communities to obtain a legal personality.”The progress report, while explaining the problems that religious minorities are facing due to their lack of legal personalities, mentioned that protestant and some other churches have not been able to obtain permission for places of worship.Hmmm...Enough Turkish shools present in America."Jehovah's Witnesses have had similar problems, as the courts found that their place of worship in Mersin violated the zoning law. This case has been taken to the ECtHR. They also have a similar case related to a worship place in İzmir,” the progress report pointed out.While receiving Kenan Gürsoy, the ambassador of Turkey to the Holy See, at the beginning of last year, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Catholic Church in Turkey is waiting for civil judicial recognition. Although diplomatic relations between the Vatican and Ankara were established more than 50 years ago, the Catholic community was not given an official status.“Due to fundamental changes in the laws governing associations and foundations, in accordance with efforts to harmonize these laws with European Commission guidelines, religious communities now have the option of establishing themselves as associations or foundations. Individual evangelical free churches have taken advantage of this possibility,” he wrote.But according to him, this problem can only be solved if Turkey continues to develop its understanding of what it means to be a secular state in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.Hmmmmmm.....Complete Freedom of religion is still far away in "Man of the Year" Erdogan his Turkey.And in my opinion he's heading now in the other direction,joining more radical Islamic countries.Read the full story here.

• HT:Gadiadelman.Interview with Dr. Phares. Exclusive interview with Dr. Walid Phares from 'America Akbar' on 12-30-10. Dr Walid Phares is a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a professor of Global Strategies in Washington DC, he also advises theAnti-Terrorism Caucus at the US House of Representatives as well as members of the European Parliament. Dr. Phares discussed his new book “The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East”, he stayed for over an hour and answered questions from me and my co-hosts as well as callers and those from the chat room. This is A MUST listen!Read and hear the full story here.

• Obama adviser: Critics of raising debt ceiling ruled by 'insanity'.Top White House economic advisor Austan Goolsbee warned Sunday that a congressional failure to rise the nation's debt limit early this year would be "catastrophic.""It pains me that we would even be talking about this," Goolsbee told ABC's "This Week." "This is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling is not something to toy with. … If we hit the debt ceiling, that's essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history. The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008."The current debt limit is $14.3 trillion, which Washington is expected to hit in February. A failure to raise the ceiling would prevent Congress from borrowing funds to pay the country's obligations. Some conservatives — notably many in the incoming class of Tea Party-backed Republicans — are threatening to vote against raising the cap, arguing that the U.S. simply can't afford to rely so heavily on borrowing.Goolsbee argued Sunday the country can't afford not to."If we get to the point where you've damaged the full faith and credit of the United States, that would be the first default in history caused purely by insanity," he said."We shouldn't even be discussing that. People will get the wrong idea. The United States is not in danger of default. … This would be lumping us in with a series of countries through history that I don't think we would want to be lumped in with."Hmmmm.....If you're practicing Third World policies then you can as well join the club?The US is broke and the sooner you accept it and start dealing with it the better!Read the full story here.

• Anarchists attack US envoy's home.Police say anarchists rallying in Herzliya over death of Bilin protester threw tear gas canisters into diplomat's yard;11 suspects arrested. Demonstrations continue following the death of protestor Jawaher Abu Rahma during a rally against the West Bank separation fence at Bilin. Eleven anarchists were arrested on Sunday morning in Herzliya on suspicion of protesting in front of the US ambassador's home and throwing tear gas canisters at his house.The anarchists arrived at the US diplomat's home overnight carrying posters. Police officials said the suspects were also carrying Palestinian flags, tear gas canisters and spray. According to online reports, the anarchists claimed they arrived at Ambassador James Cunningham's house in order to protest against US military aid to Israel, which they claimed was being put to use against Palestinians. The anarchists reportedly chanted, "One, two, three, four stop the occupation, stop the war. Five, six, seven, eight end the funding, end the hate." Occurring to suspicion, one of the anarchists threw hand grenades towards the house yard, and then the suspects fled the scene. The patrol police was called over, headed by Superintendent Avi Ohayon, and began combing the area in search of suspects.Police officials said the 11 anarchists, one of which is a German citizen, are expected to be brought before the Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv in order to extend their arrest. Read the full story here.

• Ashkenazi I'm preparing the Israeli army in a major war.However, Ashkenazi says, Hamas and Hizbullah are the biggest threat, with over 40,000 rockets and an ability to attack any point in Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said that Iran has over 300 missiles that could reach Israel within 10-12 minutes, according to cables released by WikiLeaks on Sunday."I'm preparing the Israeli army in a major war, since it is easier to scale down to a smaller operation than to do the opposite," he said.Ashkenazi told the delegation that "rocket threat against Israel is more serious than ever. Therefore, Israel has a strong emphasis on missile defense.He added that although the Iranian threat is serious, the threat from Hamas and Hizbullah, which are funded by Iran, is most acute. Their rockets are more accurate than Iran's, due to their proximity to Israel."We therefore believe," Ashkenazi said, "that the next war will take place in the same areas where the previous wars occurred," Lebanon and Gaza.According to the cables, Ashkenazi said that Hizbullah has over 40,000 rockets, most of which can reach any point within Israel, and Hamas has the ability to strike Tel Aviv.Disruption of daily life in Tel Aviv is a major goal of Hizbullah and Hamas, and their weapons stockpiles indicated to the IDF that they are aiming for a lengthy conflict with Israel in which they plan to send a "massive number" of rockets into Israel daily.Ashkenazi said that during Operation Cast Lead the IDF made mistakes, but never deliberately attacked civilians. He added that in the next war, Israel can not be restricted in urban battles. In a related cable, from September 2009, Maj.- Gen. Yoav Galant told Senator Kirsten Gilibrand (D-NY) that had the IDF enterted main urban areas in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead would have lasted three days, not three weeks.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Iran Primer: Take a Look.Very few Americans actually have been to Iran in the past three decades, since The 1979 Revolution. Within our diplomatic, military, and political bureaucracy there is little incentive to become an Iranian expert because that is an area in which the promotions will not be rapid. Our general public is relatively ignorant on issues related to Iran. Yet Iran is a key foreign policy issue. What is the best way to inform the US public on Iranian issues? It is an experiment now, but Robin Wright is editing an internet comprehensive data source on Iran. Something comparable in a restricted access internet data base has been done for years for the US academic community. Robin Wright envisions this open access Iran Primer to help inform the general public on Iran. The purpose of the Iran Primer is to provide context and analysis of what lies ahead regarding Iran.The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in early December announced the publishing of the Iran Primer, with Robin Wright as the editor. In addition to being a 300 page paperback text book, $16.00, it can be downloaded online. The Iran Primer deals with 62 subjects in10 categories. There is a PDF attachment available at the bottom of each chapter. Most important there is a weekly update author talk. Go to http://www.iranprimer.com/ or http://www.usip.org/ for the details.Hmmmm......Take a closer look at the "Evil" Djinn in the bottle?Read the full story here.

• Prominent Germans Appeal To Iran To Free Journalists.More than 100 high-profile figures in Germany, including Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, have signed an open letter to the Iranian government calling for the release of two German journalists involved in the case of an Iranian woman sentenced to death.The letter came one day after the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, complained at a press conference assisted by Iranian authorities that the two Germans had "worsened her situation."Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, has been sentenced to death on charges of adultery, triggering an outcry in the West.The two German journalists were arrested October 10 after allegedly interviewing Ashtiani's son, Sajjad Ghaderzadeh, who was arrested and released last month. Iran says the two Germans broke the law by not getting the proper visa to work in the country as journalists.Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, Defence Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, tennis player Boris Becker, footballer Franz Beckenbauer, and Nobel literary laureate Herta Muller also signed the letter.Hmmmm....Ashtiani is being used as a pawn in this media war and we all know what happens to paws in the game.Read the full story here.

• HT:BluegrassPundit.President Obama regrets having to “spend almost every waking hour in Washington".(Washington Examiner) — On “Meet the Press” December 26, top White House adviser Valerie Jarrett said President Obama’s “biggest regret” is that the severity of the economic crisis forced him to “spend almost every waking hour in Washington focusing very hard on solving that crisis” and thus kept him from traveling the country to connect with the American people. According to Jarrett, Obama recently told aides, “I really want to figure out a way where I can spend more time outside of Washington listening and learning and engaging the American people.” Jarrett says that in 2011 the president’s schedule will “reflect that priority” — that is, include more time outside the nation’s capital.But is it true? Actually, President Obama spent only half his time in Washington. According to Knoller, Obama has spent 176 days on domestic trips, 70 days on foreign travel, 58 days on vacation, and 35 days at Camp David. (You can add a couple more vacation days to the total before the president returns from his break in Hawaii.)Hmmmm.....When is his next trip due again?Read the full story here.

• HT:IslaminOregon.Top American Islamic Cleric says, I Like Khamenei!Cognative dissonance on a grand scale from an American cleric. His stance should be a warning sign that there is something wrong within the American-Muslim community, yet there will be more yawning from those charged with our protection. Again I point out, when I say this man is dangerous and should be watched, I am called Islamophobe, bigot, racist(what race is Islam again?), anti-Muslim...well you know the drill.It does not matter what names are slung my way, when American-Muslim leaders say publically that they support the spiritual leader of the Islamic revolution, I will not remain the silent dhimmi. Neither should you.Famous American Muslim leader hails the measures taken by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenie as the best in unifying world Muslims.Sheykh Abdul alim Musa, a Muslim American activist and the prayer leader of Al-Islam mosque in Washington DC hailed the measures by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and said," Ideas and fatwas issued by Ayatollah Khamenei play a major role in proximity of the Islamic Schools of Thought".The ayatollah also said "In Islam there is no humor".Sheykh Abdul alim Musa also said "...(the) Islamic Republic of Iran is a role model for many countries and the Iranian nation has played a major role in introducing the Islamic Revolution...to the world." Hmmmm....Is he one of the Muslims who leads the prayers at Capitol Hill?Read the full story here.

• HT:The Hindu.Five Israeli naval ships tracking Asian aid ship.Five Israeli naval vessels are tailing the ship carrying humanitarian supplies from Asia to the besieged residents of Gaza.Speaking via satellite phone, Shaheen Moidunny, who is on board the ship Salam, told The Hindu that Israeli ships had been tracking the movements of their vessel for the last six hours. Radio contact had been established with the Israeli navy. “We are only one hour away from the Egyptian port of Al-Arish, where the ship would be docked,” Mr. Moidunny said. He clarified that there were no plans to take the ship to Gaza. “All the humanitarian supplies would be taken overland from Al-Arish to the Rafa crossing on the Egyptian Gaza border,” he said. Mr. Moidunny said only eight persons were on board the aid ship, while the rest of the activists, from several Asian countries had been flown into Egypt from Syria.According to the Egyptian website Ahram Online, the “Asia to Gaza Solidarity Caravan” had remained stuck for nearly a week at the Syrian port of Latakia, before Egyptian authorities granted it permission to enter Al-Arish port. Activists from more than 15 countries, the majority of whom are Indians ,but also include nationals from Iran, Japan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Kuwait are participating in this initiative.Earlier, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper quoted Palestinian sources as saying that the Egyptian embassy in Damascus had issued visas to 120 activists, but had denied entry to another 46 hailing from Jordan and Iran. Some of the aid material, including 10 generators donated by Iran, were not allowed on the ship, and the size of the cargo was kept below 300 tonnes.Hmmm......Feeding an extra 120 people won't be a problem with all this "aid"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Hindufocus.India and Israel: Diverse in a homogeneous world.In a recent book entitled The Hindus: Alternative History, Wendy Doniger claims that Hinduism was invented by the British. Doniger is a scholar of Indian religions at the University of Chicago. She argues that Hinduism’s unity and its holy Vedas are primarily a myth created by Protestants who sought a “unified Hinduism.”She further argues that upper-caste Brahmins and other elites in India collaborated with the British and invented a “British-Brahmin version of Hinduism – one of the many invented traditions born around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries.” These “bad Hindus” are accused of having an inferiority complex. She claims that the Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) of today thus uses a fake Hinduism for its own historiography and that she seeks to tell an “alternative to the narrative of Hindu history that they [the nationalists] tell.”When it comes to classic Hindu texts such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, she condemns them for their violence. The Mughal Muslim emperors who colonized India for Islam for 300 years were, according to a reviewer, “motivated by realpolitik rather than religious fundamentalism” when they destroyed thousands of Hindu temples and sold hundreds of thousands of Hindus into slavery.Hindu nationalism, like Zionism, is condemned for having a “nationalist archeology.” Critiquing Israeli archeology Nachman Ben-Yehuda has described the myth of Masada and Nadia Abu el-Haj has written on “reflections on archeology and Israeli settler-nationhood.” Ramachandra Guha in his India After Gandhi writes that the Hindu temple at Ayodha that was destroyed in the 16th century by the Mughal Emperor Babur to build the Babri Mosque was merely the site of “Hindu sentiment and myth” and not the historical birthplace of the Hindu god Ram.Hindu nationalism is not a result of a British imperialism anymore than Zionism is; both grew out of a long suppressed and colonized peoples’ dreams for their own country free from foreign rule.Read the full story here. HT:HIDF.

• Greece to build wall on Turkey border to stop immigrants.Greece is planning to build a 206-kilometer-long fence on its border with Turkey to keep out illegal immigrants trying to cross into Greek territory, a minister has said. “Greek society has reached its limits in taking in illegal immigrants,” Greece’s minister in charge of immigration affairs, Christos Papoutsis, told the Athens news agency on Saturday. “Greece can’t take it anymore. We plan to build a barrier on the land border to block unauthorized immigration.” Papoutsis did not give details as to when fence construction will begin. He said it will be similar to the wall between the US and the Mexico.The Turkish-Greek border is one of the most popular destinations for illegal immigrants from countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan who are trying to reach Europe. Nine out of 10 illegal immigrants now use Greece as their springboard into the EU, and the debt-choked country is struggling to cope with swelling numbers at its northern border. In November, the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, said arrivals of illegal migrants jumped by 369 percent to over 31,000 at Greece’s land border with Turkey in the nine months of 2010 through September. On all other European borders, illegal immigration dropped in the same period.In October Greece became the first country to request intervention by Frontex, which was created in 2007. Greece received 200 Frontex agents in November, driving the number of illegal immigrant arrests down from 250 to 140 daily.Greek officials say Turkey is not doing enough to stop people from crossing illegally to Greece, and Turkey’s refusal to take back immigrants who have crossed from its territory encourages would-be migrants to use that route.Hmmmm...Of course for Turkey it's easyer to let them "Flee" to Greece then to take care of the illegal immigrants.Perhaps Israel can give Greece some advice and expertise in the frame of mutual cooperation?Read the full story here.

• Iran shops banned from selling Valentine gifts.TEHRAN - Shops in Iran have been banned from selling Valentine cards and gifts as the traditional lovers' day gains increasing popularity in the Islamic republic, the ILNA news agency reported on Sunday."In the run-up to Valentine's Day on February 14 the printing works owners' union issued a directive banning the printing and distribution of any goods promoting this day," ILNA news agency reported."Printing and producing any goods related to this day including posters, boxes and cards emblazoned with hearts or half-hearts, red roses and any activities promoting this day are banned," the union said in the directive."Outlets that violate this will be legally dealt with," it warned.But Valentine's Day has become very popular in Iran over the past decade, with young men and women exchanging chocolate, flowers, perfume, teddy bears and other gifts on February 14.Every year gift shops in large cities are festooned with Valentine's Day paraphernalia and restaurants in Tehran are packed with young men and women out on a date.However, the trend has been harshly criticised by conservatives who see no room in Islamic culture for such celebrations.Some nationalist Iranians have also suggested replacing Valentine's Day with Mehregan -- a pre-Islamic but obsolete festival in early October -- marking the autumn equinox and honouring the ancient Persian angel of love, Mithra.Hmmmmm...... Typical Men ,another reason not to buy a present!Read the full story here.

• HT:NewsRealBlog.Top 10 Reasons to Hate Sarah Palin.Hatin’ Palin – Why Palin Provokes the Left’s Fury.When Sarah Palin first stepped onto the national stage (in the hottest red high heels anyone ever saw) this country was changed forever. It will be remembered in history as the moment conservative women stepped onto the grid in a meaningful way. In the same instant, the Left froze in terror and a seething hatred began to build until it could no longer be contained and was unleashed in the most brutal assault on a woman in politics this nation has ever seen. The most vile and disgusting remarks were made about her family, her baby’s paternity, her marriage and her motherhood. Late night comics made rape jokes about her minor daughter and degraded her by calling her a “stewardess” and “sexy secretary.”Leftist website the Daily Kos started the rumors about Trig not being Sarah’s child, but if you look for the story today you will find this message on the Kos, “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to find that story.” Typical. It went down the memory hole. But here’s one that didn’t go down the memory hole thanks to screen grabs and smart bloggers: Alan Colmes, creepy Ichabod Crane look-a-like, had the audacity to suggest Palin didn’t seek proper pre-natal care during her pregnancy. This is rich coming from a guy for whom “pre-natal care” includes visits to Planned Parenthood butchers. Colmes tried to delete the story when he realized what a jerk he was for posting it. That’s what leftists call “courage.”MSNBC used faked, highly sexualized photos of Sarah in a news broadcast which they later had to grovel over. But it didn’t stop them from flippantly arguing they were just having some “fun.” I’m curious as to what Newsweek‘s excuse was for allowing a Sarah Palin doll dressed up in a sexy school-girl outfit, shirt unbuttoned to show off a red bra to be featured in one of their stories about Palin. The hatred was (and still is) palpable. But why? The following are the top ten reasons leftist moonbats hate Sarah Palin.Hmmmm.....Why would i hate Palin?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Video: Jewish life in Holland.Here's a short report from French television with English subtitles about Jewish life in Holland.Hmmmm....."We Muslims and Jews have the same problems,we should work together"?Yeah whatevah!Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Palestinian Academic and Poet Tamim Al-Barghouthi of Georgetown University: Only Armed Struggle Will Make Israel Withdraw from Arab Lands.Read and see the full story here.

• And now for "Something Completely Different" ! HT:IsraelMatzav.Fiddler on the Roof - you got served trailer mashup !Someone posted this on Twitter and it's about the most bizarre thing I've seen in a while. But for today's comic relief.Hmmm...I don't know what to make of it?Read ,hear and see the full story here.