EU Integration Policy Leaves No Room for Democracy – German Politician.

EU Integration Policy Leaves No Room for Democracy – German Politician. (SP).

German politician and member of the Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht, has doubts concerning the sustainability of the euro currency and further European integration. The Greek crisis showed that the euro is not working, she said.

According to the politician, the monetary union has narrowed the space for national governments and lead to their inability to act. Wagenknecht called it a “Europe-wide abolition of democracy through the back door. "The politician suggested initiating a debate of whether European countries should reconsider their financial and monetary system.

Wagenknecht criticized the EU policy and called for a return to broader national sovereignty. An increasing number of integration steps undermines the sovereignty of national states and leaves no room for democratic decisions, especially if the whole policy of the EU member states is controlled by “EU technocrats,” she argued.

“It is time that we pursue the EU policy taking into account the actually existing social struggles in different member states, rather than abstractly talk about a ‘social EU’,” the politician said.

Political 'dysfunction' threatens US security: Panetta.

Political 'dysfunction' threatens US security: Panetta.(AP)."WASHINGTON — The "dysfunction" in the US Congress, where Republicans and Democrats have failed to compromise on debt reduction, threatens US national security, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "One my greatest concerns as secretary is the dysfunction that we see in Washington," he said late Thursday at a ceremony in which he received an award for public service. "It threatens our security and it raises questions about the capacity of our democracy to respond to crisis."Bitterly divided legislators have been struggling for the past year to reach a deal to rein in the debt, with Republicans demanding steep cuts in spending and Democrats calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.Hmmmmm.....Let me guess.......Cancel Democracy?Read the full story here.

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 5.6 - 5.2 !More info here.

• Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham Not Sold on Obama’s Christianity.(ABC).The 2012 race turned to God, Satan and religion when Franklin Graham said he’s surer that Rick Santorum is a Christian than President Obama and a 2008 Santorum speech surfaced in which the top GOP candidate told a religious audience that Satan is attacking U.S. institutions.Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, said on MSNBC Tuesday that he could not verify that President Obama is a Christian. “I just have to assume that he is,” Graham said.But he has no question about Rick Santorum. “His values are so clear on moral issues. No question about it. … I think he’s a man of faith.”Santorum’s faith was in the news for another reason, too. The Pennsylvania Republican said in 2008, two years after losing his Senate seat and four years before seeking the presidency, that Satan was attacking U.S. institutions in government and religion.The comments, not before mentioned during the 2012 election cycle, were the lead item on the Drudge Report Tuesday. Santorum has surged to even or even ahead of Mitt Romney in opinion polls, including in Romney’s home state of Michigan, where Republican voters cast their preference for the GOP nominee next Tuesday.Santorum, speaking at the conservative Catholic Ave Maria University in Florida, praised the Catholic Bishop Samuel Aquila for pledging to deny communion to politicians who support abortion rights and said the matter went beyond politics and was a symptom of Satan’s reach in U.S. society.“While we all see all this as a great political conflict in warfare between the Obama camp and the McCain camp and culture wars, what Bishop Aquila put his finger on and what I think, I suspect those of you who are here understand, this is not a political war at all. This is not a cultural war. This is a spiritual war,” Santorum said in August of 2008.“And the Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country, the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age. There is no one else to go after other than the United States and that has been the case now for almost 200 years, once America’s preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.”Santorum said Satan’s reach in U.S. society has grown.“He didn’t have much success in the early days. Our foundation was very strong, in fact, is very strong. But over time, that great, acidic quality of time corrodes even the strongest foundations. And Satan has done so by attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition.”Hmmmm......“A good man brings forth good from the good treasure that is in his heart and the evil man brings out evil from the evil treasure that is in his heart. For the lips speak from the fullness of the heart.” ~ Luke 6:45.Read the full story here.

• Despotism, Thy Name Is Obamacare.(Heritage).Two years ago, everything about Obamacare was in the future. Recall the revealing comment at the time by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) that Congress had to pass the legislation to see what was in it. Now that the disputed law is in its implementation stage, Americans are beginning to see what is in it and what it means for them. Welcome to the future.The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is the centerpiece of the current progressive agenda. At its core is the requirement for individuals—under penalty of law—to buy health insurance. As we have argued before, this requirement is unprecedented and unconstitutional. The concern is that if government can regulate inactivity, it can do anything and everything. We now see how this new regime will operate. Massive regulatory authority over one-sixth of the American economy is transferred to a collection of more than 150 federal agencies, bureaus, and commissions, along with an unprecedented delegation of power to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. As a result, key policy decisions are given over to bureaucrats whose “rules” in the guise of “regulations,” mostly unaccountable and invisible to the public, have the full force and effect of laws passed by Congress.This new bureaucratic reign, its arbitrary discretion, and the resulting potential for cronyism can be seen in Obamacare’s earliest actions. Even before the law is fully implemented, administrators have granted almost 2,000 waivers (mostly for union and business friends) to its own health care regulations. One whole program (the CLASS Act, Obamacare’s long-term care insurance plan) has been unilaterally cancelled as completely unworkable—but kept on the books for possible future implementation.We now have the first real taste of what is to come. Not only do we have to buy health insurance, but now they’re telling us what that health insurance will look like.Read the full story here.

• Two More Religious Liberty Lawsuits Filed Against Obamacare Mandate.(Heritage).The Obamacare anti-conscience mandate has suffered two more blows this week.The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced it has filed legal complaints on behalf of two private, religiously affiliated schools, each opposing the Obamacare mandate that forces almost all employers to provide health insurance coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives, and sterilization, without a co-pay. The schools, both affiliated with Protestant denominations, join a growing list of diverse religious employers who are challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate.Today, Geneva College, a private institution in Pennsylvania associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, held a press conference announcing it has filed a lawsuit against the Obama Administration over the mandate’s infringement on religious liberty.The college takes issue with the mandate’s requirement to provide health insurance coverage of drugs like Plan B and ella, which can sometimes cause abortions in early pregnancy, at no cost to the insured. To effectively subsidize chemical abortions violates the college’s deeply held moral and religious beliefs and runs roughshod over the institution’s religious liberty and conscience rights.“The government shouldn’t be able to force anyone to buy or sell insurance that subsidizes morally objectionable treatments,” said Geneva College President Ken Smith.While the lawsuits filed this week focus on the mandate’s threat to religious freedom, the violations of liberty enabled by Obamacare’s unprecedented federal overreach could extend far beyond religious institutions.“People of faith shouldn’t be punished by the state for following that faith in making decisions for themselves or their organizations,” said Greg Baylor, senior counsel at ADF. “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this—and worse—to everyone.”Read the full story here.

• OWS Letter to the Editor in USA Today: We Will Storm Wall Street With Guns.(BJ).Over at USA Today, a self-employed massage therapist from Austin, TX has a letter to the editor responding to an editorial suggesting that Occupy Wall Street has lost its way.Here’s what this fellow wrote: USA TODAY’s editorial is right to say that Occupy might lack clear goals on how to move forward, but the movement has accomplished its main original goal: to protest these injustices, not by simply holding a rally and going home, but by keeping the rally going to underscore the seriousness of this problem. Your piece accuses the protesters of sitting around and doing nothing. So maybe they should take up their Second Amendment-sanctioned guns and storm Wall Street and our nation’s capitals. If our country doesn’t change, it could very well come to that one day.Notice the language here. Rich Latta, the author, threatens outright to head to Wall Street with firearms. Janet Napolitano, where are you? He says they out to head to Washington, D.C. packing heat. Secret Service, you’re being paged.Read the full story here.

• IAEA: Tehran talks failed to secure agreement.(JPost).VIENNA - The UN nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday it had failed to secure an agreement with Iran during two days of talks over disputed atomic activities and that the Islamic Republic had rejected a request to visit a key military site.In the second such trip in less than a month, a senior team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had traveled to Tehran to press Iranian officials to start addressing mounting concerns that the Islamic Republic may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons.The outcome seems likely to add to already soaring tension between Iran and Western powers, which have ratcheted up sanctions on the major oil producer in recent months."During both the first and second round of discussions, the agency team requested access to the military site at Parchin. Iran did not grant permission for this visit to take place," the Vienna-based IAEA said in a statement after the Feb 20-21 talks.The IAEA named Parchin in a detailed report in November that lent independent weight to Western fears that Iran was working to develop an atomic bomb, an allegation Iranian officials reject."It is disappointing that Iran did not accept our request to visit Parchin. We engaged in a constructive spirit, but no agreement was reached," said IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano.Hmmmm.....The IAEA has been 'begging' for the last EIGHT years to inspect certain parts of Parchin, call me impatient but that should be the red flag SIX years ago!Read the full story here.

• Khamenei: No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work.(Jpost).TEHRAN - Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran's nuclear course would not change regardless of international sanctions, assassinations or other pressures."With God's help, and without paying attention to propaganda, Iran's nuclear course should continue firmly and seriously ... Pressures, sanctions and assassinations will bear no fruit. No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work."Khamenei was speaking on state television shortly after the UN nuclear watchdog declared a collapse in talks with Iran aimed at getting it to address suspicions that it is covertly seeking nuclear weapons capability.The Islamic Republic denies this, saying its program to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel is for peaceful energy only.But Iran's refusal to curb sensitive atomic activities with both civilian and military purposes, and its track record of secrecy and restricting UN inspections, have drawn increasingly harsh UN and separate US and European sanctions, now targeting its economically vital oil exports.Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed in bombings over the past two years, attacks that Tehran has blamed on arch-adversary Israel. The Jewish state has not commented.The United States and Israel have not ruled out resorting to military action against Iran if they conclude that diplomacy and sanctions will not stop it from developing a nuclear warhead.Read the full story here.

• Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Demonstrates Its Rampant Homophobia.(TT).The Organisation for Islamic Cooperation does what it can to wear the clothes of human rights despite the human rights records of many of its member states. The Geneva based NGO UN Watch reported that the 56 member voting bloc in the UN refused to participate in a debate about homophobic violence. It appears that the OIC mask is slipping and it is beginning to show its true colours.Readers of this website will no doubt be aware that the OIC has been campaigning against freedom of speech for many years in its effort to create a global blasphemy law. Western governments have already embarked on a policy of appeasement with regard to the OIC and its tyrannical demands. The US State Department has already hosted a meeting of the ‘Istanbul Process’ and the EU plans to follow suit later this year. If freedom of speech is abolished then perhaps the OIC will try to pass the persecution of homosexuals off as a religious right and therefore demand punishment for anyone who criticises it.The OIC’s attitude towards homophobia is completely unacceptable and the way such an organisation gets to lecture the world on human rights issues beggars belief. It is incomprehensible that supposedly progressive Western states fawn on this organisation and apparently indulge its every whim. The Istanbul Process is an effort on the part of the OIC to spread its outdated and tyrannical practices to societies that were once free. It is time for Western leaders to see OIC efforts for what they are.Read the full story here.

• New Fears for Iranian Pastor on Death Row Who Refuses to Renounce His Christian Faith.(CNS).– In what it described as “an extremely dangerous turn of events,” the American Center for Law and Justice said Monday it had learned from contacts inside Iran that Youcef Nadarkhani, the Christian pastor on death row for “apostasy,” looks increasingly likely to be executed.“Pastor Youcef’s case had been stalled due to increased international pressure and the Iranian court’s request that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, decide Pastor Youcef’s fate,” said ACLJ executive director Jordan Sekulow.“Now, because Pastor Youcef has continually refused to give into the regime’s demands that he renounce his Christian faith, the likelihood that the Iranian regime will execute him increases by the day.”Nadarkhani, a married father of two young children, was arrested in October 2009 and has been sentenced to hang for “apostasy.”In mid-January, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said it had learned that authorities in Rasht, Nadarkhani’s home city in the north of the country, had offered him freedom in return for agreeing to declare that Mohammed was a messenger sent by God, an apparent to secure an indirect repudiation of his faith. It said Nadarkhani had declined the offer.“Just as the initial conviction of Pastor Nadarkhani is illegal under Iranian law, the recent offer made by the authorities in Rasht is a violation of the Iranian constitution, and of international covenants to which Iran is a signatory that guarantee freedom of religion and freedom to change one’s religion,” said CSW chief executive Mervyn Thomas.Sekulow of the ACLJ, which has led advocacy efforts in the U.S. on the pastor’s behalf, said Monday it was more critical than ever to increase the pressure on Tehran to overturn the death sentence and release Nadarkhani.Iran’s treatment of Nadarkhani was condemned by the White House last September and by the State Department in July.Last month, Nadarkhani’s case was featured during a 90-minute debate on human rights in Iran in Britain’s House of Commons.Lawmakers discussed the pastor as well as other imprisoned Iranian Christians, and also heard about the plight of the Baha’i, who are also frequently accused of apostasy despite in many cases having been Baha’i adherents for many generations.A British government representative undertook to raise the concerns at the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) when it holds its next session, in March.In an official submission to the HRC in 2010, Iran stated that members of permitted religious minority groups – Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians – “within the limits of the law, are free to perform their religious rites and ceremonies, and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education.”“The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and all Muslims are duty-bound to treat non-Muslims in conformity with ethical norms and the principles of Islamic justice and equity, and to respect their human rights,” it said.Read the full story here.

• Netherlands: Muslims don't accept 'incurable' diagnosis.(IIE).Via Zorgvisie(Dutch): Research by Fuusje de Graaff of NIVEL (Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research) finds that in palliative care, the professional values of care-providers clashes with the culture values of Turkish and Moroccan patients.De Graaff researched what shape the palliative care takes for patients of Turkish and Moroccan background. For Turks and Moroccans an illness is usually a matter for the whole family. They have no idea what to do with the diagnosis 'incurable'. They often don't tell the critically ill patient, hoping not to deprive him of a cure. They expect the doctors to do everything to try and cure the patient, even if he's incurably ill, more Dutch health-care providers give priority to the quality of life. If the doctors say that the patient will die soon, the health-care providers assume alleviating pain and discomfort is more important than stretching out the patient's life. Turkish and Moroccan patients and family members don't accept that as much. They think the moment of death is in God's hands, and can't be decided by the doctors. Additionally they're afraid that pain-management makes them drowsy, and they want to be lucid when they appear before Allah.De Graaff says that join decisions are the key to the best possible care. Doctors, nurses and care-givers should find a way to deal with the caregiver-patient-family relationship. Doctors and nurses who are more experienced seem to succeed better. De Graaff explains that they're more inclined to take the wishes of the patient's family into consideration. They explain how things are in the Netherlands and why it is so. And they ask patients what they want. It's very important to connect to the patient and the family.Turkish and Moroccan families don't use home-care a lot. De Graaff says that starting home-care earlier, while also under the care of the family member, can spot problems faster, which can be reported to the family's doctor.Hmmm.......'Hippocratic' oath?Read the full story here.

video - Saudi Scholar 'Aql Al-Bahili: "The Freedom Enjoyed in the West is a Hundred Times Better than in Islamic Countries".

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi scholar 'Aql Al-Bahili, which aired on Daleel TV on February 3, 2012:

'Aql Al-Bahili: I know and I acknowledge that there is freedom in the Koran. Many Koranic texts state that people are free. But when the political implementation of a certain ideology has failed to accomplish justice for over 1,400 years, whereas others [i.e. the West] have managed to instate justice by means of a [different] political ideology, I believe that even though [Islamic justice] preceded them, this does not detract from the credit due to those who have reformed the path of human society, infusing it with freedom through an ideological platform other than Islam. Today, all the Islamists acknowledge that the freedom enjoyed in the West is a hundred times better than in the Islamic countries.

Indeed, I am aware that Islam is all-encompassing. Our problem is that sacred texts are being cited by tyrants, by honorable people, and by Islamists alike. Today, we must adopt general principles by which human society abides: People must obtain their rights, public funds must not be plundered, a doorman may become a minister, and a minister may become a doorman, people must have the right to be safe from attacks, as well as the right to establish companies and political parties. These are the principles of human societies on planet Earth. Hmmmm......I'm seriously considering framing this text.Source Memri.

Europe Rises Up Against ACTA.Widespread Protests Are Starting to Turn the Tide Against Anti-Democratic Bill

                                    The number of ACTA protests in Europe is overwhelming

Europe Rises Up Against ACTA(WB).Widespread Protests Are Starting to Turn the Tide Against Anti-Democratic Bill
The widespread protests against the anti-democracy bill ACTA by the Polish people have forced Poland’s prime minister to stall – or perhaps even back out – of the treaty. As TechDirt notes:

Following the growing protests about ACTA in Europe, as well as signs of US meddling, Poland’s prime minister is making it clear that Poland will not ratify ACTA for the time being, leading to speculation that the EU may not actually join ACTA.

Tusk’s backtracking could spell the end of ACTA for the entire European Union. If Poland or any other EU member state, or the European Parliament itself, fails to ratify the document, it becomes null and void across the union. As it stands, there are already five member countries that have not even signed ACTA.
“I share the opinions of those who from the beginning said that consultations were not complete,” Tusk said, according to a report in Wirtualna Polska. The 54-year-old prime minister added that a Polish rejection of ACTA is now on the table, and admitted that he had previously approached the agreement from a “20th century” perspective, due to his age.

The Slovenian ambassador to Japan has apologized to her country and her children for signing ACTA, saying she signed it because her government told her to, and “out of civic carelessness” in not bothering to understand what ACTA meant before signing it.Bulgarian and Polish MPs wore Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA. Again, from TechDirt.
European Parliamentarian Marietje Schaake writes:

As a Member of the European Parliament, I very much welcome the increased attention the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has received in the past weeks. It has taken a while for massive outcry to emerge, but we are seeing protest voices getting louder and louder.

As Pirate Party found Rick Falvinge reports:

Just look at this map. I’ve never seen anything like it in terms of people all across Europe demanding their freedom of speech and being angry against backroom corporativist deals that steals their most basic civil liberties.
***
This is not Hollywood versus Silicon Valley, as oldmedia likes to frame it. This is Hollywood versus The People. For decades, they have trained us to think in black and white, in good versus evil fighting for domination of the free world. And now, they’ve gone and put themselves in the role of evil villain.
The copyright cartel thought they were battling Google.
They’re not.
They’re waging war against the people, with the help of the politicians.
And we’re not standing for it. We can’t change the copyright cartel, but we can send a clear message to the politicians that 250 million Europeans sharing and preserving contemporary culture is not a problem. It is a power base of 250 million voters that will kick you out of office if you dare so much as touch the net.
And there are visible cracks in the façade, especially seeing Poland falter and the copyright cartels visibly shaken from the SOPA defeat in the US, with the politicians having started to pay attention to what the Internet wants. We can win this.Read the full story here.

Polish PM Caves In to the people their demands, Freezes ACTA Ratification

Polish PM Caves In to the people their demands, Freezes ACTA Ratification.(Novinite).Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk has yielded to mass protests, announcing Friday that his government would put on hold plans to ratify ACTA, the controversial international online anti-piracy accord.
"I consider that the arguments for a halt to the ratification process are justified," Donald Tusk told reporters, as cited by international media."The issue of signing of the ACTA accord did not involve sufficient consultation with everyone who is part of the process," Tusk said, adding that he would hold broad talks on what to do next."The ACTA ratification process will be frozen as long as we haven't overcome all the doubts. This will probably require a review of Polish law. We can't rule out that, at the end of the day, this accord will not be approved," he declared.
Tusk's decision comes in the wake of high-profile protests mostly by young Poles who fear the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) -- aimed at creating international standards for intellectual property protection -- could significantly curtail online freedom.
ACTA was negotiated between the 27-nation European Union, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.
Bulgaria's Borisov Cabinet has also come under fire for the secret signing of ACTA.
Even though Bulgaria has seen no street rallies, massive outcry by Internet users and ISPs led on Thursday Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to declare that ACTA will be applied with reservations and will be supplemented by the existing Bulgarian legislation in its part referring to Internet content.Hmmmm.........President Obama could learn a lesson in Democracy from Poland it seems.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                               No disrespect intented towards the Native American community.

                      Morning Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 05. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 103.
  On 05.05.2011 at 03:26 GMT+2
  
  Levels of radioactive substances have jumped in the Pacific seabed off Japan near the nuclear power plant crippled by a massive tsunami in March, according to the plant operator. Seabed samples collected some 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contained 1,400 becquerels of radioactive caesium-137 per kilogramme, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said. The level is more than 600 times higher than a maximum 2.3 becquerels per kilogramme detected in the past off the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima. The samples, taken on Friday, also contained 1,300 becquerels of caesium-134 and 190 becquerels of iodine-131, according to a TEPCO statement issued late Tuesday after the first analysis of seabed soil since the March 11 disaster. Levels of the two materials were too low to be gauged in the past, a TEPCO spokeswoman said. The company did not say whether the levels were considered harmful. Samples taken at another spot 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from the plant also showed similarly high radiation levels. TEPCO said it would continue to examine radiation levels. "We cannot say anything definite after just one probe. We will conduct more sample examinations and keep a watch," the spokeswoman said. The samples were taken 20-30 metres (66-100 feet) deep and three kilometres from the coast. The Fukushima plant has leaked radiation into air, soil and ocean since it was severely damaged by the massive quake and tsunami. Greenpeace said Tuesday it had begun independent tests of water samples from the ocean near Japan's crippled for radiation contamination. The samples will be collected outside Japan's 12-mile territorial waters in line with government rules, Greenpeace said.Source : Here .

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

• Live Blog on Qsama Bin Laden  Here (Al -Jazeera).

• CIA Director Leon Panetta: We did not know whatexactly was going on.(Telegraph).The head of the CIA admitted yesterday that there was no live video footage of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound as further doubts emerged about the US version of events.Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off.A photograph released by the White House appeared to show the President and his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little knowledge of what was happening in the compound.Mr Panetta said: “Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.“We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound.”Mr Panetta also revealed that the US Navy Seals made the final decision to kill bin Laden rather than the president.Hmmmm....That story will have more versions than the Holy Bible?Read the full story here.

• How Europe sees Obama "The Peaceprize" winner now!(Spiegel).President Barack Obama's 'Retaliatory Justice'.While relief that Osama bin Laden has finally been eliminated is widespread, many in Europe and Germany are concerned about the implications of the targeted killing. German commentators on Wednesday say celebrating the al-Qaida leader's death is a blunder.In the three days since bin Laden's demise in his villa not far from Islamabad, however, some have begun having second thoughts about the US Special Forces operation. Europe, and particularly Germany, are uncomfortable with what looks increasingly like a targeted killing. Reports that bin Laden was not armed at the time of his death have only served to reinforce such unease.

Merkel herself has come under fire from politicians across the political spectrum in Germany for her initial reaction. And Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has likewise warned that too much crowing over bin Laden's death might not ultimately be helpful to relations between the West and the Muslim world.Some German commentators on Wednesday are likewise uncomfortable with the implications the US operation has for international law. Others voice doubt as to whether the strike will, in the end, improve Obama's chances at re-election in 2012.

"Osama bin Laden was a criminal. Thus, from a political perspective there are reasons for seeing his killing as unavoidable. But that Nobel Peace Prize winner Barack Obama celebrated bin Laden's death in his speech with the words 'justice has been done,' and that the German chancellor supported this with an expression of her happiness over his death are shameful blunders. They place approval on an act that violates both the international prohibition of force and humanitarian law."

"The justice that Barack Obama seeks is a retaliatory justice. However if future global justice is realized not in constitutional proceedings where criminals receive a trial, but instead through quick targeted killings, then what French philosopher Jacques Derrida prophesied will come true. In relation to the techniques with which they operate, terrorist networks and state systems will become indistinguishable."

The left-leaning Berliner Zeitung writes:

"Love thy neighbor as thyself, says one of the most important basic precepts of Christianity. This principle is one of the hardest to follow, much more difficult to uphold than the ban on murder.""Just how thinly the layer of Christian culture coats the low, archaic instincts of humans rarely shows itself as clearly as it did the day after the liquidation of the Islamist terrorist leader Osama bin Laden by US Special Forces. President Obama, a Christian, said in all seriousness that with bin Laden 'justice had been done,' as though there were no American constitution, no justice, no law."

"The US violated a number of principles of human rights with its operation against bin Laden. This is supposed to be an example to Arab democracies? Obama also threw overboard much freshly earned trust by tossing Osama bin Laden's corpse overboard from the USS Carl Vinson into the Arabian Sea. In his 2009 Cairo speech he called for respect for the human rights of the individual and for tradition.... To misrepresent dumping a corpse as a proper Muslim ceremony is a mockery."

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

"Officially it was a sea burial, but it was more of an ocean dumping of political hazardous waste: US soldiers threw the body of the al-Qaida chief into the sea. That is ugly, but comprehensible. The grave of the terror leader could have become a pilgrimage site for his followers. But does bin Laden leave the Arab-Muslim world anything behind to hold onto?""Anyone who celebrates the death of the al-Qaida leader as a victory over militant Islam is mistaken. The terror group could be dying off, but new forms of jihad could arise under certain conditions. Only just, modern social conditions provide protection from bin Laden's legacy in Muslim nations. With the Arab Spring, the people are moving in this direction, without help from the West.""The victory over al-Qaida -- if it comes -- will be far more than the success of American high-tech warriors. It will also be to the credit of the Muslims in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya."

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"The domestic political outcomes of the death of Public Enemy Number One are likely easier to predict than in foreign and security policy: They will probably be limited.""George H. W. Bush lost to the widely unknown democrat Bill Clinton in 1992 despite his shining victory against Saddam Hussein, because the economy failed to gain momentum. For Obama the gutsy operation against bin Laden will mean little in the face of the enormous federal debt, the gaping budget deficit and high unemployment.""In a paradoxical turn, America's waning fear of terrorism after bin Laden's death could reduce Obama's chance of re-election. The saying, 'It's the economy stupid!' got Clinton into the White House in 1992. The message will be the same in 2012."Hmmm......And even a million pictures of a dead Osama Bin Laden can not change this reality,Obama just makes the reality worse every minute of his presidency!Read the full story here.

• In order not to offend the detainees the American flag is no longer hoisted at Guantanamo.(CreepingSharia).Dave Reaboi writing at Big Peace has excerpts from a new book on KSM, and one tidbit details more dhimmitude at Gitmo. via New Book on KSM: US Military Defers to Inmates, Hides US Flag at Gitmo.In an especially well-timed release this week, Richard Miniter’s MASTERMIND: The Many Faces of the 9/11 Architect, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed reveals Mohammed’s rise to the top of Al Qaeda and his planning of the jihadist attacks on America in 2001.More than that, though, Miniter’s book includes shocking new disclosures about how the US treats its detainees. Miniter tells Big Peace:

I was stunned to learn while researching Mastermind that Guantanamo detainees succeeded in convincing prison officials to no longer raise the American flag anywhere they could see it. Each morning on every U.S. military base around the world, the American flag is raised to a bugle. But in the interests of not offending the detainees, it was stopped at Guantanamo.Hmmmm......Not releasing pictures, not raising the American flag?Who's running the country Al-Qaida?Read the full story here.

• Okla. - USA: FBI shootout kills suspect in alleged Florida mosque pipe bombing.(Kfor).FBI agents have been involved in a shootout at Glass Mountain State Park while serving an arrest warrant for a man out of Jacksonville, Florida.The suspect, Sandlin Matthews Smith, 46, opened fire on the agents just after 1 p.m. and is now dead.They were tracking him in connection with the detonation of a pipe bomb at the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida on May 10, 2010.Agents say Smith fled to Oklahoma over the weekend, about the same time that the FBI received the final piece of critical information from witnesses.Authorities say Smith was considered mentally unstable and was carrying bomb-making materials and other weapons, among them an AK-47.No one was injured in the 2010 Florida explosion, including the 60 worshipers inside at the time.He was charged with damaging of religious property, obstruction of persons in free exercise of religious beliefs, possession and transfer of a destructive device, possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.According to Florida state records, Smith was married with children.St. Johns and Duval court records showed no felony arrests under his name.The FBI is offering a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for this crime.Hmmmm.....I wonder if they would have killed him if he were a Muslim?Read and see the full story here.

• The butterfly eggs that turn in to caterpillars?Google and Government: A Threat to Your Privacy.(BigGovernment).News that Android and Apple phone communicate collect data on your personal information reveal much about the two companies and their views of the consumer.Upon the release of the news, Steve Jobs took to the microphone denying Apple products track users calling such accusations “false.” Emails leaked to the Mercury News tell a different story about Google. “I cannot stress enough how important Google’s wifi location database is to our Android and mobile product strategy,” Google location service product manager Steve Lee wrote. “We absolutely do care about this (decision by Motorola) because we need wifi data collection in order to maintain and improve our wifi location service.”This is not Google’s first dust-up regarding privacy violations. Back in 2003, Google-Watch chronicled major privacy concerns about the company including

1. Google’s immortal cookie: Google was the first search engine to use a cookie that expires in 2038. This was at a time when federal websites were prohibited from using persistent cookies altogether. Now it’s years later, and immortal cookies are commonplace among search engines; Google set the standard because no one bothered to challenge them. This cookie places a unique ID number on your hard disk. Anytime you land on a Google page, you get a Google cookie if you don’t already have one. If you have one, they read and record your unique ID number.
2. Google records everything they can: For all searches they record the cookie ID, your Internet IP address, the time and date, your search terms, and your browser configuration. Increasingly, Google is customizing results based on your IP number. This is referred to in the industry as “IP delivery based on geo-location.”
3. Google retains all data indefinitely: Google has no data retention policies. There is evidence that they are able to easily access all the user information they collect and save.
4. Google won’t say why they need this data: Inquiries to Google about their privacy policies are ignored. When the New York Times asked Sergey Brin about whether Google ever gets subpoenaed for this information, he had no comment.

There is now an added element of concern about Google’s data collection activities. Google’s growing relationship with government. Google has received fast-tracked contracts from government agencies like the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense, were consumer information like Google searches shared with the spy agency? Does Google’s retention policy make it a depository for federal agencies that is just a subpoena away? But you don’t have that option when it comes to the government. Google’s growing embrace of government power and contracts raise more troubling concerns than whether Google is tracking your every move.Hmmm......Does the government even need a subpoena,in view of their 'close coperation?Read the full story here.

• Big Labor’s attack on democracy.(WashingtonTimes).Obama regime Administration launches strike on Boeing and right-to-work states.President Obama’s hand-picked appointees at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are delivering favors to the administration’s Big Labor backers. In just the past two weeks, the board has taken steps to overturn the will of voters in two states and chill the speech of corporate chieftains who spoke out against the labor movement’s thuggish tactics.Attorneys general in nine right-to-work states blasted the unelected bureaucrat in a letter last week. “This unparalleled and overreaching action seeks to drive a stake through the heart of the free enterprise system,” they wrote. Yet that’s not even the worst of NLRB’s latest misdeeds. The board has announced it will sue the states of Arizona and South Dakota after voters in November approved ballot measures guaranteeing the right of citizens to secret ballots in union elections. NLRB goons aren’t just opposed to free enterprise and free speech, they’re attacking the democratic process itself.Read the full story here.

• Obama regime will continue to fund 'Palestinian Authority' including terrorist organisation Hamas.(IsraelMatzav).In a story about Prime Minister Netanyahu's upcoming meeting with President Obama on May 20, YNet notes that the President is not 'fundamentally opposed' to Hamas and Fatah reconciling. Unlike Israel, the US isn’t fundamentally opposed to a Hamas-Fatah deal but would like to review the specifics of the agreement. The US does not recognize Hamas and is against its presence in a Palestinian government as long as it fails to meet the Quartet demands – recognizing Israel's right to exist and previous agreements and denouncing terror and violence. YNet goes on to point out that means that Obama will still expect Netanyahu to make 'gestures' to bring the 'Palestinians' to the bargaining table.Jennifer Rubin reports that it's worse than that. Obama plans to continue to fund the 'Palestinian Authority' despite the fact that Hamas is now part of it. Hmmmm....Funding the people who weep the death of Osama Bin Laden and call for the destruction of America?Can we impeach him now?Read the full story here.

• 'I will lead a funeral prayer for Bin Laden': Hate preacher plans protest against killing outside U.S. Embassy in London.(DailyMail).A radical cleric is set to spark fury by protesting against the killing of Osama Bin Laden outside the U.S. Embassy in London.Anjem Choudary, a known supporter of the world's most notorious terrorist, says he will lead a 'funeral prayer' and call on U.S. authorities to return the body to relatives.The former UK leader of the outlawed al-Muhajiroun and member of the 'poppy burning' Muslims Against Crusades extremist group is calling on fellow extremists to join the demonstration tomorrow afternoon.He has already warned of another 7/7-style terror attack in the wake of Bin Laden's death.Britain has followed the U.S. in placing its embassies, diplomatic missions and military bases around the world on heightened alert in recent days.Domestic attacks and 'more intense fighting' in Iraq and Afghanistan will be sparked within days, Mr Choudary said.He said supporters in the UK loved Bin Laden 'the way they care about their own parents'.'I think Britain is more likely to face a 7/7 today than ever,' the sharia law lecturer said.'This will encourage more people to participate. He became a figurehead leader, someone who sacrificed a lot for the Muslim community.'He gave his wealth, he sacrificed a lot for the sake of others.'The U.S. Embassy has not been warned of the planned protest.The Metropolitan Police Commissioner said one man’s death does not mark the end of an ideology and we must remain alert to the continuing threat form Al Qaeda, its affiliates and those acting alone.’ In Lebanon, where he now lives after being thrown out of Britain for his extremist rants, Bakri said the killing of Bin Laden ‘is considered a cold-blooded murder of a helpless man, especially that he was killed in the presence of wife and children in bed’. The burial of ‘martyr’ Bin Laden at sea was also ‘an offence to Muslims and a declaration of war against God, his Prophet and Muslims’, he said.Read the full story here.

• South - Korea - Man found crucified wearing a crown of thorns in Biblical killing in stone quarry.(DailyMail).The body of a man with his hands and feet nailed to a wooden cross and a crown of thorns on his head has been found in an abandoned stone quarry, South Korean police said yesterday.A man wearing only underwear, with a wound on the side of his torso and nylon strings tied around his neck, arms and stomach, was found crucified Sunday in Mungyong, about 115 miles south-east of Seoul, said Chung Ji-chun, chief of the violent crime section at Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency.Allegedly, there were two smaller crosses erected on each side of the cross he was nailed to and a propped-up mirror nearby so the man could witness his own suffering.Police also found nails, a hammer, an electric drill, pieces of wood and instructions on how to build crosses inside a tent near the scene, Chung said. An SUV belonging to the dead man was found nearby.Police are waiting for a forensic report to determine the exact time and cause of the man's death and whether it was a homicide or assisted suicide.Chung identified the man as a 58-year-old surnamed Kim.Popular representations of the death of Jesus Christ depict him crucified between the crosses of two thieves, wearing a crown of thorns, a white cloth over his loins, with a wound on his side from a Roman soldier's spear.Read the full story here.

• Andy Bostom: America’s Respectful Burial Of Osama Bin Laden?(BigPeace).Today on Frank Gaffney’s Secure Freedom Radio, Andy Bostom tries to explain why America might have actually given Osama bin Laden a proper Islamic burial. According to Andy Bostom, that is exactly what took place aboard the USS Carl Vincent when disposing of the remains of bin Laden into the depths of the sea. Was it in line with Islamic law or did the US want to avoid a shrine being raised in his honor? These questions and others were discussed in the interview with Andy Bostom.Hear the full interview here.
• Dr. Muzamil Siddiqi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America and a scholar on the legal systems of Islam. "They don't even have a casket -- the body is in the ground," he said. "After a person dies, the body is treated like any other human being. We don't do a retaliation on the dead body." Scholars say that even those who are criminals and murderers are given the Islamic rite of burial. "Even those who are executed have a proper burial given to them," Siddiqi said. "It is strictly forbade any mutilation -- even of the enemy's body." God reckons with a person's deeds in the afterlife on judgment day, he said. I wonder if he gave advice to the Osama Burial squad?So Obama acted as a good Muslim afraid of the afterlife,don't show the pictures !

• The unimaginable end created by the US Administration for the leader of Al-Qaeda turned him into a legend.(Al-Arabia).The prayers on the dead - the US styleThe US Defense Department held the prayers on the dead body of Osama Bin Laden aboard "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier. The prayers lasted for 50 minutes. The Americans were keen to apply "the rules of the Islamic teachings" in the prayers. The corpse of Osama Bin Laden was washed up, then placed in the white wrapping cloth, which was then put in a weighted bag. One officer performed the prayers, which was arabized by a translator and then the dead body was placed on a board and thrown in the Arabian Sea.

Sources from the Pentagon said that they have been committed to all the Islamic rules in performing the prayers on dead body of Bin Laden, but they never mentioned the details of washing the body. Has the dead body been washed up by a Muslim? Did he make use of camphor? It seems that it was hard to wash the dead body as it was shredded, burned or even due to insufficient water as the washing took place aboard an aircraft carrier. The statement pointed out to the details of the prayers and said that an officer "performed the prayers after a translator arabized it." We don't know why the translator did not perform the prayers himself as long as he speaks fluent Arabic. We don't know if the officer was a Muslim and the translator was not! If the case was so, then how did they permit the translator to attend the prayers and how many people were present during the prayers on the dead body?Let's disregard this part of the "movie" of the killing of Mr. Bin Laden. Let's disregard Washington's attempt to satisfy the simple Muslims by talking about washing the dead body and performing the prayers. Let's disregard the lies of both the Americans and the Pakistanis. Let's stop at the scene of burial. The leader of Al-Qaeda has lived in caves, he has created a weird Jihadist thought. He has permitted the killing of children, women and innocent people. He has practiced terrorism for long decades…He has misled numerous young people and pushed them into an unknown destiny. He recruited dozens of writers and professionals. He has created a cultural state which he called "Al-Qaeda" thought. Eventually, his dead body was thrown in the Arabian Sea. He evaporated. Isn't this end more instigating to re-create another Bin Laden personality? Isn't this end creates a kind of suspicion on his killing and intentionally turns him into an absent cleric?Some politicians considered the killing of Mr. Bin Laden as a transfer point in the terrorism phenomenon. But, nobody is able to confirm that it is a positive point of transfer. Some media outlets participated over long years to put Mr. Bin Laden in the position of a hero. But, the unimaginable end created by the US Administration for the leader of Al-Qaeda turned him into a legend and would lead to a continuation of his thoughts that disfigured Islam and made Jihad contradictory with courage.Read the full story here.

• Rabbis: Regain control of Joseph's Tomb.(Ynet).Some 40 right-wing religious leaders, including Beit El Rabbi Zalman Melamed, tour Samaria. 'No foreign state will be established in the holy territories of the Land of Israel,' they say in special statement. Dozens of right-wing rabbis toured the Samaria region on Tuesday in a bid to show their support for Jewish residents following the recent security-related events at the Itamar settlement and Joseph's Tomb. The 40 rabbis, members of the Derech Emunah movement, visited Torah institutions in the Samaria communities, agricultural centers and local council offices, and stated that Jewish control of the area must be maintained.The tour's most senior participants were Beit El Rabbi Zalman Melamed and chief rabbis of cities, towns and communities, as well as yeshiva heads. "We came to Samaria as a delegation representing hundreds of rabbis from all over the country, in order to strengthen and support the Israeli settlement in Samaria," the rabbis wrote in a special statement issued at the end of the tour. "We felt that this was obvious, especially after the grave acts of murder in Itamar and Joseph's Tomb. We came to strengthen the residents and were strengthened ourselves by the courage, bravery and sense of justice beating in Samaria." The rabbis called on the Israeli government to "clarify to the entire world that the Land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel only, and will remain in their hands forever."No foreign state will be established in the holy territories of the Land of Israel. A Jewish government will be the only one to control Judea and Samaria, and the people of Israel will move freely and safely in all of their country's territories." The Derech Emunah rabbis called on the government to "halt any negotiations with the Arab terrorists", claiming that "their 'security organizations' murdered Ben-Yosef Livnat – may the Lord avenge his blood – in cold blood, just like they have murdered several times in the past, often with weapons supplied to them by irresponsible statesmen."As for the control of Joseph's Tomb, the rabbis wrote that "Israel must regain control of all of Judea and Samaria. It must begin immediately at Joseph's Tomb, and free access to the tomb must be allowed just like to any other national holy site."Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different!Belgian 21 year old Student sells virginity online for $ 74.350 (DailyMail).but she's keeping her identity a secret in case her parents find out.A Belgian student has sold her virginity in an online auction for the equivalent of £45,000.The 21-year-old named only as Noelle put her body up for sale on the Amsterdam-based Yantra escort girl site in March.Now after two months of bidding, she has accepted an offer from a mystery buyer.The winner has bought her company for 24 hours, and as part of the deal he must also take her out shopping and for dinner at the restaurant of her choice.He will get a doctor's certificate proving Noelle is a virgin, and she is insisting sex will only be performed with a condom.Noelle describes herself on the website as 'a very sweet and innocent girl, but with a bit of a naughty mind'.The site provided provocatively posed pictures of Noelle, who it says is a brunette with brown eyes, 5ft 8ins tall, a Size 10 dress size and a B bra cup.And it even claimed Noelle would be giving five per cent of her earnings from the sex sale to charity to 'prove she's not a prostitute'.It wrote in clumsily worded English during the auction: 'If you like to have a date and be intimate with a virgin, then you can make a bidding for her at the bidding page.'Only serious biddings will be taken into consideration. The rate starts at 5000 euros (£4,200).'It's only possible to see her if you take her out as well, for dinner and shopping.' A bold button at the bottom of the page then said, 'Click here to bid on her virginity!' A Yantra Escorts spokeswoman told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: 'She has one sole objective, and that's cash.'I will vet the winning bidder. I have a lot of experience and I will be able to root out the dodgy ones.Hmmmm.....A 'hole' in the market?Depending on the location and surgeon,Hymenoplasty could cost as little as $1,800 -$5,000.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                   Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 27. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

• Sirya live blog - here.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world lots of seismic activity in Japan between 5.1 and 5.6 today. More info here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 63.On 27.03.2011 at 08:29 GMT+2

Workers were evacuated on Sunday from a reactor building they were working in after high doses of radiation were detected at Japan's stricken nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the plant's operator said. Tokyo Electric Power Co , the plant's operator, said radiation 10 million times the usual level was detected in water that had accumulated at the No.2 reactor's turbine housing unit. Source .More here.

• From society's shadows, yakuza among first with relief supplies.TOKYO (Reuters) - Tons of relief goods have been delivered to victims of Japan's catastrophic earthquake and tsunami from a dark corner of society: the "yakuza" organized crime networks.Yakuza groups have been sending trucks from the Tokyo and Kobe regions to deliver food, water, blankets and toiletries to evacuation centres in northeast Japan, the area devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami which have left at least 27,000 dead and missing.Yakuza are better known for making money from extortion, gambling, pornography and prostitution, as well as for the often-elaborate tattoos covering much of their bodies.But disasters bring out another side of yakuza, who move swiftly and quietly to provide aid to those most in need.As with the devastating 1995 Kobe earthquake, government workers were slow in reaching afflicted areas, and the 300,000 or so survivors, so yakuza groups stepped in quickly, and in many cases, were first on the ground.Such actions stem from yakuza knowing what it's like to have to fend for yourself, without any government or community support, because they are considered outcasts.Many gang members faced discrimination and come from minority populations such as ethnic Koreans or "burakumin" - those who work in businesses seen as related to death, such as butchers and leather tanners."Yakuza are dropouts from society," said Manabu Miyazaki, a prolific author who has written more than 100 books about yakuza and minorities."They've suffered, and they're just trying to help other people who are in trouble," said Miyazaki, himself the son of a former Kyoto yakuza boss.Others see ulterior motives to the groups' charity."If they help citizens, it's hard for the police to say anything bad," said Tomohiko Suzuki, a journalist who has written several books on Japan's underworld."The yakuza are trying to position themselves to gain contracts for their construction companies for the massive rebuilding that will come."Yakuza groups have so far dispatched at least 70 trucks to the quake zone loaded with supplies worth more than $500,000, according to Jake Adelstein, an expert on yakuza who lives in Tokyo and is writing two books on the Japanese syndicates.The gangs' charity is rooted in their "ninkyo" code, Adelstein says, which values justice and duty and forbids allowing others to suffer. "In times such as earthquakes, they put their money where their mouths are," he said.Atsushi Mizoguchi a freelance writer and yakuza antagonizer who has written about organized crime for 40 years, also gives the yakuza the benefit of the doubt."Rather than a PR effort, I think it's actually good intentions," said Mizoguchi, who has angered the yakuza so much that he has been stabbed twice in attacks by gang members.But yakuza shun the spotlight regarding their relief work.Adelstein explains that there is an informal understanding between yakuza and police who tolerate the gangs carrying out such charitable work, but not seeking publicity for it."What they seek most is self-satisfaction," said Miyazaki, the son of the former yakuza boss. "It's not for pay, but for pride."There are an estimated 80,000 yakuza in Japan. The Sumiyoshi-kai and Inakawa-kai, the second and third biggest organized crime syndicates, are believed to be the most active in the earthquake-tsunami disaster relief.And, says author Suzuki, this is not the time to nitpick over the origins of emergency goods."When it's life or death, you don't care where your food comes from," he said.Hmmmm.....Who remembers a man who lives and dies without honor?Read the full story here

• HT:Pajamasmedia.Reporter imprisoned in closet by Biden staffers at Florida Dem fundraiser.An incident at a Florida Democratic political fundraiser this week should be front page news in every paper in the country, and the lead story on TV newscasts, but it has been virtually buried…. until nowHere are the details.On Wednesday morning, Vice President Joe Biden attended a fundraiser for Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. The event was at the home of billionaire real estate developer Alan Ginsberg, a long-time Dem supporter. Ginsberg’s enormous lakefront home is in an exclusive section of Winter Park, an uber-upscale Orlando suburb. To give you an idea of the size and opulence of the home, it was originally built for Orlando Magic and NBA superstar Horace Grant.The Orlando Sentinel assigned longtime reporter Scott Powers to cover the event. But when he arrived, Biden staffers decided they didn’t want him mingling with the 150 guests who had forked over $500 to meet Biden, so they locked him in a closet! A member of the Biden advance team even stood guard outside the door to prevent Powers from escaping.Powers has all the details, even pictures of the inside of the closet where he was held; but it appears the Sentinel editors have refused to let him report on all the details of what some are calling a kidnapping! There was a very brief, and very “vanilla” mention of the incident in Thursday’s paper. One attendee later emailed the Sentinel to say “I was in attendance at the Fundraiser and enjoyed a nice lunch. If I had known there was a reporter stuffed in the closet, I would have been compelled to stand up and demand answers. I would also like to know if this is actually legal to treat people like caged animals. I’m disgusted by these actions.”Despite this outrage, Sentinel editors have dropped the story.Some longtime journalists are furious with Biden’s team over the incident. Some are more angry at Sentinel editors for downplaying the story. Others are asking “where was the Secret Service when a crime was obviously being committed?” Others appear to have no problem with it, since it involves their “Administration that can do no wrong.”So far, none of the DC papers or TV networks has covered the story, but of course, they are the first to cry in outrage when dictators imprison reporters overseas. What have we become: Cuba, Iran, Libya, or Stalinist Russia, that we would allow such police-state tactics to muzzle the media?Does the “Free Press” still exist in America? Or are we relegated to the status of a Banana Republic where the media approves anything Team Obama does?Some people saw this coming when then-Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden exploded and flatly refused to answer the insightful questions of an Orlando television reporter when she asked about Obama’s connections to ACORN, socialism and his “spread the wealth” comments to Joe the Plumber. Since then, Biden’s mandate seems to have changed from refusing to answer embarrassing questions, to imprisoning reporters who might ask them.Hmmm....."Democracy or dictatorship"?Once a country looses it's free speech ,soon after they loose their freedom also.The most 'transparant' administration evah!Welcome to 1934 Germany.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGovernment.April 5th Will Decide Who Governs Wisconsin: The Voters or 4 Judges.Had the federal government passed a law (in the best interest of the people, naturally) mandating that every household in America purchase a handgun and learn how to use it in order to protect themselves and in turn save the government money on police protection, that law would be a constitutional issue for the courts to decide in the exact same way ObamaCare — a real federal law requiring every American purchase health insurance — is also a constitutional issue. Regardless of your political persuasion, any intellectually honest individual understands that the government requiring an individual purchase something is exactly why our founders created a judicial branch. That’s what they’re there for. What they’re not there for, however, is to use judicial fiat to overturn an election. But that is exactly what the Left in Wisconsin is counting on happening just a few days from now on April 5th.Before I get to that, though, I want to backfill my point with a rundown of the hows and whys that make a Wisconsin State Supreme Court race so crucially important to everyone in America, not just my fellow cheese heads.What are the Stakes?Nothing less than democracy. Will four Robed Masters rule Wisconsin or will the representatives elected by the people of the state be allowed to govern?Hmmmm.......As i asked many times before:"Democracy or Dictatorship"?Read the full story here.

• Candidate Obama in 2007: Americans ‘Have a Right to Know’ Before Government Takes Military Action.A new video shows President Barack Obama, as a presidential candidate in 2007, saying that the American people have a right to know about and participate in the debate over U.S. foreign policy decisions and whether the nation uses military force.“But the fact of the matter is that when we don’t talk to the American people – we’re debating the most important foreign policy issues that we face, and the American people have a right to know,” Obama said at the AFL-CIO debate on Aug. 7, 2007.“It is not just Washington insiders that are part of the debate that has to take place with respect to how we’re going to shift our foreign policy,” he said.Obama’s comments came at the end of a colloquy between himself, then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) over whether it was proper to announce, as Obama had done, that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan if Osama bin Laden was found there.Obama then went on to make the statement shown in the video, defending his position that telling the American people what he planned to do, before he did it, was the right thing to do.Hmmmm.......The most transparant administration evah!Read and see the full story here.

• HT:CreepingSharia.More U.S. colleges adding Muslim chaplains.“The last two to four years is when you really saw it taking off,” Bajwa says, pointing to Yale, Princeton and Duke all hiring chaplains in 2008 and Northwestern’s hire last year. “You find it picking up momentum.”No one keeps official numbers, but more than 30 Muslim chaplains work on college campuses or at private high schools around the nation, most of them part time, says Tahera Ahmad, who started at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in fall 2010 as associate chaplain and the university’s first Muslim chaplain.“I don’t necessarily only cater to the Muslim students,” she says. “I’ve had more non-Muslim students go through my office than Muslim students. I serve the larger campus community.”Hmmmm.......“Behind every Islamic terrorist there is an Imam…” ~ Oriana Fallaci.Read the full story here.

• HT:JihadWatch.Geert Wilders: The Failure of Multiculturalism and How to Turn the Tide.Geert Wilders's speech at the Annual Lecture at the Magna Carta Foundation in Rome on March 25:Signore e signori, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends of the Magna Carta Foundation, molte grazie. Thank you for inviting me to Rome. It is great to be here in this beautiful city which for many centuries was the capital and the centre of Europe’s Judeo-Christian culture.Together with Jerusalem and Athens, Rome is the cradle of our Western civilization – the most advanced and superior civilization the world has ever known.As Westerners, we share the same Judeo-Christian culture. I am from the Netherlands and you are from Italy. Our national cultures are branches of the same tree. We do not belong to multiple cultures, but to different branches of one single culture. This is why when we come to Rome, we all come home in a sense. We belong here, as we also belong in Athens and in Jerusalem.It is important that we know where our roots are. If we lose them we become deracinated. We become men and women without a culture.I am here today to talk about multiculturalism. This term has a number of different meanings. I use the term to refer to a specific political ideology. It advocates that all cultures are equal. If they are equal it follows that the state is not allowed to promote any specific cultural values as central and dominant. In other words: multiculturalism holds that the state should not promote a leitkultur, which immigrants have to accept if they want to live in our midst.It is this ideology of cultural relativism which the German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently referred to when she said that multiculturalism has proved “an absolute failure.”My friends, I dare say that we have known this all along. Indeed, the premise of the multiculturalist ideology is wrong. Cultures are not equal. They are different, because their roots are different. That is why the multiculturalists try to destroy our roots.Rome is a very appropriate place to address these issues. There is an old saying which people of our Western culture are all familiar with. “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” it says. This is an obvious truth: If you move somewhere, you must adapt to the laws and customs of the land.Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: The multiculturalist Left is facilitating islamization. Leftist multiculturalists are cheering for every new shariah bank, for every new islamic school, for every new mosque. Multiculturalists consider Islam as being equal to our own culture. Shariah law or democracy? Islam or freedom? It doesn’t really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire leftist elite is guilty of practising cultural relativism. Universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians. They are all betraying our hard-won liberties. Ladies and gentlemen, what is happening in Europe today has to some extent been deliberately planned.Let me end with a final – and a positive – remark: Though the situation is bad and multiculturalism is still predominant, we are in better shape than the Roman Empire was before its fall.The Roman Empire was not a democracy. The Romans did not have freedom of speech. We are the free men of the West. We do not fight for an Empire, we fight for ourselves. We fight for our national republics. You fight for Italy, I fight for the Netherlands, others fight for France, Germany, Britain, Denmark or Spain. Together we stand. Together we represent the nations of Europe.I am confident that if we can safeguard freedom of speech and democracy, our civilization will be able to survive. Europe will not fall. We, Europe’s patriots, will not allow it.Read the full speech here.

• Thousands of Syrian mourners burn Baath party buildings.Assad faces crisis as security forces open fire on protesters; more funerals planned, demonstrators gather in Deraa; 260 prisoners released in bid to placate reformists; Amnesty says 55 believed dead. DAMASCUS - Thousands of mourners at a funeral for a Syrian killed in anti-government protests burned a ruling Baath party building and a police station on Saturday as authorities freed 260 prisoners in a bid to placate reformists.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was facing the deepest crisis of his 11 years in power after security forces fired on protesters on Friday, adding to a death toll that rights groups have said now numbers in the dozens.Read the full story here.

• Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan supports Syria's butcher Assad.Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Friday to express his support for the leader of Turkey’s neighbor and warn him of the image of security officials using force against the Syrian people.The Syrian president reassured Erdoğan of his decision to make reforms; however, he complained that there were circles whose aim was to stir up trouble rather than protest for reforms, Prime Ministry officials told Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review on Sunday.Welcoming Assad’s decision to institute reforms, Erdoğan urged his Syrian counterpart to implement social and economic reforms posthaste. People should practice concrete reforms as soon as possible, Erdoğan told Assad.The Turkish prime minister drew attention to the pictures of Syrian security officials’ intervention in protests and warned against the confrontational image of police and people, officials said.Prime Ministry officials recalled that Erdoğan urged Assad to implement urgent reforms during his visit to Aleppo in February. Erdoğan said last week he had spoken to Assad during his last visit to Syria about the upheaval in the Arab world and had urged him to find a more democratic path.The telephone call, a gesture to anti-government protesters in Syria, came after the Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement on Friday urging the Syrian administration to conduct reform as soon as possible in the face of growing unrest.Relations between Turkey and Syria have improved markedly since the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, came to power. Turkey is boosting its relationships with its Arab-Muslim neighbors, among whom Syria is clearly a key state.Hmmmmm.......NATO doesn't need enemies with members like Turkey,Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• Despite Allied Airstrikes, Crackdown Keeps Tense Peace in Tripoli.TRIPOLI, Libya — As allied airstrikes pound the military forces of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, rebels in eastern Libya and politicians in Western capitals are watching closely for signs that residents in the colonel’s stronghold of Tripoli will rise up to drive him from power.But during a rare unsupervised visit Friday to the Tajura neighborhood here — a rebellious district that led the brief uprising that burned police stations around the city just one month ago— several residents warned that a crackdown by Colonel Qaddafi’s security forces had left them terrified of taking to the streets again anytime soon. Two men, speaking anonymously for their safety, said that during Friday Prayer last week about 200 armed militiamen entered the mosque and prayed alongside them, a clear and intimidating message not to join protests after the services. “Lots of people have been detained, including some of our relatives,” one of the men said. “They tell people, ‘We will only release your relatives if you don’t protest next Friday.’ ”“People are very scared these days,” he continued. “They are watching from everywhere. They have people on the rooftops.” Many white Toyota pickup trucks — the preferred vehicle of the Qaddafi militia — could be seen cruising the streets full of armed men, and a police wagon with men carrying machine guns was parked at an intersection leading downtown. Nearby gunshots were heard during the interviews. Several others said they were afraid to speak. A cafe emptied immediately after two Western journalists walked in. One young man who stayed, Hamza al-Hader, said he worked at the cafe. Contradicting scores of recent interviews with Tajura residents, he repeated the story told by state television. He said the few protests that took place there were led by foreign-born Islamic terrorists wearing long beards — a line that in some circles appears to have become code language meant to signal one’s disbelief in the official propaganda.Whether he was sincere or ironic could not be determined. “Qaddafi should hit back hard,” he said. “I would be a suicide bomber.” Even the official minders who typically accompany foreign journalists seemed jumpy on Friday. On an official trip earlier in the day, an official minder turned back over his shoulder to warn journalists not to photograph a heavily armed checkpoint in Tajura. “I don’t want to go to jail,” he said, “so don’t film anything.” Later, a minder was stopped by security forces — more than 15 armed men sprang out of at least six vehicles — and questioned for more than 30 minutes, apparently because he allowed foreign journalists too much latitude to roam Tajura freely.The Libyan government has been eager to show that the allied airstrikes are killing civilians. State television, for example, has been showing images of insurgent attacks on American military vehicles in Iraq, as part of its extensive effort to draw comparisons between the allied airstrikes on Libya and the war in Iraq. Hmmmmm......not much 'kinetics' going on here.Read the full story here.

• Israel flag outside Prague hotel irks Iranians.Iranian diplomat asks hotel to remove Israeli flag ahead of embassy event, but Arab-Israeli manager tells him: 'If you don't like it, use another venue'.On Wednesday the Iranian embassy in Prague organized an event at a well-known hotel in the Czech capital. Prior to the event, a senior embassy official was shocked to see an Israeli flag flying high at the head of a line of flags situated near the entrance to the hotel. The diplomat spoke to the hotel manager and demanded that the Israeli flag be taken down, but the manager, and Arab-Israeli from Nazareth, rejected the request."The (Israeli) flag will remain at the front of the hotel always," the manager told the Iranian official. "If you don’t like it, you are welcome to hold the event at another hotel."The angry Iranian diplomat had no choice but to accept the hotel's position, and the event was held as scheduled.According to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, Israeli Ambassador to Prague Yaakov Levy reported the incident to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, and said the Pakistani embassy was scheduled to hold a reception at the same hotel next week. This was not the first time the presence of the Israeli flag resulted in a diplomatic incident. A few years ago former Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki visited Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Upon his arrival at the local Holiday Inn, Mottaki noticed an Israeli flag flying proudly near the entrance. An infuriated Mottaki asked that the flag be removed, but his request was denied.Hmmmm........Read the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Canada - Oh Caledonia,home of the radical left-criminal aboriginal - fundamuslim nexus.Last night I had the opportunity to interview one of the principle people, as well as attend a lecture and set of videos by many of the residents of the besieged town of Caledonia where I learned a great many disturbing things, just two of which are,

1. The government seems to treat what should be a law enforcement issue, as a “peacekeeping” one. This has disturbing implications.
2. Out of over 3000 bands of aboriginal people, all of whom live in peace with the general population of Canada and with varying degrees of success ,only the ‘Six Nations people’ or Mohawk have allied themselves with international terrorists and use their special status to run organized crime with impunity from the police and state, even, on occasion, with their assistance.

Over the course of the coming week, I will publish as much as I can of the video I shot along with their various materials. For the moment, here is a short segment of last night’s ‘Free Thinking Film Society’ presentation with, among many other people, Gary McHale.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Related to previous story : Though this appears to be a bit off topic for the Tundra Tabloids, it isn’t. The situation in Caledonia Canada, which involves the strong arm tactics of local hard-Left radicals, aboriginal criminals and fundamentalist Muslims while a feckless police department looks the other way, needs to be widely reported.Besides, this looks to be a mirror image of what’s happening elsewhere across Europe. The reluctance of local government and law officials to step in and do the right thing, due to their ‘knee-jerk’ adherence to political correctness, is both condemnable and an outrage.By their lack of interest in honestly pursuing the truth in the matter, local Caledonian government and law officials are setting the stage for even more aggressive tactics by the group just mentioned, against the local populace and perhaps emboldening other similar outbreaks across Canada.Another speaker from the Caledonia night at Free Thinking Film Societies night on the issue. This is the former mayor of Haldimand county talking about her frustration attempting to get the Ontario police and Ontario government to uphold Canadian law.Read and see the full story here.

• Bin Laden sets alarm bells ringing.ISLAMABAD - After a prolonged lull, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has launched a series of covert operations in the rugged Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan following strong tip-offs that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been criss-crossing the area in the past few weeks for high-profile meetings in militant redoubts. The US has been on Bin Laden's trail ever since he fled Afghanistan when the US invaded the country in 2001 to oust the Taliban, but the 54-year-old with a US$50 million reward on his head has always remained several steps in front.For at least two years, little credible news has emerged of Bin Laden's movements and motives. Now, intelligence officials believe they have top-grade accounts as they come from the inner circles of militant camps. Officials are said to be "stunned" by the visibility of Bin Laden's movements, and their frequency, in a matter of a few weeks in the outlawed terrain of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the most unprecedented reports about him since he evaded the US in the Tora Bora mountains in Afghanistan in 2001. The development has fueled speculation in intelligence circles that al-Qaeda could be planning another major attack along the lines of the September 11, 2001, assault on New York and Washington, and the July 2007 foiled bomb attack in London.However, extensive investigations by Asia Times Online, including exchanges within al-Qaeda's camps, point in another direction: given the nature of Bin Laden's meetings, this appears to be the beginning of a new era for a broader struggle in which al-Qaeda, through its Laskhar al-Zil (Shadow Army), will try to capitalize on the Arab revolts and the Palestinian struggle and also revitalize and redefine its role in Afghanistan. Read the full story here.

• Bomb explodes at Lebanese church, no injuries .Device consisting of two kilos of TNT goes off at side entrance of St. Mary's Church in Zahle.A bomb exploded overnight at the entrance of a church in the eastern Lebanese city of Zahle, causing no injuries, a church official said Sunday.The bomb, which consisted of about two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of TNT, was placed at the side entrance of St. Mary's Church, a Syriac Orthodox church, Monsignor Youstinios Boulos Safar told AFP. The device went off at 4:15 am (0115 GMT), blowing out a side door of the church and damaging benches inside as well as the altar, Safar said. Seven cars parked nearby were also damaged. No one claimed responsibility. "I denounce this type of attack and urge people to remain calm," said Safar, who hails from neighboring Syria and is bishop of Zahle, a mainly Christian town about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital Beirut. He said he planned to hold Sunday mass at the church despite the attack. Read the full story here.

• Rabbinate freezes interfaith dialogue. Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger says his representatives have suspended all meetings with Muslim clerics until they denounce Jerusalem bombing. The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has decided to freeze all types of dialogues held by its representatives with Muslim clerics in Israel, until the latter denounce last week's terror attack in Jerusalem and the ongoing rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip. In a statement released Wednesday night, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he expected the Muslim spiritual leadership to strongly condemn the act of terror in the capital."Once again our neighbors have proved that we have no real partner," Metzger said. "Until the inciting religious leaders denounce the terrorists, the Rabbinate will suspend its interfaith dialogue with them." He was referring to different forums in which Rabbinate representatives meet with Palestinian Muslim clerics, like the "council of religious leaders in Israel", in which the chief rabbi participates alongside officials like Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch. A Rabbinate official said Wednesday night that the Palestinian terror organizations believe they are operating in the name of Allah, and therefore the Muslim clerics have an important and influencing role and can work to eradicate this phenomenon.Hmmmm....."Interfaith dialog" in it's natural habitat.Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Pakistan: Year 2010, bloodiest chapter in history of Ahmedi killings.LAHORE: The year 2010 witnessed a series of intermittent persecutions of Ahmedis and can be labelled as the bloodiest chapter in the history of the minority’s killings in Pakistan with an unprecedented number of assassinations including a twin terrorist attack on their worship places in Lahore.At least 98 people were gunned down for following Ahmedis’ religious beliefs, while 86 were brutally killed and 124 injured when terrorists attacked their worship places in the city last year on May 28. Separately, several others survived assassination bids during numerous incidents in different parts of the country.Among the victims of the target killings was Professor Muhammad Yusuf, who was murdered by terrorists in his own locality.Yusuf ran a small, charitable school at his house where he provided education to the poor and downtrodden children of Ferozwala area, irrespective of their colour, creed or caste. However, after Yusuf’s assassination, his own family was forced to flee to Sri Lanka in order to survive.Separately, as per the annual report issued by the community’s information office, at least three Ahmedis were wrongfully booked under the blasphemy law and 67 others were unjustly charged with and dragged into religion-based cases.Other incidents involving injustices to Ahmedi citizens include handing over the control of an Ahmadiyya worship place in Ahmad Nagar to non-Ahmedis on January 14 last year as per the orders of the Chiniot District Co-ordination Officer and the denial of shelter and food to the flood affected Ahmedis in the ravaged areas of southern Punjab.Hmmmm.....The religion of peace.Read the full story here.