Video - Buchanan: ‘Whites Are the Only Group That You Can Discriminate Against Legally in America Now’.

Syndicated columnist Pat Buchanan made a statement Friday guaranteed to make liberal media members’ heads spin. During a discussion about Affirmative Action on PBS’s McLaughlin Group, Buchanan said, “Whites are the only group that you can discriminate against legally in America now”

The Obama admin Drops Bid to Limit Sales of Morning-After Pill.

The Obama admin Drops Bid to Limit Sales of Morning-After Pill.(NYT).

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has decided to stop trying to block over-the-counter availability of the best-known morning-after contraceptive pill for all women and girls, a move fraught with political repercussions for President Obama. The government’s decision means that any woman or girl will soon be able to walk into a drugstore and buy the pill, Plan B One-Step, without a prescription.

The Justice Department had been fighting to prevent that outcome, but said late Monday afternoon that it would accept its losses in recent court rulings and begin putting into effect a judge’s order to have the Food and Drug Administration certify the drug for nonprescription use. In a letter to Judge Edward R. Korman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the administration said it would comply with his demands.

The Justice Department appears to have concluded that it might lose its case with the appeals court and would have to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. That would drastically elevate the debate over the politically delicate issue for Mr. Obama.

Women’s reproductive rights groups, who had sued the government to clear the way for broader distribution of the drug, cautiously hailed the decision as a significant moment in the battle over reproductive rights but said they remained skeptical until they saw details about how the change will be put into practice.

The drug prevents conception if taken within 72 hours after sexual intercourse.

“We will not rest in this fight until the morning-after pill is made available without delay and obstruction,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer and the executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which represented the plaintiffs in the case.

Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood said: “This is a huge breakthrough for access to birth control and a historic moment for women’s health and equity.”

The F.D.A. issued a statement Monday night saying that it planned to drop its appeal. “To comply with the order, the F.D.A. has asked the manufacturer of Plan B One-Step to submit a supplemental application seeking approval of the one-pill product to be made available O.T.C. without any such restrictions,” the statement said. “Once F.D.A. receives that supplemental application, the F.D.A. intends to approve it promptly.”

The decision is certain to anger abortion rights opponents, who oppose letting young girls have access to the drug without the involvement of a parent or a doctor. For Mr. Obama, the decision could rekindle a high-intensity, politically turbulent debate about contraceptives even as he is already dealing with a series of distracting controversies and national security leaks.

Mr. Obama had expressed personal concern about making the drug more broadly available last year and offered support to Kathleen Sebelius, his secretary of health and human services, when she blocked a decision by the F.D.A. that would have cleared the way for nonprescription distribution to all girls and women regardless of age. He said that as the father of two young girls, the idea of making the drug available to them without a prescription made him uncomfortable.

But a federal judge angrily accused the administration of blocking the drug because of politics, not science, and ordered Ms. Sebelius to reverse her decision. Last week the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City partially refused the Justice Department’s request for a delay in the judge’s order while the government appealed.Read the full story here.

Obamacare Is About Power.

Obamacare Is About Power.HT: Heritage.

Members of the House of Representatives are scheduled to vote Thursday to repeal all of Obamacare. Given that the House voted to repeal the law last year, some commentators and observers have questioned the need for another repeal vote.
However, the scandals coming to light over the last week perfectly make the case for why Congress must eradicate the law from the statute books.
On Friday, the Internal Revenue Service finally disclosed that it had spent years targeting tea party and other conservative groups, delaying their applications for non-profit status and giving those applications additional scrutiny — solely because of those groups’ political beliefs.
Also on Friday, The Washington Post revealed that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius personally asked health industry groups to contribute to Enroll America, a pro-Obamacare front group working to “educate” the public about the law’s supposed benefits.
While we don’t yet know all the details about these scandals, we do know that the IRS grossly abused its power at a time when Obamacare grants it massive new authority. The Treasury Department’s Inspector General has said Obamacare represents “the largest set of tax law changes in 20 years,” with at least 42 provisions adding to or amending the tax code.
Obamacare taxes most people with health insurance, and most people without health insurance. Likewise, the law taxes many employers who provide health insurance, and most employers who don’t provide health insurance.
Obamacare’s heavy reliance on the IRS seems somehow fitting, as the entire law relies on a scheme of government controls and regulations to work its will on the health care system. The law imposes price controls on insurance companies and extends a system of price controls for pharmaceutical companies. Obamacare also places a board of unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats at the center of its plans to control health care costs.
A 2010 Congressional Research Service report found that the number of new bureaucracies “that will ultimately be created” by Obamacare “is currently unknowable.” Little wonder that Vice President Biden boasted shortly before the law was passed, “We’re going to control the insurance companies.”
That’s what Obamacare is about. It’s not about health care. It’s about government control and power. And the record of this Administration shows its willingness to use this power in arbitrary and harmful ways.
Secretary Sebelius’s recently disclosed fundraising campaign tried to make an end-run around Congress, forcing private companies to give money for a pro-Obamacare marketing campaign that Congress itself has refused to fund.
It isn’t the first time the secretary has skirted the law, either. HHS’s infamous waivers, the majority of which went to individuals in union health plans, weren’t mentioned in Obamacare. And in recent weeks, Democrats who support the law have criticized the secretary for taking funds from other programs to fund Obamacare implementation.
Just like the IRS, HHS has also targeted the First Amendment rights of private organizations. In 2009, the department applied an infamous “gag order” on Medicare Advantage plans, ordering them not to communicate with seniors about how Obamacare’s cuts to Medicare Advantage would affect their coverage.
If past experience is any guide, IRS and HHS could use their newfound Obamacare powers to target their political opponents. Will individuals who choose not to buy insurance under Obamacare’s mandate find themselves subjected to government audits?
Will corporations who choose not to “donate” to Sebelius’s fundraising campaign find themselves targeted by Obamacare regulators — or even the IRS itself? Given the events of the past week, few can answer these questions with an unequivocal “no.”
There’s one easy way to stop the rot, and that’s to repeal Obamacare once and for all. At a time when this week’s revelations show how the government has abused its existing powers, it’s exactly the wrong time to give the government yet more authority. Congress should instead focus on repealing Obamacare and restoring freedom.
This piece originally appeared in The Washington Examiner.

"Cosa Nostra" Director of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor.

"Cosa Nostra" Director of IRS Tax-Exempt Determinations Office Is Obama Donor.(NR).

The director of the Office of Rulings and Agreements, which oversees the determinatons of tax-exempt organizations, is a donor to Barack Obama. Holly Paz donated $2,000 to Obama’s 2008 campaign, according to Open Secrets, which maintains a database of individual political donations.

An inspector general’s report released yesterday concluded that the IRS improperly targeted Tea Party and other conservative groups for undue scrutiny, and Paz heads the office in which the wrongdoing is said to have occurred. National Review Online reported earlier today that agency officials are currently copying the hard drives of every employee on Paz’s watch. That data will be made available to investigators working on a second IG investigation into whether individual agency employees engaged in criminal activity. Hmmmm......'Our cause - Cosa nostra'.Read the full story here.

AG Holder "The Just US" Department Also Tapped House of Representatives Cloak Room.

AG Holder "The Just US" Department Also Tapped House of Representatives Cloak Room.HT: GatewayPundit.
Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA) went on the Hugh Hewitt Show tonight and dropped this bombshell. The Holder-Obama Justice Department tapped the House of Representatives Cloak Room.

Via the Hugh Hewitt website, via The Green Room:

HH: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?
DN: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.
HH: Wait a minute, this is news to me.
DN: The Cloak Room in the House of Representatives.
HH: I have no idea what you’re talking about.
DN: So when they went after the AP reporters, right? Went after all of their phone records, they went after the phone records, including right up here in the House Gallery, right up from where I’m sitting right now. So you have a real separation of powers issue that did this really rise to the level that you would have to get phone records that would, that would most likely include members of Congress, because as you know…
HH: Wow.

The cloakrooms serve as a place for members to socialize, eat, and take naps without leaving the building. These rooms are closed to all except for Senators and Representatives, and a few of their trusted staffers, and even have their own phone numbers.Hmmmm.........Just try Google for the search term 'Totalitarian state'.Read the full story here.

Judicial Watch, Legal Insurrection Blog, Sue D.C. Police, Attorney General for Prosecution Decision Documents on NBC’s David Gregory Gun Law Violation.

Judicial Watch, Legal Insurrection Blog, Sue D.C. Police, Attorney General for Prosecution Decision Documents on NBC’s David Gregory Gun Law Violation.HT: JudicialWatch.

D.C. Attorney General Refused to Prosecute “Meet the Press” Host despite Acknowledging “the clarity of the violation” of the Law

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on behalf of the politics and law blog Legal Insurrection, run by law professor William A. Jacobson.  The FOIA lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, seeking access to records concerning the decision by the District of Columbia not to prosecute David Gregory, the host of the NBC news show “Meet the Press,” after Gregory violated District of Columbia law by displaying a high-capacity ammunition magazine during a broadcast interview   (Jacobson v. District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, et al. (No. 13-0003283)).

On Sunday December 23, 2012, Meet the Press host David Gregory interviewed the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre concerning firearms policy in the United States.  During the course of the interview, Gregory exhibited a high-capacity ammunition magazine.  The possession of such an ammunition magazine was a clear violation of the law of the District of Columbia.  D.C. Code § 7-2506.01(b).
Gregory displayed the ammunition magazine on air despite the fact that, according to the D.C. OAG, “NBC was clearly and timely advised by an MPD employee that its plans to exhibit on the broadcast a high capacity magazine would violate D.C. law, and there was no contrary advice from any other federal official.”  In early January, the MPD announced that it had completed its investigation and presented the case to the OAG “for a determination of the prosecutorial merit of the case.”
On January 11, 2013, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan sent a letter to NBC saying that his office would not prosecute Gregory, “despite the clarity of the violation of this important law.”  The Attorney General added, “There is no doubt of the gravity of the illegal conduct in this matter. . . .”

On January 14, 2013, Legal Insurrection submitted a District of Columbia FOIA request to MPD and OAG seeking access to the following records:

1. The January 9, 2013 letter from Lee Levine on behalf of David Gregory, referenced in the letter dated January 11, 2013 from Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan to Mr. Levine which was publicly disclosed on that date.
2. All communications between the District of Columbia Office of Attorney General and/or Metropolitan Police Department, on the one hand, and legal counsel for David Gregory and/or NBC News, on the other hand, with regard to the incident involving the display on television by Mr. Gregory of an alleged high-capacity ammunition clip (the “Gregory incident”).
3.  All documents in the possession of the MPD and OAG regarding the Gregory incident, to the extent not exempted from disclosure under applicable law, including but not limited to witness statements, evidence review and possession records, interview notes, and forensic testing.

On February 20, 2013, OAG informed Legal Insurrection that it was withholding certain requested records, including the January 9, 2013 letter from NBC attorney Lee Levine, as well as responsive emails between OAG and MPD.  The OAG also withheld in their entirety an affidavit and warrant responsive to the Legal Insurrection request.  On April 17, 2013, MPD informed Legal Insurrection that it was withholding responsive records as well.  The Legal Insurrection FOIA lawsuit asks the court to declare OAG and MDP in violation of the law and to order them to produce the records without further delay.
According to Professor Jacobson: “The documents being withheld will help shed light on the details of this highly publicized non-prosecution, which raised issues as to whether well-connected and famous D.C. insiders were treated as any other citizen in a similar situation.  I appreciate Judicial Watch assisting in this search for the truth.”

“Judicial Watch is pleased to be representing Legal Insurrection and Professor Jacobson in this important matter of equal justice under the law,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The way Gregory’s prosecution decision was handled undermines confidence in the fair administration of justice.  If Gregory shouldn’t be prosecuted then no one should be – and the law should be rescinded.  In the meantime, we hope the courts end the cover-up of the circumstances of the Gregory investigation.”

“The Obama regime now has mandated speech codes on all campuses”

“The Obama regime now has mandated speech codes on all campuses” HT: LegalInsurrection.By William A. Jacobson.

The Foundation for Individual Rights In Higher Education (FIRE) is the premier non-partisan organization fighting to protect free speech and other constitutional rights on campus.  The FIRE defends everyone’s rights, regardless of political affiliation.


The FIRE is not an organization prone to hyperbole.
So when I received this email late this afternoon from FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley, it got my attention:

THIS. IS. OUTRAGEOUS. The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses. I hoped I would never see this day, but I feared I would.

This press release was linked in the email:

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MANDATES UNCONSTITUTIONAL SPEECH CODES AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES NATIONWIDE

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2013—In a shocking affront to the United States Constitution, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education have joined together to mandate that virtually every college and university in the United States establish unconstitutional speech codes that violate the First Amendment and decades of legal precedent.
“I am appalled by this attack on free speech on campus from our own government,” said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which has been leading the fight against unconstitutional speech codes on America’s college campuses since its founding in 1999. “In 2011, the Department of Education took a hatchet to due process protections for students accused of sexual misconduct. Now the Department of Education has enlisted the help of the Department of Justice to mandate campus speech codes so broad that virtually every student will regularly violate them. The DOE and DOJ are ignoring decades of legal decisions, the Constitution, and common sense, and it is time for colleges and the public to push back.”
In a letter sent yesterday to the University of Montana that explicitly states that it is intended as “a blueprint for colleges and universities throughout the country,” the Departments of Justice and Education have mandated a breathtakingly broad definition of sexual harassment that makes virtually every student in the United States a harasser while ignoring the First Amendment. The mandate applies to every college receiving federal funding—virtually every American institution of higher education nationwide, public or private.
The letter states that “sexual harassment should be more broadly defined as ‘any unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature’” including “verbal conduct” (that is, speech). It then explicitly states that allegedly harassing expression need not even be offensive to an “objectively reasonable person of the same gender in the same situation”—if the listener takes offense to sexually related speech for any reason, no matter how irrationally or unreasonably, the speaker may be punished.
This result directly contradicts previous Department of Education guidance on sexual harassment. In 2003, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) stated that harassment “must include something beyond the mere expression of views, words, symbols or thoughts that some person finds offensive.” Further, the letter made clear that “OCR’s standards require that the conduct be evaluated from the perspective of a reasonable person in the alleged victim’s position, considering all the circumstances, including the alleged victim’s age.”
Among the forms of expression now punishable on America’s campuses by order of the federal government are:

• Any expression related to sexual topics that offends any person. This leaves a wide range of expressive activity—a campus performance of “The Vagina Monologues,” a presentation on safe sex practices, a debate about sexual morality, a discussion of gay marriage, or a classroom lecture on Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita—subject to discipline.
• Any sexually themed joke overheard by any person who finds that joke offensive for any reason.
• Any request for dates or any flirtation that is not welcomed by the recipient of such a request or flirtation.

There is likely no student on any campus anywhere who is not guilty of at least one of these “offenses.” Any attempt to enforce this rule evenhandedly and comprehensively will be impossible….

Professor Glenn Reynolds also has made the broader point, Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process When Everything is a Crime:

Though extensive due process protections apply to the investigation of crimes, and to criminal trials, perhaps the most important part of the criminal process — the decision whether to charge a defendant, and with what — is almost entirely discretionary.  Given the plethora of criminal laws and regulations in today’s society, this due process gap allows prosecutors to charge almost anyone they take a deep interest in.  This Essay discusses the problem in the context of recent prosecutorial controversies involving the cases of Aaron Swartz and David Gregory, and offers some suggested remedies, along with a call for further discussion.

Now everything is a speech crime on campus, and the administrators get to pick and choose who is guilty.Read the full story here.

Are You A Teenager Who Reads News Online? According to the Justice Department, You May Be a Criminal.

Are You A Teenager Who Reads News Online? According to the Justice Department, You May Be a Criminal.HT: EFF.
During his first term, President Barack Obama declared October 2009 to be “National Information Literacy Awareness Month,” emphasizing that, for students, learning to navigate the online world is as important a skill as reading, writing and arithmetic. It was a move that echoed his predecessor's strong support of global literacy—such as reading newspapers—most notably through First Lady Laura Bush's advocacy.

Yet, disturbingly, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) of both the Bush and Obama administrations have embraced an expansive interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that would literally make it a crime for many kids to read the news online. And it’s the main reason why the law must be reformed.

As we’ve explained previously, in multiple cases the DOJ has taken the position that a violation of a website’s Terms of Service or an employer’s Terms of Use policy can be treated as a criminal act.

And the House Judiciary Committee has floated a proposal that makes the DOJ’s position law, making it a crime to access a website for any “impermissible purpose.” For a number of reasons, including the requirements of theChildren’s Online Privacy Protection Act, many news sites have terms of service that prohibit minors from using their interactive services and sometimes even visiting their websites.

In the DOJ’s world, this means anyone under 18 who reads a Hearst newspaper online could hypothetically face jail time. But Hearst’s publications aren’t the only ones with overly restrictive usage terms. U-T San Diego and the Miami Herald have similar policies. Even NPR is guilty, saying teenagers can’t access their “services” (including the site, NPR podcasts and the media player) without a permission slip:

If you are between the ages of 13 and 18, you may browse the NPR Services or register for email newsletters or other features of the NPR Services (excluding the NPR Community) with the consent of your parent(s) or guardian(s), so long as you do not submit any User Materials.

Some sites must have recognized the problem and crafted their policies to only forbid users under the age of 13. These include the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and the Arizona Republic. NBCNews.com uses this wording:

By using or attempting to use the Site or Services, you certify that you are at least 13 years of age or other required greater age for certain features and meet any other eligibility and residency requirements of the Site.

This means that inquisitive 12-year-olds who visit NBCNews.com to learn about current events would be, by default, misrepresenting their ages. That's criminal by DOJ standards and would be explicitly illegal under the House Judiciary Committee's proposal.

We’d like to say that we’re being facetious, but, unfortunately, the Justice Department has already demonstrated its willingness to pursue CFAA to absurd extremes. Luckily, the Ninth Circuit rejected the government’s arguments, concluding that, under such an ruling, millions of unsuspecting citizens would suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

As Judge Alex Kozinski so aptly wrote: "Under the government’s proposed interpretation of the CFAA...describing yourself as 'tall, dark and handsome,' when you’re actually short and homely, will earn you a handsome orange jumpsuit."

And it’s no excuse to say that the vast majority of these cases will never be prosecuted. As the Ninth Circuit explained, “Ubiquitous, seldom-prosecuted crimes invite arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Instead of pursuing only suspects of actual crimes, it opens the door for prosecutors to go after people because the government doesn’t like them.

Unfortunately, there’s no sign the Justice Department has given up on this interpretation outside the Ninth and Fourth Circuits, which is why the Professor Tim Wu in the New Yorker recently called the CFAA “the most outrageous criminal law you’ve never heard of.”

The potential criminalization of terms of service is a prime reason that Congress needs to overhaul CFAA and it’s certainly why the House Judiciary Committee should abandon the seemingly DOJ-drafted bill it floated recently and instead sit down with Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Darrell Issa, and others to negotiate real reform.
 Are you a minor with a thirst for information? You, and your parents who vote, should together tell Congress to fix CFAA.
For the latest in electronic privacy news, please visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Report: Orthodox Jews Angered by Obama Nominee

Report: Orthodox Jews Angered by Obama Nominee.(Breitbart).A former U.S. Attorney appointed by President Obama who previously came under scrutiny by the Jewish Orthodox community may soon be confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a federal judgeship, after she received a majority vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee.Stephanie Rose, 39, was recently nominated for a lifetime appointment by President Obama in the Southern District of Iowa.Rose’s appointment is controversial within the Orthodox Jewish community because of her previous involvement in the prosecution of Sholom Rubashkin, the former CEO of a now-bankrupt, Iowa-based Kosher meatpacking company that was accused of employing hundreds of illegal immigrants and violating child labor laws.Rubashkin’s company, Agriprocessors, reportedly the largest kosher meat producer in the United States, had its Postville, Iowa plant raided by federal officials and shut down in May 2008. FBI and Homeland Security agents stormed the plant and arrested 389 illegal workers, which was at the time the largest raid in the United States.
Rose “fast-tracked” those prosecutions, a term used within the legal community for expeditious charging and plea bargains, a process widely used by state and federal prosecutors in the past, including former Bush administration Attorney General, John Ashcroft.
In November 2009, Rubashkin was prosecuted by then U.S. Attorney Rose in the Northern District of Iowa and he was convicted of 86 counts of financial crimes including bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. A few months later in June 2010, he was sentenced to a stunning 27 years in federal prison even after being acquitted of violating child labor laws in a separate trial. Rubashkin appealed the conviction, but a federal court of appeals ruled against him in September 2011.
Although no one seems to have disputed Rubashkin’s crimes, many in the legal community felt the Justice Department’s pursuit for a life sentence was overzealous and that his actual sentence of 27 years was unusually harsh.“Our sense is that the call for a life sentence is completely disproportionate,” Alyza D. Lewin, Rubashkin's attorney, told ABC News in 2010. "This is a first-time, non-violent offender. He has 10 children. One of them is severely autistic. He has done tremendous charitable work. To suggest that his activities warrant life in prison, where you put murderers, people who represent an ongoing threat to society, it makes no sense.”
Several prominent members of the legal community joined Rubashkin’s public relations and legal team including former Attorney Generals Ramsey Clark, Nicholas de B. Katezenbach, Edwin Messe and Dick Thornburgh and William Barr, according to ABC News.
In addition, according to ABC, U.S. Representative Bob Barr (R-GA) complained that the sentence was more extreme than financial crimes mastermind Bernard Madoff who spun a $65 billion decade-long Ponzi scheme, and the Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to the Justice Department complaining that it was inappropriate to deem Rubashkin a flight risk because he was Jewish, and could thus escape to Israel.
Some members of the Jewish Orthodox community have expressed concern about his prison term, saying that it is unusually harsh, wondering if the entire debacle sprung from “a little bit of anti-Semitism.”
Suspicion about the Rubashkin prosecution has probably gained some credibility because of previous allegations that Obama’s Justice Department, under the directorship of former Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney Eric Holder is guided primarily by racial politics instead of the law.
In his 2011 book, Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department, former DOJ lawyer J. Christian Adams makes the claim that Holder has guided his prosecutions on race based concepts instead of the law, and that he has refrained from prosecuting potential African-American targets while focusing on other groups instead.
Still, no actual evidence has surfaced that proves the Rubashkin prosecution and conviction was unfounded. U.S. Senators questioning Rose during her confirmation proceedings did however take issue with an actual accusation of discrimination that has been filed against her in federal court—age discrimination.Rose will likely replace Chief Judge Robert Pratt on July 1.Read the full story here.

The 'Obama factor' - Nearly 1 Million Public School Crimes Not Reported To Police.

The 'Obama factor' - Nearly 1 Million Public School Crimes Not Reported To Police.(JW).In a frightening revelation, the government has conceded that nearly 1 million violent crimes committed at public schools throughout the United States are not reported to police, probably to shield perpetrators from disadvantaged and minority communities.
What else could it be? Why wouldn’t administrators responsible for keeping kids safe in a learning environment call police when a violent crime is committed on their campus? The unbelievable statistic comes straight from a report published jointly by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Education (DOE).
Incredibly, it covers only one academic year, 2009-2010. American public schools say that 1,183,700 violent crimes were committed on campus yet only 303,900 were reported to local law enforcement. That means an astounding 879,800 violent crimes were not reported to police!
This includes rape, robbery, attacks with weapons and sexual battery. At school! What on earth keeps a teacher or principal from speed-dialing police?
Here is a breakdown; of 725,300 physical attacks only 194,200 were reported to police, according to the feds. Even when “serious violent incidents” were committed, law enforcement was only contacted about half the time, in 23,500 out of 52,500 cases. These events are defined as rape, attempted rape, sexual battery or crimes involving weapons.
Of 3,600 sexual batteries that occurred in public schools during the year, only 2,200 were reported to police and more than 100 rapes went unreported. Attacks involving weapons were also covered up at an alarming rate, the schools admit in the report. Only 4,400 out of 14,300 were reported to police and less than half of the 19,200 threats of physical attack with a weapon were reported.Back to the theory behind not reporting school crimes to police, the Obama Administration has applied tremendous pressure to cut back on disciplining minorities because they are disproportionately suspended in public schools. In fact, the administration launched a special program last summer to discourage the expulsion of delinquents in order to eradicate a “school-to-prison pipeline” composed mainly of blacks and Hispanics.Hmmmm.......Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones".Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 15. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Live Blog: Middle East protests April 15 Here. (Al-Jazeera)

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world low seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.7 and 4.9! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 86.Here .

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

• HT:JudicialWatch.Clinton Hosts Islamic World Forum For Obama In D.C. In the Obama Administration’s continuing effort to befriend Muslims, the United States will for the first time host an international Islamic forum held annually in the Middle East and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will headline the three-day event.Created to address issues critical to Arabs and Muslims, the U.S.-Islamic World Forum will come to Washington D.C. this week after eight years in Qatar. Clinton will be America’s friendly host for the duration of the event, which begins Tuesday, and will deliver the keynote address at a gala dinner on the first day.Last year Clinton was the first senior member of a U.S. administration to participate in the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, which was held in February in Doha. At the event she announced President Obama’s “new era of diplomatic engagement” with nations that have been “hostile to the United States” and promised to close the military prison at Guantanamo because it had “become a symbol of the wrong way to make America more secure.”President Obama also participated via a video message that called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” The commander-in-chief outlined a “government-wide approach” to improve the daily lives of Muslims and a commitment from senior administration officials—such as Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano—to engage Muslim communities in the U.S.Obama pledged to seek new partnerships in Muslim communities around the world and touted his efforts to engage with “faith leaders” and “civil society groups” to improve the nation’s relationship with Muslims. The efforts are necessary, according to Obama, because the “United States and Muslims around the world have often slipped into a cycle of misunderstanding and mistrust that can lead to conflict rather than cooperation.”Bringing the Islamic forum to the U.S. is simply the latest of many Muslim outreach efforts for the administration. In the last year alone Napolitano discussed national security matters with a group of extremist Muslim organizations, the nation’s space agency (NASA) was ordered to focus on Muslim diplomacy and Clinton signed a special order to allow the reentry of two radical Islamic academics whose terrorist ties long banned them from the U.S. The Obama Administration also sent an America-bashing mosque leader (Feisal Abdul Rauf) who blames U.S. foreign policy for the 9/11 attacks on a Middle Eastern outreach mission and ordered a government-funded meal program for home-bound seniors to offer halal cuisine prepared according to Islamic law. The Justice Department also created a special Arab-American and Muslim Engagement Advisory Group to foster greater communication, collaboration and a new level of respect between law enforcement and Muslim and Arab-American communities.Hmmmm....."To protect the US Constitution"?Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. Read the full story here.

• HT:LegalInsurrection.Obama Is Temperamentally Unfit For Office.I was right in my anticipation that Obama would play the blame Bush game, and that he would demonize the "Top 2%," and he did. With gusto.But even I could not have expected the coarse tone of the speech. More than anything, it reminded me of Alan Grayson's speech about how Republicans want people "to die quickly."Barack Obama is temperamentally unfit to be President, someone who is incapable of getting out of campaign mode even on issues of great national importance. (added) This was a moment when Obama could have proven that he was the uniter he claimed to be not a divider, when he could have set forth an alternative plan without demeaning Republicans. No one could have expected Obama to stand there and say that he would agree to the Ryan plan, but no one should have expected a full frontal assault on the motives and humanity of those with whom he has policy disagreements. If Obama had signaled a readiness to reach across the aisle, to seek common ground without guaranteeing an outcome, he would have been presidential. Instead, there were just a few throw away lines about compromise at the end of a long screed.If ever there were a time we needed someone able to act presidential, this was the moment, when everyone agrees we face a debt crisis. Yet instead of hearing a President, we heard a candidate.Obama did what he did on health care; he not only closed the door to serious compromise, he slammed it shut and double-locked the door.Hmmm....When will America understand that they have a ruthless dictator in their WhiteHouse?Read the full story here.

• HT:RightwingNation.5 Things That Will Happen To You When America Goes Bankrupt.“Madness is rare in individuals – but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule.” — Friedrich Nietzsche.Does it seem too strong to call the way America deals with its debt “madness?” If not madness, then what? Denial? An addiction? However you phrase it, we’re a country that’s in deep trouble, but so many of us seem unable to deal with it.Liberals in this country, for the most part, will admit that we’re running up “unsustainable” deficits. Yet, these same liberals adamantly oppose any and all serious efforts to do anything about it. If you move out from liberals to the general public, once again you’ll find plenty of people who admit that this nation has a huge problem. Yet, when you leave generalities, get down to specifics, and start looking for programs to cut, then suddenly everyone gets nervous and says, “never mind.” It’s like the old saying, “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die.”Sadly, this is a natural outgrowth of ladling out public funds to special interests. There is so much collective money that few people feel or appreciate it even when billions are saved. Yet, if we yank even a few million away from special interest groups like PBS, Planned Parenthood, or the unions, they squeal like pigs that are about to accidentally be put in the wolves’ pen at the zoo.In the face of that, people have to realize that this country is on pace to go bankrupt — and it could happen relatively soon if we don’t start taking serious steps to control our spending. Mike Pence thinks we could be just ten to fifteen years away. Tom Coburn is less optimistic and thinks it could happen in as little as five years. If that happens, we’re not a tiny country like Greece — we’re the biggest economy in the world. That means there’s no cavalry coming to pay our bills for us because we ARE the cavalry. What happens then? Well, we don’t know for sure, but we can make some educated guesses about what COULD happen and how it will impact YOUR life.

1) Your life savings could be reduced to nothing almost overnight. Inflation is a fact of life. Thomas Sowell has noted, “As of 1998, a $100 bill would not buy as much as a $20 bill would buy in the 1960′s.” That’s under normal circumstances.Now read the rest here.

• Bringing the outside in at Eric Holder's INJustice Department.Attorney General Eric Holder tours the country proclaiming that he has "reinvigorated" the Civil Rights Division, compared to the Bush years. Reporters never ask precisely what he means. The American people might not like answer. Holder really means adopting outside activist agendas far beyond the American legal mainstream. It also includes hiring a swarm of activist lawyers to advance an outside agenda from inside the federal government.In December, the Justice Department filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the Berkeley School District in Illinois. The school district had refused to allow a new teacher to take three weeks off during final exams so she could go on a pilgrimage to Mecca, an unreasonable demand far beyond what federal law requires. The lead Justice Department lawyer on the case says a great deal about why this case was filed. The senior career trial attorney who signed the complaint, and therefore was in charge of the investigation, is Varda Hussain.Hussain used to be a lawyer at the Venable law firm in Virginia. In 2006, she received the firm's Benjamin R. Civiletti Pro Bono award for spending "over 500 hours in the past year fighting to bring due process to our clients." Who were the particular clients Hussain spent so much time helping? Three Egyptian terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay. Although when the Venable firm wrote its internal newsletter that reported on this award, it called them merely "Egyptian clients," here's what they are: terrorists.That sort of euphemism for murderous thugs who want to destroy America is needed at a law firm that doesn't want to upset its business clients about the work Hussain was doing to help America's deadliest enemies get away with murder and mayhem. She received an award for the work no less!Other bizarre cases have come out of the Holder Civil Rights Division. DOJ stopped the debut of the Amazon Kindle because it was not in Braille. It attacked South Carolina for providing special treatment to inmates infected with AIDS. It demanded that Dayton, Ohio, hire black police officers who failed the competency examination. The attorney hires have also been bizarre. Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez hired Aaron Schuham from Americans United for Separation of Church and State, one of the most hostile organizations in the United States toward organized religion.Founded as a rabidly anti-Catholic organization in 1947, the group has taken the lead in stopping public expressions of faith. Schuham's new job in Holder's Justice Department? Protecting religious liberty. Attorney hires like Schuham's lead to reasonable questions about the administration's motivation.Who did Holder pick to head the unit inside civil rights to bring civil rights lawsuits against police departments and prisons? Why none other than Jonathan Smith, formerly of the Prisoners Legal Services Project and the D.C. Legal Aid Society, two anti-police and anti-prison guard antagonist groups. Hopefully America's police unions will take note of Smith's hiring when deciding presidential endorsements next year.These attorneys are just the tip of the iceberg, but the DOJ is concealing the full scope of the problem. Pajamas Media submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the DOJ in the summer of 2010 seeking the resumes of all the new Obama hires inside the Civil Rights Division.The Bush DOJ complied with an identical request from the Boston Globe after three weeks in 2007. Pajamas Media had to sue Holder in January, and the resumes still have not been provided. Phony transparency is worse than none at all.When Holder speaks of "reopening and reinvigorating" the Civil Rights Division, what he is really saying is giving lawyers like Hussain, Schuham and Smith high-paying government jobs where they can use taxpayer money to push an agenda shared by outside activist groups.Attorneys in the Civil Rights Division should be legal technicians, not activists. The division is the only division of the Justice Department where cases are initiated and brought by low-level line attorneys.Every other division is reactive, not proactive. If adopting the agenda of outside activist groups constitutes "reinvigorating" the Civil Rights Division, the next Republican president needs to deinvigorate it soon after taking office.Hmmmmm......When can we talk about High treason Mr AG?Read the full story here.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Did Obama and Holder Scuttle Terror Finance Prosecutions?During the House Homeland Security hearing last month on the topic of radicalization in the American Muslim community, one exchange between L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca and Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN) concerned the relationship between the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and Hamas terrorist front the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Sheriff Baca told the congressman:We don’t play around with criminals in my world. If CAIR is an organization that is a quote “criminal organization,” prosecute them. Hold them accountable and bring them to trial.But according to a high-ranking source within the Department of Justice, who spoke exclusively to Pajamas Media on the condition of anonymity, Sheriff Baca, a long-time supporter of CAIR, was probably already in on the joke.The joke is that a number of leaders of Islamic organizations (all of whom publicly opposed the King hearings on Muslim radicalization) were about to be indicted on terror finance support charges by the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas, which had been investigating the case for most of the past decade.But those indictments were scuttled last year at the direction of top-level political appointees within the Department of Justice (DOJ) — and possibly even the White House.According to my source, the chief reason outlined in the DOJ memo declining to prosecute CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad was the issue of potential jury nullification. The first Holy Land Foundation trial in 2007 ended in a hung jury. When the case was retried in 2008, all five defendants, former executives of the Holy Land Foundation, were convicted on all 108 counts.But, according to our DOJ source, possible jury nullification was hardly the primary issue in the DOJ’s scuttling of the terror finance prosecutions. “This was a political decision from the get-go,” the source said.It was always the plan to initially go after the [Holy Land Foundation] leaders first and then go after the rest of the accomplices in a second round of prosecutions. From a purely legal point of view, the case was solid. Jim Jacks [the U.S. attorney in Dallas who prosecuted the Holy Land Foundation executives] and his team were ready to go. There’s a mountain of evidence against all of these groups that was never introduced during the Holy Land trial and it is damning. We’ve got them on wiretaps. That’s exactly why many of these leaders and groups were named unindicted co-conspirators in the first round of prosecutions.But from a political perspective there was absolutely no way that they could move forward. That’s why this decision came from the top down. These individuals who were going to be prosecuted are still the administration’s interfaith allies. Not only would these Muslim groups and their friends in the media be screaming “Islamophobia” at the top of their lungs and that this is a war against Islam, but the administration would look like absolute fools. It’s kind of hard to prosecute someone on material support for terrorism when you have pictures of them getting handed awards from DOJ and FBI leaders for their supposed counter-terror efforts. How would Holder explain that when we’re carting off these prominent Islamic leaders in handcuffs for their role in a terror finance conspiracy we’ve been investigating for years? This is how bad the problem is. Why are we continuing to have anything to do with these groups knowing what we know?“By closing down these prosecutions,” the source added, “the evidence we’ve collected over the past decade that implicates most of the major Islamic organizations will never see the light of day.”As I reported here at Pajamas Media, FBI Director Robert Mueller reiterated these reasons for cutting ties with CAIR before a recent House Judiciary Committee meeting — just two days before The Daily Caller reported that White House officials had publicly praised CAIR.Adding to the hypocrisy, after the Obama administration scuttled the next round of prosecutions in the Hamas terror financing investigation last March, Attorney General Eric Holder gave the prosecutors and FBI investigators in the Holy Land Foundation case the AG’s Award for Distinguished Service last October for their work in the case.To say things are different under Obama and Holder would be an understatement. Many of the people I work with at Justice now see CAIR not just as political allies, but ideological allies. They believe they are fighting the same revolution. It’s scary. And Congress and the American people need to know this is going on.It remains to be seen how Congress, the American people, and the establishment media — who always seem eager to rise to the defense of CAIR and the other terror-tied Islamic groups — will proceed.Hmmmmm......"We don't want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• HT:HotAir.More Ryan on Obama: “He’s basically a pyromaniac in a field of straw men”.From the Mark Levin show. If you enjoyed this afternoon’s appetizer, wait until you dig into the main course. It’s 15 minutes long but every second is enjoyable, I promise. One thing neither Ryan nor I can figure out: Why on earth would The One invite him to attend a speech that was designed to demagogue Ryan for electoral purposes? Was that some sort of “if I’m going to kneecap this guy, I ought to at least look him in the eye” concession on Obama’s part? Or did he just think it’d be funny to see the look on Ryan’s face while he was accusing him of rifling through the pockets of handicapped children? The ways of The One are mysterious to mere mortals, my friends.As further reading, dive into this short but effective Mark Knoller piece at CBS gently reminding Obama that our national debt is projected to reach $26 trillion by 2021, which makes $4 trillion in cuts over the next 12 years seem … not so serious. Oh well: Next president’s problem, I guess.Hmmmm.....Unless Emperor Obama II is still in 'control'?Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Pentagon: Mexican Drug Cartels Threaten Entire U.S.Should Americans believe Janet Napolitano’s rosy picture of a U.S.-Mexico border that’s “as secure as it has ever been” or a Pentagon assessment that it’s actually a gateway for Mexican criminal organizations that have infiltrated the entire country and joined forces with terrorist groups?For months the nation’s Homeland Security Secretary has repeatedly insisted that everything is hunky dory on the southwest border, even as violence escalates and overwhelmed federal agents are increasingly attacked by heavily armed drug smugglers. Just last month Napolitano declared that violence along the Mexican border is merely a mistaken “perception” because the area is safe and “open for business.” Furthermore, Madame Secretary assured that “some of America’s safest communities are in the Southwest border region….”A top Pentagon official contradicts that fairytale assessment, pointing out that Mexican criminal organizations extend well beyond the southwest border to cities across the country, including big ones like Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit. Addressing a U.S. Senate hearing this week, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Global Threats William Wechsler warned lawmakers that all their constituencies are confronted by the threat of Mexican drug cartels.Even more alarming is that, once in the United States, Wechsler says the Mexican criminal groups are becoming more dangerous by forming networks with each other and insurgent or terrorist groups. In some regions the “threat networking” not only engages in drug trafficking but kidnapping, armed robbery, extortion and other serious crimes.The threat is so great that the assistant Defense Secretary offered federal legislators military assistance in the name of protecting national security. “Many of the global and regional terrorists who threaten interests of the United States finance their activities with proceeds from narcotics trafficking,” Wechsler reminded, adding that “extremist and international criminal networks frequently exploit local geographical, political or social conditions to establish safe havens from which they can operate with impunity.” Hmmmm......To protect the borders and the Constitution?Read the full story here.

• African Refugees Stuck in Limbo on the French-Italian Border.The coastal Italian town of Ventimiglia has long attracted vacationers to its gorgeous beaches and charming streets. But now that France has tightened its controls, the border town is quickly swelling with hundreds of North African refugees trying to make their way into France.The Italian government had promised to give the refugees temporary residence permits that they could use to legally travel to other EU member states. But now France, Germany and other countries have said they will not recognize the papers. Here, in the border town of Ventimiglia, the pan-European spirit behind the EU has reached its limits.Rome is now using the migrants as a tool to put pressure on neighboring states, and Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni has even called European Union solidarity into question. Other EU governments are intensifying not only the war of words but also their border controls. There is suddenly little trace of a united Europe. The sense of disappointment is palpable among the migrants stuck in Ventimiglia. The deputy head of the Italian border police in the town crosses his arms and says that the matter should be solved by "the governments rather than the Italian or French police." Stefano Zerbone, who oversees a temporary refugee center set up here by the Red Cross, says the European Union "is always there when it comes to the euro, to business. But this is a European problem, not just an Italian one."Some of the Tunisians here say that "Europe is beautiful." But they're outnumbered by the many others who say it was a "mistake".Many more immigrants are likely to come, particularly from North Africa. New boats full of immigrants arrive in Lampedusa almost every day. On Wednesday, two would-be immigrants drowned after their ship ran aground off the island of Pantelleria. Just last week, an entire boat full of refugees capsized. Most of the Tunisians say that they know what to expect. They know that the road to France will be dangerous and exhausting. Since the Italian residency permits give them some degree of hope, they are waiting things out in Ventimiglia.There are now already 300 of them waiting here for the controversial papers that often take two weeks to process, and every day brings more. Indeed, the Red Cross fears that the number of migrants in Ventimiglia could significantly increase. "We are very worried," says Tommaso Della Longa, a spokesman for the organization.Hmmmmm.......Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.35 Statistics That Show The Average American Family Has Been Broke Down, Tore Down, Beat Down, Busted And Disgusted By This Economy.The economic statistics that you are about to read are incredibly shocking, but they are also very, very real. Tonight there are going to be millions of men and women all across America that cannot sleep because they are consumed with anxiety about their financial problems. Even as you read this, there are a lot of parents out there that are trying to figure out how to explain to their children why their homes are being taken away. There are also hordes of very hard working Americans that are incredibly frustrated because they have sent out thousands of resumes and yet they can't seem to get a job interview. Have you ever been at a point where you couldn't pay the mortgage or put food on the table for your family? It can be an absolutely soul-crushing experience. In fact, there are some cities in the U.S. that have been so utterly devastated by this economy that it seems as though virtually everyone has had the hope sucked right out of them. The mainstream media is trying to convince all of us that we are in an economic recovery, but that is a lie. The truth is that we are in the middle of a long-term economic decline and the greatest economy in the history of the world is dying right in front of our eyes.The average American family is under more economic stress right now than at any other time since the Great Depression. Just check out the following statistics.....Read the full story here.

• “We’re Being Screwed By Democrats”: Union Bosses Rip Into Obama And Harry Reid During Closed Door Meeting.Top labor leaders excoriated President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in a closed session of the AFL-CIO’s executive board meeting in Washington Wednesday, three labor sources said.Furious union presidents complained about budget cuts, a new trade agreement and what some view as their abandonment, even by their typically reliable allies among Senate Democrats.“Now, not only are we getting screwed by the Republicans but the Democrats are doing it too,” said one union official, characterizing the mood at a summit of labor leaders who are worried that Democrats seem unlikely to go to the mat for them as an election year approaches.Presidents of several unions and an AFL-CIO spokesman declined to repeat their private criticism to a reporter Tuesday, a sign that labor feels it must still try to maintain a relationship with the Democratic Party, even if it’s deeply troubled . With Republicans increasingly shifting from private antagonism toward open war with organized labor, unreliable Democratic allies are the only allies the movement has, and it remains unclear whether disappointments will dampen enthusiasm among union acvists and voters in the 2012 elections.A case in point: The AFL released yesterday a deliberately measured statementon the budget.“President Obama does not yet have the balance right between spending cuts and new revenue,” said President Richard Trumka calling for “significant new revenues.” Last week, the federation released a stronger, “deeply disappointed”statement on the free trade pact with Colombia.But even the semblance of a polite tone was missing at Wednesday’s board’s meeting, which a labor official described as “raw.”Hmmmm.......The story of the dogs fighting over a bone comes to mind?Rea the full story here.

• Hamas: Kidnapped Italian activist found dead in Gaza. Body of Vittorio Arigoni found in abandoned house, group had threatened to execute man.GAZA - Security officials found the body of an Italian man who had been abducted in the Gaza Strip in an abandoned house overnight Thursday, a Hamas security official said.Two men were arrested and others were being sought.In a You Tube clip the group posted online earlier Thursday, a Jihadist Salafi group in Gaza aligned with al Qaida had threatened to execute Italian rights activist Vittorio Arigoni by 17:00 local time (1400 GMT) unless their leader Hesham al-Sa'eedni, whom it detained last month, was freed.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the kidnapping and called for Arigoni's "immediate release without conditions," in a statement overnight Thursday."The move does not serve the justification of the Palestinian nation, but harms it," Abbas added."If our demands are not met within 30 hours the captive will be executed when the period is over," a text on the video clip said.Hmmmm.....The Crocodile decided it wanted a 'Change' of diet?Read the full story here.

• HT:AmnonAndJonathan.Vittorio Arrigoni - Dead !Famed Activist Vittorio Arrigoni Kidnapped in Gaza - Feared Dead."Who benefits? This is the question we must ask first when something like Vik Arrigoni being kidnapped happens. The answer is, Israel; nobody benefits more than Israel" - Ken O'Keefe.(SALEM / GAZA) - UPDATE: Media sources are reporting that Vittorio Arrigoni was found dead and that the Salafist faction was responsible. His body was reportedly located by Hamas police officers. They said he had been kidnapped, beaten and killed. The video at the bottom of this story shows 'Vik' as he was known to his friends, in captivity. Possibly the strongest voice in the years-long struggle to free Palestine, 36-year old Vittorio Arrigoni, a journalist and activist with the International Solidarity Movement, was kidnapped in Gaza.From what we understand, a Salafi Group in Gaza claims responsibility for the kidnapping. Later in the day, a youtube video surfaced showing Vittotio blind folded and beaten up. Salafi Jehadis say they are asking Hamas government in Gaza to release Abu Al Waleed Al Maqdisi in 30 hours starting from 11:00 a.m. today or else they would kill him. One person who knows the steadfast dedication of Vittorio 'Vik' Arrigoni is our writer Ken O'Keefe, also in Gaza, who stated the bottom line on this sad day."Who benefits? This is the question we must ask first when something like Vik Arrigoni being kidnapped happens. The answer is, Israel; nobody benefits more than Israel.""So whether they are false-Muslims or agents of Israel, those that have Vik are serving Israel."All journalists in Gaza, Vittorios friends here and his friends everywhere are asking Hamas to immediately intervene and release Vittiorio who worked hard to help Gaza for a long time. Arrigoni recently penned two stories for Salem-News.com about Gaza. He has shown the world who he is, now the world needs to show Vik that they are with him. According to PalToday Magazine, Italian Foreign Affairs Office declared the loss of communication with one of their citizens in Gaza without mentioning names of confirming that its Vittorio, but its obvious in the Youtube Video shared earlier that its him.Ansar Al Sunah "Salafi" Group in Gaza, declared their responsibility of Vittorio's abduction and said they will release a press release soon. Around 4:30 p.m. west coast time, it was tweeted that Vittorio was reportedly in the al-Dughmoush family block in Gaza, and the Hamas police were surrounding the area. Several members of the al-Dughmoush family are said to be associated with Salafist. This is a group that reportedly looks down on Hamas for not being sufficiently religious and they are known for a rejection of western influence.Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Related - HT:IsraelMatzav.Jihadi group to execute useful idiot in Gaza.An al-Qaeda-linked 'Palestinian' group in Gaza has kidnapped an Italian 'human rights' worker and is threatening to execute him at 5:00 pm on Friday unless Hamas releases the group's leader. [Vittorio] Arrigoni, an Italian pacifist and blogger, has lived in the Gaza Strip for some time. He was shown blindfolded with blood around his right eye and a hand can be seen pulling his head up by his hair to face the camera.A spokesman for the Hamas interior ministry in Gaza City said it was investigating the abduction.It was unclear when Arrigoni was kidnapped or where he was being held, but an Italian diplomat who serves in the region confirmed to Reuters he had been abducted.The Arabic text that accompanied the footage of Arrigoni also said "the Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption" and it described Italy as "the infidel state".Israel Radio reports that Arrigoni - who is pro-'Palestinian' - entered Gaza with the first blockade-running flotilla and has lived in Gaza ever since. Useful idiot.Hmmmm.......The 'people' who demand to be a'state' what has happened to 'We do not negociate with terrorists'?Read the full story here.Update  from Israel Matzav after the killing : More than a useful idiot. Here

• Fear and Loathing in the Revolutionary Guards.Will Muslim unrest shake the Iranian regime at its core?In an act of open insubordination, during the March 10th demonstrations in Tehran, seven members of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) security forces refused to shoot at protesters on the streets. Arrested and jailed in Tehran’s infamous Evin prison for interrogation, they are still being interrogated as the Iranian regime’s authorities debate how to deal with them.During the interrogations the regime’s intelligence sources have repeatedly warned the seven — identities still unknown — that they must reveal the names of the “leaders” of the organization(s) they are taking orders from, as well as disclose the names of any other member of the IRGC and Basij forces working undercover.To that end, the commanders of the Basij have joined the interrogators and are absolutely determined to make the connection between the insubordinate guards and the authors of a recent letter written to Mohammad-Ali Jafari, the chief commander of the Revolutionary Guards. The open letter, published at various sites, was penned by a number of top-ranking but anonymous members of the IRGC. In it, they announce their defiance of their orders and their refusal to treat protesters with violence.The accused reject all knowledge of such a letter.The commanders of the IRGC are said to be debating the proper form of disciplinary action. Where a few have suggested that firing them would be just punishment, the majority are reluctant to consider letting it go at that, certain that any and all those who refuse to follow orders must be severely punished.But execution does not seem to be an effective deterrent. Back in August 2010, a number of the IRGC members who were arrested and detained for insubordination were drugged and then buried alive. But, of course, the news didn’t stay under wraps for very long. Soon enough, it was widely reported by blogs and human rights organizations.It is said that in a private meeting with Khamenei, Jafari expressed his fear of a domino effect within the region given the influence of recent events throughout the Middle East and North Africa upon his ranks. Jafari stressed that news of the Libyan pilots who fled Libya in a fighter jet for Malta and the defections of other Libyan military personnel could reverberate throughout the Iranian military and trigger similar actions.Hmmmmm......It seems not everyone is 'awaiting' the 12Th Imam after all?Read the full story here.

• Afghans Shocked to Learn They Burned More Korans Protesting The Florida Koran Burning Than Terry Jones Did.(Christian Science Monitor) — As the dust settles in Afghanistan after sustained protest over a Florida pastor’s Quran burning, many residents in Kandahar are facing an unpleasant truth: More Qurans were burned in the course of their protests than by Terry Jones.The demonstrations, which started peacefully, quickly turned violent, killing at least nine people and injuring scores in Kandahar City alone. And as protesters vandalized a girls’ school and set fire to shops, Qurans also inadvertently went up in flames.“If they burn a shop, there is a Quran in every shop, so this is a big problem,” says Azizullah Aziz, a perfume and soap salesman in Kandahar City. “People don’t know how to protest.”On Wednesday, the province’s top spiritual leaders moved to address the irony – and promote restraint at a time when passions are running high over the US war effort. They called a shura, or meeting, and told the crowd of several hundred people that gathered in a tent at Kandahar University how to protest in an Islamic manner.Islam does not discourage protests, said the mullahs. But, they said, when something happens that causes concern, citizens must seek the advice of their religious leaders before taking action. They added that any protest should also have clear goals.“You have to respect what the mullahs say. If they say protest, you have to protest. If they say don’t protest, you can’t protest. They know the Islamic law for when to protest,” said Haji Rahmudeen, head of the Kandahar Business Association, in his address to the crowd.The mullahs spoke with Afghan government officials before the meeting, but independently organized the event.In addition to imploring citizens to maintain order during protests, the mullahs called on the government to better prepare the police to deal with protesters, ensure that government and international forces respect Islamic and Afghan culture, and stop international forces from conducting night raids, among other demands.There was much speculation that Wednesday’s event could end in yet another protest. Indeed, all the ingredients were there to stoke the ever-present well of anger over the ongoing foreign presence. During Mr. Omar’s speech, he reminded the crowd that America was still the enemy and its soldiers are “killing our 2-year-old children in our homes.”Hmmmm.....Read the full story here.

• Mohammedan fanatics burned sacred Hindu scripture “Srimad Bhagabad Gita” after destroying 555 years old Hindu temple complex in Islamic Republic of Bangladesh.Srimad Bhagavad Gita burned, Srivas Angan destructed and partially grabbed by Islamists in Bangladesh.In the series attack upon the Hindu Temples in Bangladesh in recent months, aiming to frighten the minority Hindus there and to grab the Hindu temple properties within a so called secular regime of Awami League Govt. headed by Sheikh Hasina, latest feed back came to us about a total resentment of the retaliating Hindus in the nefarious design of burning of “Srimad Bhagabad Gita” in the temple complex of Sribas Angan in the vicinity of Beyani Bazar of Sylhet district. Before this culpable act the Islamist perpetrators destroyed the ancestral deities of this “Sree Sree Lakshmi Narayan”, “Lord Shiva” and “Radha Madhav Jiu” of Achray Sribas Swami, a great Sanskrit scholar ever and the champion companion of Sree Sree Chaitanya Mahaprabhu(1486–1534), a great spiritual leader in India for his Bhakti Movement.

On 02.04.11, morning at about 10.00 am in broad day light, local influential perpetrators and land grabbers backed by ruling parties burned at least ten copies of Sreemad Bhagbad Gita with many religious books in front of local people after rampaging the whole pilgrimage complex to ensure a Islamic capture over a Hindu rights upon a temple property(Devottar sampatti). The fanatic Mohammedans successfully tried to destroy the relics of famous library building of Srivas Swami where a good collection of Hindu classic literatures and scriptures were the main attraction for the erudite students of the Master Srivas, across eastern India. It is believed that Srivas Swami started here an indigenous block print method (printing press) to copy old Sanskrit Texts. For a very unfortunate fate of the Hindus in Bangladesh all these historical and religious monuments have almost been perished into the Islamic aggression and the Government negligence.Hmmmmm.......If there are no Jews or Christiand then go for the Hindus?Read the full story here.

• Pakistan would back Taliban office in Turkey, official says.Pakistan would back Taliban office in Turkey, official says.Pakistan would back a plan to allow the Taliban to open a political office in Turkey to help with talks to end the war in Afghanistan, a Pakistani official said on Thursday during a visit by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to Ankara. Turkey has hosted talks aimed at building trust between Pakistan and Afghanistan and has said it is open to allowing the establishment of a diplomatic presence for the Taliban on its soil, but that there is no formal request yet. Analysts say that any solution to the Afghan conflict would likely require the support of Pakistan.“As Pakistan we have no reservations for such an office to be opened,” the official said, on condition of anonymity. “We are not against it. As long as there’s ownership from the Afghan people and the Afghan government we will not oppose it,” the official told Reuters.The proposal first surfaced during a trilateral summit in December between Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan in İstanbul, in which Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Kabul would welcome any offer by Turkey to facilitate talks with the Taliban.Zardari, who is in Turkey for a state visit, declined to comment during a news conference on Wednesday with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gül when asked if there had been any progress on letting the Taliban open such an office in Turkey.Gül, who was asked the same question, also declined to comment but said, “Our contribution to Afghanistan will always be within the context of cooperation with Afghan authorities.”A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters on Thursday: “There is no application [for opening a Taliban office] yet and no decision has been taken yet. We will evaluate it when there is such a demand.”Hmmmm.......Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Syrian Human Rights Activist in 'Al-Sharq Al-Awsat' Interview: 'Whenever We Ask For Freedom and Democracy – They Tell Us That Our Confrontation With Israel is More Important Than Narrow Domestic Issues'.In an interview published April 4, 2011 in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, which was headlined "Al-Assad Should Step Down and Return To Dentistry," Syrian human rights activist Muntaha Al-Atrash states: "Whenever we ask for freedom and democracy they tell us that our confrontation with Israel is more important than narrow domestic issues. They excuse themselves with this confrontation with Israel, and now they are saying that the Syrian regime is nationalist and does not bow to the West.Source.

• HT:Memri.Saudi Religious Police Warn Romanian Soccer Player Not To Kiss Crucifix.The Saudi religious police have warned Romanian soccer player Mirel Rădoi, of the Saudi Al-Hilal team, not to kiss his crucifix during games, saying that it violates shari'a. The Al-Hilal soccer club chairman said in response that the religious police's interference in sports is dangerous, and that there should be tolerance for the religions of the foreign players.Source.

• You got to be kidding!Iranian Ambassador Calls For Probe Into Reports Of Saudi Torture Of Bahraini Prisoners.Iranian Ambassador to Syrian Ahmad Mousavi has called for the establishment of a fact-finding committee to investigate reports of torture of prisoners and killing of protestors in Bahrain by Saudi troops. Mousavi told the Iranian news agency Mehr that such a move could shed light on the activity of human rights organizations. Commenting on efforts to trigger sectarian conflict in the region and to accuse Iran in the midst of incidents taking place in the region, Mousavi said that it appears that a plot is being hatched in order to drive a wedge between tribes in "Islamic-Arab" countries, and to serve the interests of the Zionist regime. He went on to say that that popular protests that have swept the countries of the region must be resolved by the countries themselves. He added that Iran is opposed to foreign interference in the internal affairs of Libya and Bahrain.Hmmmm.....Because It's a well know fact that Iran treats his prisoners with the utmost 'courtesy'.Read the full story here.