Iranian navy ships arrived in Tanzania.

Iranian navy ships arrived in Tanzania. (Taz).

Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said that the Islamic Republic’s navy fleet reached Tanzania.

"The warships would harbor in Dar es Salaam port in coming says," Fars news agency quoted him on Feb.25.

Last year, in April, Sayyari also said that Iran's 34th fleet has started a journey to the Gulf of Aden and Bab el-Mandeb.


Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last November that “the advances in the Navy could not have been as outstanding as it is now; before the Revolution [1979], the sea had been downplayed in its prestige, grandeur, and strategic role in international politics; now however, the Navy have walked a long road, yet many miles should be covered to reach the optimal place”.

Related: Iran looking to lease land in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to grow rice, wheat.

Iran looking to lease land in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to grow rice, wheat.

Iran looking to lease land in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to grow rice, wheat. (Iranfrontpage).

Iran is reportedly looking to lease land in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania for large-scale food production to serve local and export markets.

More than 10 Iranian companies have expressed interest in growing and processing rice, corn and wheat in East Africa, Iranian Ambassador to Kenya Hadi Farajvand has said.

He said Iran is supporting mechanized agriculture beyond its borders, with companies leasing huge chunks of land and applying modern agricultural methods to grow food for export to Iran.

The companies are willing to establish manufacturing plants in the region to cater to the local market and to export to Iran, Farajvand said.

The move is also aimed at narrowing trade deficit with the Horn Africa countries, which is in Iran’s favor, he added.

The East African Community (EAC) mainly exports unprocessed agricultural products like tea, coffee and meat to Iran. It imports oil products, machinery and telecommunication equipment from the Middle Eastern country.

Local trade experts said the region should strive to export more processed goods to Iran, beginning this year.

“The lifting of sanctions on Iran will pave the way for EAC member states to forge closer ties with Iran, but we need to export value-added products if we are to tilt the balance of trade in our favor,” Peter Kiguta, director-general of Customs and Trade at the EAC, told the Geeska Afrika news agency.

The East African Tea Trade Association (EATTA) expects exports to Iran to grow five-fold in one year with the opening of the market, it said.

Farajvand said the biggest challenge in fostering stronger trade ties between Iran and the EAC countries is the lack of political will in the region and limited information on the available opportunities in Iran.

He said many products from Iran are imported into the region through other countries, making the final product expensive. These imports include oil products, bitumen, ceramics and electricity equipment.

Iran’s Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Hojjati has said the government had envisioned investment on 500,000 hectares of farmland in a number of countries to produce food.

Last August, Agriculture Ministry’s Mohammad Reza Shafeinia said Iran had launched agricultural cultivation in Kazakhstan, marking its first farmland investment overseas.

Water-intensive rice and corn crops as well as oilseeds and livestock inputs have been cited by Agriculture Ministry officials as the target products which Iran seeks to grow on farmlands overseas.

Iran is pushing for development of 60,000 hectares of land to cultivate agricultural products in Brazil, Hojjati has said.

Food prices are a key driver of Iran’s double-digit inflation which shot over 40% under former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Food security is a serious matter for Iran, given the size of its population which has grown over 80 million and seen its food basket grow smaller.

“Between 38-40% of the Iranian families’ economy is related to food which requires us to build a base for reducing prices of nutritional products and providing for facile access to them,” Shafeinia said. Hmmm.....Just imagine the pool of Shiite followers you can create....they did invent chess.

Quoting materials from Iran Front Page is permitted only if the source is mentioned by name.

JPMorgan To Exit Foodstamp, Other Prepaid Cards Business.

JPMorgan To Exit Foodstamp, Other Prepaid Cards Business.(Zero Hedge).

Mess with us, we'll mess with you. That is the message one can derive from JPMorgan's surprise announcement that it plans to "sell or wind down its business of issuing prepaid cards for corporate payrolls and government tax refunds and benefits." 

Which also includes the infamous Electronic Benefits Transfer, or foodstamps, card. According to Reuters, the product, which has been offered with cash and treasury services to companies and governments, "had become a headache of risks in operations and regulations, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly."

 

Curiously, it was just over two years ago when JPM said this about its EBT business:

“This business is a very important business to JP Morgan,” Christopher Paton, the company’s managing director of treasury services, told Bloomberg News in 2011. “It’s an important business in terms of its size and scale.We also regard it as very important in the sense that we are delivering a very useful social function. We are a key part of this benefit delivery mechanism. Right now volumes have gone through the roof in the past couple of years or so … The good news from JP Morgan’s perspective is the infrastructure that we built has been able to cope with that increase in volume.”

Guess the social function isn't that important any more. However, along with the responsibilities, JPM is losing a substantial revenue stream

Just how lucrative JP Morgan’s EBT state contracts are is hard to say, because total national data on EBT contracts are not reported. But thanks to a combination of public-records requests and contracts that are available online, here’s what we do know: 18 of the 24 states JP Morgan handles have been contracted to pay the bank up to $560,492,596.02 since 2004. Since 2007, Florida has been contracted to pay JP Morgan $90,351,202.22. Pennsylvania’s seven-year contract totaled $112,541,823.27. New York’s seven-year contract totaled $126,394,917.
EBT processors charge for other services as well. For example, any time TANF recipients withdraw their cash benefits or make balance inquiries through out-of-network ATM machines, the user may incur ATM transaction fees generally ranging from $.75 to $1.50. In addition, most states allow EBT processors to charge card replacement fees. Arizona cardholders, for example, are permitted one free replacement a year, after which a $5 per card fee is imposed. The same goes for customer service calls: After an EBT cardholder exceeds the state’s maximum number of free calls, EBT processors typically tack on a $.25 per call fee.

That's a lot of money that one doesn't easily give up on. But that's what JPM just did.

Or in other words, JPM just told the government which has been going after it relentlessly for the past year, forcing JPM to rack up some $25 billion in litigation reserves, "you can find someone else to manage your wholesale welfare program for nearly 50 million Americans."
There is more:

Last month JPMorgan warned some 465,000 holders of the cards that their personal data may have been accessed by computer hackers who attacked its network in July.
Government regulators are focusing on whether corporate payroll programs that use the cards have sufficient safeguards against burdening employees with fees.
For the past year the company has been moving to simplify its operations after its risk controls and guards against money laundering were found deficient by regulators.

According to JPMorgan's statement, the bank "will explore a full range of options for its prepaid card business, including a sale."
In the meantime, it will continue to support current clients and cardholders. The decision does not affect Chase customers holding credit, debit or prepaid "Liquid" cards, the company said.

Needless to add here, the last thing the precarious "recovery" needs right now are glitches with the EBT system, which as we saw last October when the EBT system briefly went "dark" nearly plunged the nation into a wholesale panic. Then again, such is quid pro quo life when the government bites one of the biggest hands that feed it.Hmmmm..........Someone knows the 'food stamp business' is coming to an end.Read the full story here.

'Beemageddon' threatens US with food disaster.

'Beemageddon' threatens US with food disaster.(RT).

Honey bees pollinate more than 100 US crops, including apples, zucchinis, avocados and plums, that are worth more than $200 billion a year. Since 2006, about 10 million bee hives at an average value of $200 each have been lost in what scientists call the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), according to a new report by the US Department of Agriculture.

There are currently about 2.5 million honey bee colonies in the US, which is a drastic decrease from the 6 million that existed in 1947 and the 3 million that existed in 1990. Last winter alone, the honey bee population declined by 31.1 percent, with some beekeepers reporting losses of 90 to 100 percent. In the previous two winters, beekeepers lost about 22 percent of their populations.
“Currently, the survivorship of honey bee colonies is too low for us to be confident in our ability to meet the pollination demands of US agricultural crops,” the USDA report states.
California’s almond crop, which blooms toward the end of winter, would suffer the most. About 80 percent of the global almond supply comes from the Golden State’s orchards, and 70 percent of the state’s crop is marketed overseas.
US beekeepers truck about 1.5 million out-of-state colonies to the almond orchards each year, which depend on the insect’s pollination. The colonies are tasked with pollinating about 760,000 acres of almond trees at the end of each winter. It takes 60 percent of all US bee colonies to pollinate the $4 billion crop.
Zac Browning, a beekeeper, told NPR that the almond orchards have become “ground zero in commercial beekeeping” and that many beekeepers drive over from their home base in the Midwest.
But with a bee shortage that gets worse every year, many of the almond orchards will never be pollinated, which could eventually cause a global almond shortage and economic consequences for the US.
The USDA knows how the agriculture industry will be affected by the large-scale bee die-offs, but does not know why exactly they are dying in such numbers. The report cites “multiple factors… including parasites and disease, genetics, poor nutrition and pesticide exposure”, while also citing last summer’s drought as a contributing factor.
“Undernourished or malnourished bees appear to be more susceptible to pathogens, parasites, and other stressors, including toxins,” the USDA report states.
During CCDs, surviving adult bees abandon their hives, leaving behind the queen bee, brood and food stores.
“Bees across the country are not in as good a shape as last year,” Eric Mussen, a University of California bee specialist, told the Christian Science Monitor. “When you stress them far enough, the bees just give in.”
After large-scale honey bee die-offs each winter, beekeepers try to restore their populations in the summer. But with the populations dropping so low, the economic ramifications are almost unavoidable.

The European Commission suspects that neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides chemically related to nicotine, might be responsible – at least partially – for the die-offs and the CCDs. Honey bees have also died off in unusually large numbers in Europe, prompting the commission to impose a two-year ban on neonicotinoids last month to give scientists time to review the chemicals’ impact on bee health.

But US officials have stated that they don’t have enough evidence to ban neonicotinoids. And with a drastically decreasing honey bee population, ‘beemageddon’ might be just around the corner.
“We are one poor weather event or high winter bee loss away from a pollination disaster,” Jeff Pettis, the USDA’s bee research leader, said in the report.Hmmmm........Bee very concerned!Read the full story here.

Food crisis fear is Rising - Expensive food and energy might keep Obama out of the Oval office.

Food crisis fear is Rising - Expensive food and energy might keep Obama out of the Oval office.(Reuters).
* Soybeans set record high
* Corn front-month hits record top, off peak
* Wheat nears four-year high
* U.S. govt forecasts hot, dry weather to continue.
Corn and soybeans soared to record highs on Thursday as the worsening drought in the U.S. farm belt stirred fears of a food crisis, with prices coming off peaks after investors cashed out of the biggest grains rally since 2008. Corn prices crossed into uncharted territory above $8 per bushel -- about three-and-a-half times the average price 10 years ago of $2.28. Soybeans punched past $17 for the first time -- also three-and-a-half times the 2002 average. 
Analysts said that while forecasts for continued dry weather are expected to sustain the rally, corn prices could be vulnerable to any move by the government to lower the amount of corn-based ethanol blenders are required to mix with gasoline. Even as chatter about a possible revision of the ethanol mandate has escalated, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former governor of top farm state Iowa, has ruled out such a move. "The only thing that can stop this rally is if they pull the mandate," said grains analyst Mark Kinoff, president of Ceres Hedge in Chicago. "In two weeks, if corn prices are $2 higher they might change their tune," he added.
"Obama would need inexpensive food and energy to get back into the Oval office," he said of President Barack Obama and his campaign to win reelection in November. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast above-normal temperatures and below-average precipitation for the Midwest through October. The high prices for corn and soybeans in the world's largest grain-exporting nation were beginning to dent sales. U.S. government data showed sales of soybeans to buyers overseas fell last week to the lowest level in six months. For corn, the weekly sales were one-fifth of a year ago, with Taiwan choosing to cancel a large purchase. Concerns were growing that high prices could trigger a food crisis like that in 2008, when food shortages triggered riots in some countries. "I hesitate to use those words (food crisis) but the circumstances are more severe now than they were in 2008," said Dennis Gartman, a commodity trader and editor/publisher of The Gartman Letter.Hmmmm.....Seems even 'Mother Nature' wants CHANGE in 2012.Read the full story here.

The Largest Natural Disaster In U.S. History: The Endless Drought Of 2012 Will Bake America Well Into August.

The Largest Natural Disaster In U.S. History: The Endless Drought Of 2012 Will Bake America Well Into August.(AP).By Michael Snyder.Why is the heartland of the United States experiencing such a horrific drought right now? At the moment, approximately 61 percent of the entire nation is experiencing drought conditions, and this is absolutely devastating farmers and ranchers all over the country.

Less than two weeks ago I wrote an article asking what would happen if these drought conditions persisted, and now we are finding out. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has created the largest natural disaster area in U.S. history. The USDA has declared 1,016 counties in 26 U.S. states to be disaster areas. The USDA declaration basically covered about half of the nation, and there is now no denying how horrible this drought really is. You can see a map of this disaster area right here.

This endless drought is being compared to the nightmarish drought of 1988, and if it persists into August it could become perhaps the worst drought that America has ever seen. The USDA says that approximately 60 percent of all corn in the country is experiencing "moderate to extreme" drought conditions. If this drought does not end soon, the losses are going to be mind blowing. Already, it is estimated that farmers and ranchers have suffered billions of dollars in damage. How much worse can things get?

At the beginning of July many were hoping that we would soon see some rain and that we could still see a decent corn harvest.
Unfortunately, the drought has gotten even worse since that time. The following is from an article in the Chicago Tribune....

The whole of Iowa was classified as abnormally dry as of July 10 and 12.7 percent of the top corn and soybean producing state was in severe drought, up from 0.8 percent the prior week.

Harder-hit Illinois, the No. 2 corn and soy state, was 66.28 percent under severe drought or worse, up from 40 percent the previous week.

Severe to exceptional drought covered 80.15 percent of Indiana, versus 68.84 percent the prior week.

Conditions in Missouri also deteriorated, with 82.54 percent of the state in severe drought or worse, compared with 78.83 percent the week before.

That is not good news.

Posted below is the latest update from the U.S. drought monitor. As you can see, nearly the entire southern half of the country is extremely dry right now....

It is being projected that in some of the major corn growing areas as much as 60 percent of the crops could be lost.

Many farmers that had been desperately hoping for rain are now becoming resigned to the fact that their crops are not going to make it. The following is from an article in the New York Times....

'Corn is anywhere from knee-high to waist-high,' Gonzalee Martin, agriculture and natural resources educator with Purdue University’s Allen County extension office, told The News-Sentinel. 'Much of it has already tassled with no ears at all. Much of it’s going to be completely lost'

When your livelihood depends on the weather, an endless drought can be extremely stressful. Many farmers that had been anticipating a bumper crop this year are now faced with an utter disaster. The following example comes from CNN....

Now, as punishing drought grips the Midwest, Villwock, 61, walks his hard-hit 4,000 acres in southwest Indiana in utter dismay.

Where there should have been tall, dark green, leafy plants, there now stand corn stalks that are waist high or, at best, chest high. They are pale in color and spindly. Fragile. Tired.

Pull back an ear's husk and you find no kernels, he says. With temperatures rising above 95 degrees, the pollen starts to die.

'It's emotionally draining,' he said. 'The crop got out of the ground very well. We were so optimistic. But maybe a few of us were counting our eggs before they were hatched.'

So is there any hope that things are going to turn around?

Unfortunately, things do not look promising right now. It is being projected that the Corn Belt will experience extremely high temperatures and very low rainfall all the way through mid-August. The following report comes from accuweather.com....

AccuWeather.com agricultural meteorologists are concerned that new and frequent waves of near-100-degree temperatures and stingy rainfall will further stress crops over Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska into mid-August.

When temperatures are very high and rainfall is very low, evaporation happens very rapidly. As accuweather.com notes, when the ground becomes very, very dry it can create a vicious cycle that feeds on itself....

Evaporation rates are very high into the first part of August. Soaking rain on a regular basis instead of a brief downpour is needed to be of benefit beyond a couple of days.

Turning things around in the Midwest as a whole will be a difficult task as dry ground tends to bring higher daytime temperatures, which in turn raises evaporation rates and so on.

 So what does all of this mean for the rest of us?

It is going to mean higher food prices.

On Friday, the price of corn hit $7.50 a bushel.

It had been thought that the price of corn would only be about $5.00 a bushel this year.

At this point, the price of corn is up 48 percent since mid-June, and it could go a whole lot higher.

Some analysts are projecting that if this endless drought persists, we could see ten dollars for a bushel of corn and 20 dollars for a bushel of soybeans.

And yes, you will notice this at the supermarket.

In a previous article, I included a quote from a recent article by Holly Deyo about why the price of corn affects the price of so many other products....

Since 75% of grocery store products use corn as a key ingredient, expect food prices to skyrocket. Corn is also a staple in many fast foods. Corn is in ethanol and the main food source or chickens. In addition to this, maize is in many things that aren't obvious like adhesives, aluminum, aspirin, clothing starch, cosmetics, cough syrup, dry cell batteries, envelopes, fiberglass insulation, gelatin capsules, ink, insecticides, paint, penicillin, powders, rugs and carpets, stamps, talcum, toothpaste, wallpaper, and vitamins. That's just for starters...

This is a huge heads up for you to purchase corn-using products NOW before these conditions reflect in grocery goods. It will be a narrow window of opportunity.

This endless drought is also a complete and total nightmare for ranchers.

At this point, approximately 50 percent of America's pastures and ranges are in "poor" or "very poor" condition.

Back in June, that figure was only sitting at 28 percent.

So things have gotten a lot worse very quickly.

A lot of ranchers are selling off their cattle because this drought is making it very difficult to continue to feed them.

The following is from examiner.com....

Rauhn Panting, with the University of Idaho, who works with ranchers and farmers, says, 'We're going to run out of grass. It's going to be scary.' Ranchers are being advised to vacate grazing lands, weeks and even months before when they usually have to leave.

Left with only two choices, feed or sell, many are opting to sell their cattle. The Torrington Stock Market in Wyoming, has recorded that 36,000 cattle were sold in May and June of this year. The usual average for these months is 5,500. Small ranchers, with 30-50 cow/calf pairs, are being hit the hardest.

So expect higher meat prices in the fall and winter as well.

This all comes at a really bad time. We are already on the verge of a global financial catastrophe. Agriculture was supposed to be one of the few bright spots in the U.S. economy.

Sadly, the U.S. is not the only one having problems with crops this year.

For example, in Germany farmers are actually experiencing a full-blown plague of rats.

Yes, seriously.

The following is from a recent Der Spiegel article....

Millions of field mice are overrunning the central German states of Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, much to the concern of local farmers. The rodents are devastating food crops, cutting yields by up to 50 percent. Getting birds of prey to hunt the critters didn't help, and now farmers want to be allowed to use a banned rat poison.

So why is all of this happening?

Why is nature going crazy all of a sudden?Hmmm........If you can control the Climate you can wage war on the whole world, Wake up people the 'Big One' is coming.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Warning extremely Graphic Footage !The first prisoner is a Pro Mubarak Supporter ,the second is a Anti Mubarak supporter.Source

• Egypt volatile situation : Mubarak 'steps down as NDP head'  - Al Jazeera English - Live Streams From Egypt ! Here .
• Egypt protests on Twitter!  here.

• HT:CrossroadsArabia.Egyptian Chaos Causes Saudi Food Price Rise.In our increasingly interdependent world, events in one place are sure to have effects in another. While Saudi Arabia has not been affected particularly by the political ferment, it is being hit economically. Arab News reports that Egyptian exports of foodstuffs to the Kingdom have declined enormously, resulting in higher prices for Saudi consumers. The price and availability of food is always a major concern of governments and here, the Saudis are seeking new sources to meet demand.JEDDAH: Egyptian protests in its second week has triggered a severe price hike on vegetables and fruits coming from that country to Saudi Arabia’s market. With Egyptian ports shut, no exports are arriving in Saudi Arabia and prices have almost doubled.Several local vegetable shops in Jeddah dependent on these goods told Arab News on Friday that they are closely watching the Egyptian situation on television like many other people.“We imported a fairly large quantities of Egyptian oranges, guava, strawberries, onions, lemons and sweet potatoes, however from the looks of things in Egypt, I do not expect these quantities to last for long,” said 55-year-old Abu Abdullah, a wholesaler in Jeddah.“Events in Egypt came at no better time; work at Jeddah’s Islamic Seaport is almost at a dismal level because of Wednesday’s (Jan. 26) flooding. Also some city warehouses of wholesalers and importers situated in south Jeddah are still flooded.”Hmmm....How long before this explodes?Read the full story here.

• HT:RadioPatriot.Obama, Code Pink and Egypt: ‘There Are No Coincidences in Politics’.As the cliche goes, there are no coincidences in politics. Obama fundraiser group Code Pink just happened to have arrived in Cairo last week for the group’s ninth visit there in two years as part of its campaign to undermine the Mubarak government and help Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza.Code Pink and the media are trying to portray the leftist group’s “sudden” appearance in Cairo Wednesday as an act of courageous support for a democratic revolution. Nothing could be further from the truth.Code Pink has a well-documented history of working to overthrow American allies while propping up anti-American leftist governments and terrorist regimes.In fact, the group was founded in late 2002 to help keep the socialist Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein in power. Code Pink even traveled to Baghdad in February 2003 as guests of the tyrannical terrorist to lobby the world to keep Saddam Hussein in power.In January 2007 Code Pink traveled to Cuba to wage a propaganda campaign, aided by the Cuban government, that called for the closure of the United States terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo. The Ladies in White, a persecuted human rights group comprised of wives and mothers of Cuban democracy activists held in the Castros’ gulags, wrote an open letter beseeching Cindy Sheehan, who accompanied Code Pink to Cuba, to inspect Cuba’s prisons for human rights violations.The year before, in January 2006, Code Pink met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans described Chavez as “a doll.”In the summer of 2009, Code Pink made no effort to travel to Tehran to support Iranian democracy activists protesting the stolen election that reelected Ahmadinejad president. How could they when just months earlier Code Pink had visited Tehran and Qom as personal guests of Ahmadinejad?What is interesting is that despite the apparent opposition in positions on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Code Pink and President Barack Obama are amazingly in sync. Obama wants Mubarak to go. So does Code Pink. Obama wanted Zelaya to stay in power. So did Code Pink. Obama hobnobs with Hugo Chavez, so does Code Pink. Obama wants to close Guantanamo and is easing travel restrictions on Cuba, which mirrors Code Pink’s positions. Obama is waging war on Big Oil, so is Code Pink. Obama opposed liberating Iraq, so did Code Pink. Obama wants our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan soon regardless of the effect, so does Code Pink.It’s no wonder that one of Obama’s early supporters and key fundraisers was Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans.Hmmmm......The Founding Fathers would have dealt quickly and thoroughly with this kind of behaviour!Read the full story here.

• HT:Imra.Iran issues warning it will carry out preemptive attacks. TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of the Iranian Army Major General Ataollah Salehi underscored on Saturday that the country's Armed Forces are prepared to carry out preemptive measures to strangle any aggressive action by the enemies."The Army will not linger one moment in guarding the territorial integrity (of the country), honoring the valuable achievements of the Revolution and safeguarding the water, air and land borders," Salehi said in a message on the occasion of the Air Force Day in Iran."The Army will cut the hands of any aggressor before rising," he stressed.Iranian military commanders and officials have on many occasions warned enemies of Iran's crushing response to any possible action against the country, stressing that the Iranian Armed Forces will give a crippling response to aggressors if they dare to attack the country."The Islamic Republic of Iran's Armed Forces, in particular the Ground Forces, are fully prepared and should a threat emerge, these forces will defend Iran's sovereignty powerfully … and will cripple the enemy," Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said on Wednesday.He said that the main strategy of the Armed Forces is to get highly prepared according to various forms of threats.A recent study by a fellow at Harvard's Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Caitlin Talmadge, warned that Iran could use mines as well as missiles to block the strait, and that "it could take many weeks, even months, to restore the full flow of commerce, and more time still for the oil markets to be convinced that stability had returned."Hmmmmm......How far are you willing to go to get the oil you need?Read the full story here.

• HT:NewsRealBlog."Breaking the War Mentality" by Barack Obama (1983).One of Barry’s College Articles Surfaces — and You’ll Wish It Hadn’t.Our future president didn’t exactly push the envelope as a writer in college. Before he allegedly got his close personal friend Bill Ayers to write his memoirs, his writing was –oh, how to put it– dull and trite, filled with cliches and what one writer called “leftist claptrap.”Somehow I missed this article when it popped up a year and a half ago, but Two Sets of Books (Patti Villacorta) blogged about the article that Barack Obama wrote back at Columbia University and kindly brought it to my attention.The 1983 article from the Sundial, “Breaking the War Mentality,” is pretty, errr, well, sophomoric. The piece by The Smartest President Ever begins:Most students at Columbia do not have first hand knowledge of war. Military violence has been a vicarious experience, channeled into our minds through television, film, and print.These [peacenik] groups, visualizing the possibilities of destruction and grasping the tendencies of distorted national priorities, are throwing their weight into shifting America off the dead end track.Yup, that’s America, a bunch of useless dead-enders, so say the left.It just goes on and on like this.If you’re having trouble getting to sleep one night, I recommend you read the article.You’ll be out before you finish the first page.Hmmm.....This must have been before he found "Faith" and saw the hate for America from Rev.Jeremiah Wright.Read the full story here. The "masterpiece" can be read here.

• HT:FederalWeekComputers.I Beg you pardon? : Cyber Attacks Traced to ... White House Computers!The White House's unclassified e-mail system is back up after an eight-hour outage, but the e-mail security problems may go deeper. It was disclosed today that some officials alleged White House e-mails were the source of a cyberattack against British officials two months ago.Officials from the United Kingdom said today that alleged White House e-mail accounts were the source of a malware attack against U.K. government officials in late December, according to news reports.It was not immediately clear whether the attack came from official White House e-mail accounts that had been hacked or from hoaxed accounts that resembled White House accounts.British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the malware attempt apparently originated in a White House e-mail account and was directed at U.K diplomats. He presented details today at a global meeting in Munich."In late December, a spoofed e-mail purporting to be from the White House was sent to a large number of international recipients who were directed to click on a link that then downloaded a variant of Zeus" virus, Hague said, according to a report in Silicon.com today. Government security experts were able to clear the infection, he said.The perpetrator posed as a top White House aide and e-mailed messages to government staff members in Britain inviting them to click on a link that would have triggered the computer bug, The Telegraph reported in an article today. The application was designed to steal personal data from a large number of U.K. civil servants, the Telegraph said. If the White House e-mail accounts were hacked, it was not known whether the hacking was related to the e-mail system failure that took place Feb. 3.The White House’s unclassified e-mail system used by the West Wing and executive Office Building went down. Dan Pfeiffer, a White House spokesman, tweeted news of the disruption to reporters around noon and said Verizon was working on restoring the service.Hmmmmm......."The ennemy within"?Did it happen before or after the declined Royal wedding invitation?Read the full story here.More here.

• HT:RightwingNews.Pigford Pigout Is Illegal.When Comrade Obama promised to "spread the wealth around," he didn't mean indiscriminately. The idea is to take it from those who create it, and spread it among the groups that support him most loyally, namely unions and blacks. He has to spread fast, before the country goes bankrupt. An example of how he does it is the Pigford Pigout, which as it turns out is illegal : When Congress was stampeded to pass unprecedented legislation in 1998 to facilitate the Pigford v. Glickman suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), some wise but unknown person included a limiting provision in that bill to minimize participation by phony claimants.But, when the Clinton Administration agreed to a settlement of the case in 1999, that provision was carefully evaded in the consent decree, opening the door to massive fraud. Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee, quickly approved the deal, resulting in payment of more than $1 billion to nearly 16,000 black claimants, virtually none of whom met that statutory requirement.Now the Obama regime is on the brink of settling a second Pigford suit for another $1.25 billion, and the proposed settlement again subverts and ignores the law to encourage and reward massive fraud — this time by as many as 80,000 prospective claimants.Hmmmm......Free money ,come and get it!Read the full scam story here.

• HT:DougRoss.Memo to House GOP: Obama's Disregard of Court Orders Offers Perfect Cover Fire for Massive Budget Cuts--Starting with Interior and HHS.Word around the Beltway has it that the GOP has drastically scaled back its proposed spending cuts, which have shriveled from $100 to $32 billion.Republicans controlling the House are promising to wring $32 billion from the 2011 budget in their drive to bring domestic spending back to the levels in place before President Barack Obama took office... House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan announced the move as Republicans gird for their first exercise in cutting domestic agencies' budgets by almost 20 percent over the upcoming year.The Interior Department and HHS will find it much more difficult to wreak havoc on the American public when they have no money.Dear House Republicans: grow a few sets and start grabbing the power voters delivered to you last November. The time for action is now. Make your case: the American people are behind you.Hmmmmmm......Memo to the people ..."Vote out all the Republicans and replace them by Tea party members"!Read the full story here.

• Canada PM Harper Urges U.S. to Approve Oil Pipeline.WASHINGTON -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday urged U.S. officials to approve a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, calling Canada a "secure, stable and friendly" neighbor that poses no threat to U.S. security. By contrast, many other countries that supply oil are not stable, secure or friendly to U.S. interests, Harper said at a White House news conference following a meeting with President Barack Obama. Harper did not name any other country, but pipeline supporters have singled out countries such as Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran as places where the United States faces security threats and instability. Canada's environment minister has used the term "ethical oil" to describe his country's crude supplies, saying Canada respects human rights, workers' rights and environmental responsibility. "The choice that the United States faces in all of these matters is whether to increase its capacity to accept such energy from the most secure, most stable and friendliest location it can possibly get that energy, which is Canada, or from other places that are not as secure, stable or friendly to the interests and values of the United States," Harper said.Obama, standing next to Harper at a news conference, did not address the pipeline issue.An environmental group that opposes the pipeline said Harper failed to acknowledge that tar sands oil is highly polluting. "There are cleaner, safer ways to meet U.S. energy needs than to import this dirty oil from Canada via a dangerous pipeline through America's heartland," said Alex Moore of the environmental group Friends of the Earth. Moore said he was glad that Obama did not express support for the pipeline, adding that if Obama is serious about making America a leader in clean energy, "he has no choice but to stop this project."Hmmmm.....Looking at Pres Obama's track record Canada will be next in line to be stabbed in the back.You would expect from Pm Harper a better knowledge of who he's up against.Read the full story here.

• Canada - Muslims want children excused from music, mixed phys-ed classes.WINNIPEG — A dozen Muslim families who recently arrived in Canada have told Winnipeg's Louis Riel School Division that they want their children excused from compulsory elementary school music and coed physical education programs for religious and cultural reasons."This is one of our realities in Manitoba now, as a result of immigration," said superintendent Terry Borys. "We were faced with some families who were really adamant about this. Music was not part of the cultural reality."Borys said the school division has alerted Education Minister Nancy Allan about the situation since music and phys-ed are compulsory in the province's elementary schools.There have been no issues so far with children of middle-school or high-school age, he said.The families accept physical education, as long as the boys and girls have separate classes, but do not want their children exposed to singing or the playing musical instruments, Borys said. The division has suggested they could instead do a writing project to satisfy the music requirements of the arts curriculum.However, a local Muslim leader says there is no reason for young kids to be held out of music or phys-ed classes based on religious and cultural grounds."Who is advising them? My first concern would be who are these new immigrants talking to?" said Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of the Islamic Social Services. "This is the first time I am hearing this; I'm not very happy about it."Hmmmmm......Islamic extremism coming to a neighbourhood near you?Read the full story here.

• Christians join Muslims in plea for change in Egypt.Shoulder-to-shoulder with their Muslim compatriots, Egypt's minority Coptic Christians are flocking to Cairo's central square to join the call for the swift resignation of President Hosni Mubarak."Too many Christians died in Mubarak's era. Leave Egypt now!" read the banner of Nader, a 23-year-old Copt who joined on Saturday the Tahrir square demonstrations to demand regime-change."The persecutions against the Christians increased in the last 10 years," said Nader in a reference to the suicide bomber who killed 21 people outside a church in the northern city of Alexandria on New Year's Eve."The only thing that Mubarak is doing is to try to hide what happened and this is not the solution," added the young Copt, whose community accounts for up to 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million people and is the biggest Christian minority in the Middle East.Pope Shenuda III, Egypt's top Coptic Christian, told demonstrators on Friday night to take into account "the concessions" made by the government after more than a week of demonstrations at Tahrir square."He told us we should not go to protests" against the president, which kicked-off January 25 and have drawn hundreds of thousands out to the streets and left more than 300 people dead, according to UN estimates."But we come to the demonstrations regardless because we want it to be recorded that Christians were here," said Ihab, 41, returning from the square."Jesus will grant us a better life. Leave now, Mubarak, so we can enjoy it," read his banner.Hmmmmm........"In to the valley of darkness the fools rode,with nothing but their faith to shield them.Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die"?Read the full story here.

• HT:ExposeTheMedia.42.9 Million People On “Food Stamps”: Soda, Candy, $30 Steaks, Schwan’s Food Delivery.I have a friend who receives payments from the government for food, and she doesn’t get food stamps. People need to stop using the phrase ‘food stamp’ because what she gets is so much better. My friend gets an actual credit card which grocery stores call an EBT (Electronic Benefit Transaction). It is literally swiped at the register just like a credit card, only she chooses EBT instead of VISA. The government replenishes her card every single week, and they never forget. The only thing she needs to do to get the free money, is NOT work. She can even get food delivered to her home from Schwan’s Food Delivery. She can buy gum, soda, 30 dollar steaks and so much more. At the end of this blog, I have posted a list of some of the crap and luxury the government allows her to purchase with our money.Hmmm.....The Obama make believe world versus the real world 14,9 Trillion Dollar debt!Read the full story here.

• HT:HawaiTours.Find Obama's Birth Certificate Tour Package.This is the perfect tour for those who are interested in helping put an end to the mystery of whether or not President Obama's birth certificate exists in Hawaii.Travel arrangements will be made by our team of native Hawaiian tour guides, certified as some of the best on the Island. Activities include island hopping, volcano exploration, a visit to the Pearl Harbor Memorial, a 120-mile journey around the island of Oahu and a traditional luau at Paradise Cove. If the missing Presidential documents are to be found, these are the perfect tours to uncover them on.Hmmm....Like the Hawaiian version of the "Loch Ness Monster" for both there are claims of being sighted ,there are  photo's of both and None has ever been actually confirmed my bet is Nessie in scotland is the real deal,what do you think?Read the full story here.

• Birmingham councillors clash as Martin Mullaney accuses Salma Yaqoob of Islamic extremism.ONE of the Birmingham councillors who snubbed a George Cross hero is embroiled in a new row after being accused of wishing to see people stoned to death if they do not follow a strict Muslim way of life.Coun Salma Yaqoob was criticised when she refused to take part in a standing ovation for Afghanistan veteran Lance Corporal Matt Croucher.Along with Respect Party colleague Mohammed Ishtiaq, she remained seated in the city council chamber as everyone else in the room rose to give guest of honour L/Cpl Croucher a spontaneous round of applause.The protest led prominent Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Mullaney to accuse Coun Yaqoob of wanting to see Britain become an Islamic republic. He also suggested that she would have risen to applaud a suicide bomber.Writing on the Re-Stirred website , Coun Mullaney claimed: “If Coun Yaqoob had her way, she would be implementing Hadood Law, with hands cut off and stonings.”He went on: “I can only assume that if one of the failed 21/7 London suicide bombers had been in the council chamber, Coun Yaqoob would have been demanding the council applaud the failed suicide bomber for their past heroic actions.”He provided a link to an article written by Coun Yaqoob entitled The Islamic Republic of Great Britain.In it, she describes a story set in the future with Prince Charles, who has become King, quitting the throne and living in the Tibet as a Buddhist monk.Prince William, now known as William bin Charlie, becomes King and presides over an Islamic Britain where Hadood law is in force. However, Coun Yaqoob writes that initial fears of an increase in one-handed people because of brutal punishment have not been realised.Hmmmm......A sign of things to come?Read the full story here.

• HT:LegalInsurection.He "Lied Us Into" The Mandate.Obama ran for office on opposition to the individual mandate, then made it the centerpiece of his signature legislative initiative. Perhaps this should have been "lie of the year." At PolitiFact.com, it wasn't even a runner-up.The current Democratic House bill on health care includes fines to force people to purchase health insurance, which is consistent with Barack Obama's current position on mandates. This type of coercion, however, was criticized by Obama during the campaign, when he attacked Hillary Clinton's health insurance plan because Hillary's plan mandated universal coverage through fines and other mechanisms which forced people to buy coverage ..."And again in March 2010, as the House was approaching its vote on the Senate Obamacare bill, Obama's Mandate Head Fake:There is no more pernicious aspect of the pending health care bills (Senate, House and Obama "proposal") than the mandate....There was a time when Obama was against a mandate. That was when he was running against Hillary Clinton, who supported mandates.Here is the videotape of Obama hammering Hillary not only over the mandate but also over the use of fines to enforce the mandate.Hmmmm....Hellooooo..."Is there anyone who still believes what comes out of Obama's mouth?Read the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.How dishonest is the 9.0% unemployment number? Let's put it this way: a polygraph would explode into 10,000 pieces of shrapnel.Tyler Durden analyzes the labor force dropout rate and comes up with the real unemployment rate : 12.8%.Probably the last chart to bury any doubt about just how truly horrible today's employment data was, comes from a little observed data metric: that showing the number of people who are not in the labor force, but who want a job now...Those not in the Labor Force has increased from 83.9 million to 86.2 million, or 2.2 million in one year! As for the numerator in the fraction, the number of unemployed, it has plunged from 15 million to 13.9 million in two months! The only reason for this is due to the increasing disenchantment of those who completely fall off the BLS rolls and no longer even try to look for a job. Lastly, we won't even show what the labor force is as a percentage of total population. It is a vertical plunge.About two years ago, I described the destruction of the economy as intentional. At that time, folks didn't believe me.Most have reconsidered.UPDATE : Underemployment is 19.2% ! Hmmmm......Obamanomics a.k.a. how to destroy the Greatest economy in the world in 4 years!Read the full story here.

• Mohammed orders sending boys with burns abroad for treatment.Special aircraft to fly the two who fell into a hole filled with caustic soda waste.His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has ordered sending two children who suffered severe burns after falling in a hole containing caustic waste in Dibba, for treatment abroad.Qadi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of Dubai Health Authority, said that Sheikh Mohammed also ordered provision of a special aircraft, equipped with necessary medical equipment, to fly the two children to a specialised medical centre in Germany within the next 48 hours. They will be accompanied by a medical team.Al Muroohsid thanked Sheikh Mohammed for the gesture. He said Sheikh Mohammed issued the order after reading the story of the two children in the front page of today's 'Al Emarat Al Youm' newspaper.Hmmmmm......A sparkle of Humanity in this world of madness?But for sure a great PR move.Read the full story here.

• HT:RNW.Video - Wilders same case ,different judges.After a break of more than three months, Geert Wilders is scheduled to appear in court again on Monday. The charges are the same: inciting hatred and discrimination and insulting groups of people. But the judges are new.Populist anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders successfully objected to the trial proceedings last year. The judges had made mistakes, he claimed, and had not given him an honest chance to conduct his defence. The review committee agreed with him.So the trial has had to be restarted. All the witnesses may have to appear in court again. And the Public Prosecutor's Office is represented by the same prosecutors. The same team who called for Mr Wilders to be acquitted when the trial started to go awry the first time.Hmmm.......Lets see how "Blind" and "Deaf" lady Justice is this time?Read the full story here.

• Spyware Gangs Merging, Planning 'Supertrojan' Malware.Security experts warn that a new "supertrojan" is lurking in the cyber shadows, which may make ordinary viruses seem as harmless as the common cold.The two most forbidding pieces of spyware on the Net have James Bond-worthy names: SpyEye and ZeuSTwo. Once competing tools for cybercrooks, now they’re teaming up to form a hybrid being hailed as SpyZeuS -- and security analysts warn companies and users to be on their guard."Conventional security solutions will find it hard to detect and handle this type of new threat," wrote fraud expert Aviv Raff on his blog.ZeuS is considered king of the botnets, having been used to hack the websites of such reputable groups as Bank of America, NASA, and Amazon. SpyEye surfaced last year, with many assuming it would become the next ZeuS -- and now in a way, it has. “Just be aware,” Cox told FoxNews.com. “There should always be a red flag when you’re using a computer at home and you are asked for something that your login doesn’t normally ask you for. That should give you a heads up that something’s awry.”Read the full story here.