Ohio food stamps for low income families will be reduced in January 2013.

Ohio food stamps for low income families will be reduced in January 2013.(EX).The Toledo Blade reported on Monday that the state Department of Jobs and Family Services will begin reducing food stamps for Ohio residents beginning in 2013. Reduction estimates should total $50 per family which is about $520 million worth of yearly groceries from a total of 869,000 households. 
Blame it on the change in weather and the extra warm winter Ohio residents had last year. The effects of that mild winter caused residents to have lower utility bills thereby reducing the overall natural gas usage. According to the Department of Jobs and Family Services this reduced the standard utility allowance that is factored in when determining a person's eligibility for food stamps. This amount was determined by the federal department and Ohio can do nothing to change the outcome. “This is a federal issue,” said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Directors’ Association. “It is what it is. They have a formula. ... We just think it is going to be really hard on families and individuals. They will see significantly less money starting in January.” 
The unfortunate outcome in Ohio families having their stamps cut is that they will have even less money to spend on food. There are already a number of families that rely on visiting food banks because their food stamps often run out by month's end. Parents with children who suffer from food allergies have to be critical of certain food items. This means that their grocery bills are often higher than the average family. Because the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will lower food stamps in January it may be even more difficult for them to buy the right type of groceries. Fifty dollars may seem like a small amount to some, however, most low income families who look forward to this every month will find difficult to manage. It's more important than ever to find ways to lower costs for groceries in order to get the foods you need for your family. One of the best ways to counteract these cuts is to look for coupons online and in the daily paper and you may even find it necessary to visit local food banks.Read the full story here.

Foodstamp Recipients Hit All Time High As Three Times As Many Americans Enter Poverty As Find Jobs.

Foodstamp Recipients Hit All Time High As Three Times As Many Americans Enter Poverty As Find Jobs.(ZH).Following a brief period in which it seemed that US foodstamp recipients may have peaked, with those living in poverty maxing out at 46.514 million in December 2011, and then declining modestly for the next few months, June saw a new surge in those Americans living in poverty and thus eligible for foodstamps, with 173,600 new entrants into the system, bringing the total to a new all time high of 46.670 million and once again rising fast.
Furthermore, with subsequent emergency events affecting the heartland due to the drought, the administration has made sure even more Americans will be eligible going forward. As a result expect the July and August numbers to promptly surpass 47 million on their way to the psychological resistance level of 50 million. Indicatively, the 173,600 increase in Foodstamps recipients in June was three times greater than Americans finding jobs (64,000, most of which part-time) according to the BLS. Finally, a new record was also breached for American households on foodstamps, which now hit 22.4 million, an increase of 106,298 households. The average benefit per household decline once more, this time to $276.5. Not an all time low, but just above it.Read and see the full story here.

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See.

The U.S. Economy By The Numbers: 70 Facts That Barack Obama Does Not Want You To See.(BLN).By Michael Snyder.BLN Contributing Writer.Why is the economy going to collapse? Have you ever been asked that question? If so, what did you say? Sometimes it is difficult to communicate dozens of complicated economic and financial concepts in a package that the average person on the street can easily digest. It can be very frustrating to know that something is true but not be able to explain it clearly to someone else. Hopefully many of you out there will find the list below useful. It is a list of 70 numbers that show why we are headed for a national economic nightmare. So why does the title of the article single out Barack Obama? Well, it is because right now he is the biggest cheerleader for the economy. He is attempting to convince all of us that everything is just fine and that the economy is heading in a positive direction. Well, the truth is that everything is not fine and things are about to get a whole lot worse. Certainly others should share in the blame as well. Congress has been steering the economy in the wrong direction for decades, the "too big to fail" banks have turned Wall Street into a pyramid of risk, leverage and debt, and the Federal Reserve has more power over the financial system than anyone else does. Our economy has been in decline for quite a while now, and soon we are going to smash directly into an economic brick wall. Unfortunately, a lot of Americans are in denial about this. A lot of people out there doubt that an economic collapse is coming. Well, if you know someone that believes that the U.S. economy is going to be "just fine", just show them the list below

The following are 70 facts that Barack Obama does not want you to see....
$3.59 - When Barack Obama entered the White House, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85. Today, it is $3.59.
22 - It is hard to believe, but today the poverty rate for children living in the United States is a whopping 22 percent.
23 - According to U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, an average of 23 manufacturing facilities permanently shut down in the United States every single day during 2010.
30 - Back in 2007, about 10 percent of all unemployed Americans had been out of work for 52 weeks or longer. Today, that number is above 30 percent.
32 - The amount of money that the federal government gives directly to Americans has increased by 32 percent since Barack Obama entered the White House.
35 - U.S. housing prices are now down a total of 35 percent from the peak of the housing bubble.
40 - The official U.S. unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 40 months in a row.
42 - According to one survey, 42 percent of all American workers are currently living paycheck to paycheck.
48 - Shockingly, at this point 48 percent of all Americans are either considered to be "low income" or are living in poverty.
49 - Today, an astounding 49.1 percent of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives benefits from the government.Read the full list @ BlacklistedNews 

Record Number Of US Households On Foodstamps, 79K increase in the month of March.

Record Number Of US Households On Foodstamps, 79K increase in the month of March.(ZH).Last month, when the USDA released the latest foodstamps numbers for the month of February, there was some hope that following a third month of declines, we may just have seen the peak of US foodstamp usage and going forward we would only see the number decline.
Sadly, the latest numbers refutes this: in March a total of 46,405,204 persons were at or below poverty level and thus eligible for foodstamps, a 79K increase in the month. Yet while many individuals have learned to game the system, and this numbers at the peak may fluctuate, when it comes to the far more comprehensive and difficult to fudge “households on foodstamps” number, there was no confusion: at 22,257,647, the number of US households receiving the “SNAP treatment” rose to an all time high, even as the benefit per household dropped to the second lowest ever. At least all these impoverished believers in hope and change have FaceBook IPO profits to look forward to. Oh wait.Read the full story here.

GOP Rep. Allen West: Someone's 'playing around with' unemployment numbers

 

GOP Rep. Allen West: Someone's 'playing around with' unemployment numbers.(TheHill).By Daniel Strauss. Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) is suspicious about the newly released January unemployment numbers. In response to news that the overall unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent and the unemployment rate in the black community declined from 15.8 percent to 13.6 percent, West floated the possibility that the numbers might have been cooked. "Can someone tell me how employment in the black community has improved at a rate three times the national average in just a few months?? With numbers like today, urban communities should be well on their way to economic recovery then! There is something suspicious about the job numbers released today and it has me very concerned," West wondered Friday. "Is this dramatic supposed decrease in black unemployment a result of job creation or is someone playing around with the census numbers??"Hmmm.....As unemployment numbers go down......Food stamp users go up, is the rise equal?Read the full story here.

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

                    Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Peru 6.3 !More info here.

• Obama Administration Offers $75,000 Grants to Sign Up More Food Stamp Recipients.(BigGovernment).Over the last three years, the number of Americans on food stamps has skyrocketed by two-thirds and stands at a record-high 46 million citizens, or one out of every seven people in the United States. Despite the historic rise in food stamp use, however, the Obama Administration believes not enough people are receiving food stamps who should be and is offering $75,000 grants to groups who devise “effective strategies” to “increase program participation” among those who have yet to sign up.The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s website singles out Hispanics and elderly Americans as groups who often fail to enroll in the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) and says that one of the contributing factors that must be overcome to get more people to sign up for SNAP benefits is individual “pride”:There are many reasons why eligible people, including seniors and Hispanics, do not participate in the SNAP. These include unawareness of eligibility, confusion about program rules and requirements, a complex application process, and a lack of transportation and pride.To reduce these “barriers” to food stamp enrollment, the Department of Agriculture offers non-profit groups the chance to receive $75,000 grants for projects designed to boost food stamp participation among those who are eligible but have yet to sign up. The Department of Agriculture believes that the SNAP program is “severely underutilized” and says that 33 percent more Americans who are eligible to receive food stamps have yet to apply, thus the need to offer federal grants to sign more citizens up.President Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has also argued that food stamps are an effective form of economic stimulus that puts “people to work” because each time food stamps are used at a grocery store “someone’s got to stock it, shelve it, package it, process it, ship it–all of those are jobs.”On January 9th, the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sent a letter to Secretary Tom Vilsack requesting a full report on the Agriculture Department’s oversight efforts. And last year, the Wall Street Journal declared that under President Obama a “food stamp crime wave” was rampant in America.Still, thus far, the Obama Administration has decided to continue offering cash grants through the SNAP Outreach Grant program and plans to pursue its stated strategic plan of increasing food stamp enrollment through 2015.Read the full story here.

• The Heretical Gospel According to Pope Barack Hussein Obama The First.(WyBlog).Via Pundette comes the latest Obamacare tyranny — Pope Barack Hussein Obama The First overrules 20 centuries of Catholic doctrine.Undeterred, and menacingly on the cusp of the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Department of Health and Human Services has issued an "interim final rule" which requires all private health plans, including those of Catholic hospitals and schools, to include coverage of prescription contraceptives, female sterilization procedures, and abortion counseling.Thereby replacing "Thou Shalt Not Kill" with a new heresy —The Gospel According to Obama.Archbishop Timothy Dolan: "Never before has the federal government forced individuals and organizations to go out into the marketplace and buy a product that violates their conscience," said Dolan. "This shouldn't happen in a land where free exercise of religion ranks first in the Bill of Rights."Disobey our consciences and our faith, or disengage completely from providing health care services. He's "graciously" given us a year to decide. Archbishop Dolan again:"In effect, the president is saying we have a year to figure out how to violate our consciences."Which is of course no time at all. Except there's an election coming up. No Catholic can in good conscience vote for Barack Obama. Not after this. To re-elect Obama is to put him above God, to disavow a core tenet of our Catholic faith, to turn your back on everything that Christ taught. And to be complicit in mortal sin. We still believe in mortal sin, don't we? Us Catholics, I mean. The secular world has long since decided to look the other way. Can we? Can we turn our backs and accede to government-sanctioned infanticide? Will we pay our blood money and call it "health care?"I hope not. Is it hyperbole to posit that Barack Hussein Obama is the Antichrist? He will destroy Holy Mother Church. He has said as much, and his actions cannot possibly be interpreted differently. The Church is already out of the adoption business, forced by Obama to surrender our doctrinal authority to the vagaries of homosexual dystopianism.Now he'll prevent us from providing health care. No Catholic hospital can operate under this requirement. They'll be sold, at fire sale prices, probably to Obama cronies like George Soros and Warren Buffett. And no Catholic school will be able to offer health insurance to their employees. "Look at the heartless Catholics," his sycophantic media will say. "The public schools give their employees the best health insurance available!"He will not stop until the Catholic Church is scrubbed from the public square. Banished, like lepers, to the fringes of Obama's New World Order. Crushed under the secular jackboot labeled "tolerance."And then what is left? Who will the people turn to? Government!His message is seductively simple, a siren song, music to the ears of a fickle and easily distracted populace. Obama is our shepherd, we shall not want. It is the eternal seduction of the evil one, played out in the United States of America in the Year of Our Lord 2012.In November Barack Obama must be defeated. Or he will destroy us.Read the full story here.

• DHS Unveils National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at Davos.(BLN).(DHSPressrelease).DAVOS, Switzerland—Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today unveiled the Obama administrations National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The Department of Homeland Security is committed to facilitating legitimate trade and travel, while preventing terrorists from exploiting supply chains, protecting transportation systems from attacks and disruptions, and increasing the resilience of global supply chains.We must continue to strengthen global supply chains to ensure that they operate effectively in time of crisis; recover quickly from disruptions; and facilitate international trade and travel, said Secretary Napolitano. As a part of this effort, we look forward to working closely with our international partners in the public and private sector to build a more resilient global supply chain.The National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security outlines clear goals to promote the efficient and secure movement of goods and foster a resilient supply chain system. It also provides guidance for the U.S. government and crucial domestic, international, public and private stakeholders who share a common interest in the security and resiliency of the global supply chain.Following the release of the National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security, DHS and the Department of State will lead a six month engagement period with the international community and industry stakeholders to solicit feedback and specific recommendations on how to implement the Strategy in a cost effective and collaborative manner. Within 12 months of the release of the Strategy, a consolidated report on the status of implementation efforts will be developed.Read the full story here.

• "Sanctions that bite" - Iran, Iraq Agree to Launch Joint Shipping Line.(Fars).TEHRAN - Iran and Iraq reached an agreement on launching a joint shipping line to enhance their marine cooperation, Managing-Director of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Seyed Ataollah Sadr announced on Sunday. Speaking to FNA, Sadr underlined that launching a joint shipping line between Iran and Iraq will provide the ground for both countries' private companies to set up a joint company to increase their cooperation. "Iran can have desirable cooperation in maritime and port fields with the friendly and brotherly country of Iraq," he added. Sadr also expressed the hope that Tehran and Baghdad would activate a joint committee in the near future for maritime cooperation. Tehran and Baghdad signed a number of bilateral agreements during Iraqi Transportation Minister Hadi Farhan al-Amiri's recent visit to Iran. During the visit, the Iranian and Iraqi officials also agreed to establish joint companies to facilitate transportation of goods and passengers between the two countries. "On the sidelines of a recent meeting (between the Iranian and Iraqi road and transportation ministers), the two sides agreed to set up joint transportation companies," Iranian Deputy Minister of Road and Urbanization Shahriyar Afandizadeh told FNA on Saturday. He expressed the hope that the measure would further facilitate transportation between the two neighboring countries.Hmmmm...."Sanctions that bite".Great way to avoid sanctions Iraqi tankers delivering Iranian oil.Read the full story here.

• The Report That Will Blow Up The Eurozone.(BI).HT: KleinVerzet.The report I refer to in the title requires a little background info: In Holland, where I'll be for a few more days, there's a "rogue" right-wing party named PVV (Party for Freedom). It has no cabinet ministers, but the minority moderate right-wing government needs its support to stay in the saddle. The PVV, like other European right-wingers, is, among many other things, against much of what the European Union stands for. It's certainly against the Euro, and the bailouts with Dutch taxpayer money of countries like Greece and Portugal.A few months ago, the PVV announced they had commissioned a report from British financial consultancy firm Lombard Street Research on the economic consequences of staying in the Eurozone versus returning to the guilder. That report is about to be published "within days". It will prove to be highly explosive material. And the PVV will do all it possibly can to make sure it receives a lot of media attention. It may tear down the incumbent government, which is a heavy advocate of all things Europe, and which will have to quit once the PVV support dies, but for that party that's not the no. 1 concern.And if and when Holland has a large scale discussion on the report and the issues it raises, Germany won't be able to ignore it and stay behind. And then, neither will France.Max Julius of Citywire.uk did a piece on the report, without mentioning it directly, 10 days ago: BI estimate that once the report is published governments in Berlin and The Hague will have a lot of explaining to do. They have to do so against a backdrop of (near-)failing Greek debt swap talks, which will at the very least force them to admit that they have a lost tens of billions in taxpayer money to Club Med countries already. With a second Portugal bailout waiting in the wings. And lots of negative news on Italy and Spain. And more domestic budget cuts. The report will be the moment when the Dutch (and the Germans) realize that our governments have painted far too rosy pictures about the issues so far.The combination of economic reality in the eurozone is already causing a seething hatred and anger. The fact that a reputable economic research firm will flatly contradict the dire predictions by our government about the effects of leaving the euro will "serve as the catalyst that blows up the powder keg. It may take a few months, but it will happen".Hmmm....To put it in a quote"luctor et emergo""I struggle and emerge” are we talking about the Truth? The coat of  arms of the province of Zeeland(TheNetherlands).Read the full story here.

• US Embassy in Egypt housing citizens barred from leaving country.(BM).CAIRO: A new report published on Monday says the United States Embassy in Cairo is sheltering American citizens working for NGOs in the country who have been barred from leaving the country.The Washington Post said Embassy officials and a former NGO official have confirmed that the US citizens banned from leaving Egypt are currently on its grounds.The American Embassy in Cairo is taking the step as relations between Washington and the military junta in the country continue to deteriorate.The embassy did not return calls from Bikyamasr.com for a comment on the situation, but in recent months has been unwilling to assist American citizens arrested and detained by the military, including Bikyamasr.com Editor-in-chief Joseph Mayton, who was detained, beaten and held for more than 12 hours by the military. The US Embassy told Mayton that they would not come retrieve him and had to deal with “the political relationship between Washington and the military.”A Hungarian citizen detained hours after Mayton, was picked up by his embassy in the early evening.The US Embassy has since claimed it always assists its citizens in Egypt, but did not comment on specifics.A senior State Department official said Sunday that a “handful of US citizens have opted to stay in the embassy compound in Cairo while awaiting permission to depart Egypt.”The official, who was not allowed to discuss the matter on the record, would not say whether Sam LaHood, the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, was among those at the embassy.Hmmm.....Perhaps Obama can give the Muslim Brotherhood a couple of extra $Billions?Read the full story here.

• U.K. - The Prime Minister-In-Waiting is on the Muslim Payroll.(IVE).We all know that the Labour leader Ed Miliband is a joke. Sooner or later he will be replaced by his more personable brother David, who stands a good chance of eventually becoming Prime Minister. It's interesting to note, therefore, that this Prime Minister-in-waiting is already on the Muslim payroll. In fact, he works for two different sets of Muslims: Arabs and Pakistanis.Mr Miliband recently pocketed more than £21,000 a day for work in the United Arab Emirates. His rate of pay even outstrips controversial Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester, who earns just under £6,000 a day in salary and bonus.Mr Miliband’s latest entry in the Commons Register of Members’ Interests shows that he received £64,475 from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.He was also provided with transport and accommodation for himself and an accompanying member of staff worth £4,935 for joining the ‘advisory board’ at the ‘Sir Bani Yas Forum’ in Abu Dhabi last November.The confidential forum lasted just three days. The event was described as a ‘high-level retreat’ that ‘created a space for action-oriented discussions among leading policy and opinion-makers about critical issues for peace and security in the Middle East’.The forum was held on Sir Bani Yas island, a luxurious desert island resort created in the Eighties by UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who spent billions of pounds transforming the island into a forest and animal park. More than 3.5 million trees and 60,000 animals were shipped to the island in 1985, following ten years of construction work. And nine million gallons of desalinated water are reported to be pumped to the island each day.Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed Mr Miliband is also working for a Pakistan-based City firm backed by a Swiss aristocratic playboy.Mr Miliband was joined at the ‘Sir Bani Yas Forum’ in Abu Dhabi by his former political patron, Tony Blair, whose own earnings now surpass £12 million a year.Last night Tory MP Charlie Elphicke MP was critical of Mr Miliband and his brother Ed. He said: ‘Usually when spouses own shares it is to help avoid tax. Ed Miliband and Labour talk tough on tax-avoidance except when it’s in the family. You can’t trust a thing they say.’ Read the full story here.

• Video - Syrian troops seize Damascus suburbs from rebels; Clinton to attend U.N. session.(AlArabiya).Troops seized eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels early Monday, opposition activists said, after two days of fighting only a few kilometers from the center of power of President Bashar al-Assad. “The Free Syrian Army has made a tactical withdrawal. Regime forces have re-occupied the suburbs and started making house-to-house arrests,” an activist named Kamal said by phone from the eastern al-Ghouta area on the edge of the capital.A spokesman for the Free Syrian Army of defectors fighting Assad’s forces appeared to confirm that account.“Tanks have gone in but they do not know where the Free Syrian Army is. We are still operating close to Damascus,” Maher al-Naimi told Reuters by phone from Turkey.Activists said earlier on Sunday soldiers had moved into the suburbs at dawn, along with at least 50 tanks and other armored vehicles. At least 19 civilians and rebel fighters were killed in that initial attack, they said. “The more the regime uses the army, the more soldiers defect,” Ahmed al-Khatib, a local rebel council member on the Damascus outskirts, told AFP.Other rebel sources reported heavy fighting in Rankus, 45 kilometers from Damascus, and of heightened tension in Hama, further to the north.Rankus was “besieged for the past five days and is being randomly shelled since dawn by tanks and artillery rounds,” rebel Abu Ali al-Rankusi told AFP by telephone.Fighters had taken over districts less than eight km (five miles) from the heart of the city. The areas have seen repeated protests against Assad’s rule and crackdowns by troops in the 10-month-old uprising. “It’s urban war. There are bodies in the street,” said an activist speaking from the suburb of Kfar Batna.Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city’s calm.Read the full story here.

• Debate on Free Press Heats up in Ankara.(SI).Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has rejected mounting Western criticism over a record number of imprisoned journalists in Turkey, while the top American diplomat in Turkey has confessed he was still unable to understand why journalists and intellectuals were put behind bars. Erdoğan argued the outside world was not aware they were involved in subversive and violent activities."It's hard for Western countries to understand the problem because they do not have journalists who engage in coup attempts and who support and invite coups," Erdoğan said late Wednesday at a reception marking the 25th anniversary of the Zaman newspaper.Without giving a name, he said the jailed journalists included a person who had killed a policeman, and mentioned news stories that were used as evidence in a failed judicial bid in 2008 to have his Justice and Development Party, or AKP, outlawed.However, United States Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone said he could not "understand" the situation."I do have to confess, I do not understand how in a country whose democracy has come so far and is so cherished by the people -- I don't think Turks will ever let go their democracy, I don't think you'll ever accept dictatorship in this country -- so how can there be intellectuals and journalists behind bars in a country that so values freedom? I simply do not understand," he told a group of Ankara bureau chiefs Wednesday.Ricciardone made a similar critical statement in early 2011, shortly after his arrival in Turkey, and has been severely criticized by Erdoğan, who described the envoy as a "rookie ambassador.""At the risk of being misunderstood: I said last year, 'anlamadım, anlayamadım' ('I do not understand, I am unable to understand'). I have to say that again. I say it respectfully," he said, drawing attention to the dilemma of the improvements in the nature of Turkish democracy in the last decade, supported both by the government and the opposition, and the increasing number of jailed journalists and intellectuals.Read the full story here.

• Hamas chief Meshaal makes ‘historic’ visit to Jordan amid Islamists’ praise.(AlArabiya).Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Sunday made his first official visit to Jordan since the kingdom expelled him more than a decade ago and held talks with King Abdullah.Meshaal was accompanied by Qatar’s Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The visit was planned before an uprising erupted in Syria, where Hamas has had its main headquarters outside the Gaza Strip.“We are happy with this new good start ... We are keen on building strong ties with Jordan and on its security, stability and interests,” Meshaal was quoted as saying in a palace statement after the meeting, according to AFP.“With this new chapter in relations with Jordan, we hope Jordanian and Palestinian interests will be served,” said the leader of the Palestinian Islamic movement.Meshaal, who has Jordanian nationality, blasted Israel.“Hamas stands firm against Israel’s schemes to turn Jordan into a substitute homeland. Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine. We insist on restoring Palestinian rights,” he said.Both Hamas and Jordan have denied that the Islamist movement may move its headquarters from Damascus, where many of its Jordanian leadership relocated after being expelled from the kingdom in 1999. The Syrian conflict has forced Hamas to move some of its activists and families out of the country. “Jordan supports the Palestinian Authority as well as Palestinian reconciliation,” King Abdullah told Meshaal at the meeting, attended by a Hamas political bureau delegation, including number two Mussa Abu Marzuk.“Uniting the Palestinian stand will strengthen the Palestinian people and help restore their rights,” said the king, whose country aims to help efforts at inter-Palestinian reconciliation.Jordan has indicated it will accommodate families of the Syrian based leadership, many of whom are Jordanian citizens, but would not tolerate political activities on its soil.Read the full story here.

• South Sudan demands border deal before restarting oil; Khartoum frees held tankers.(Alarabiya).South Sudan has totally shut down oil output in a row with Sudan over export transit fees and will only restart after the two reach a deal covering border security and the disputed Abyei region, its oil minister said on Sunday. Khartoum, meanwhile, said it freed the tankers being held at port to help defuse the dispute. South Sudan seceded in July under a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in which around 2 million people died. The possibility that war could restart over the oil dispute was a “great concern,” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.Both sides have failed to resolve a long list of disputes including how to disentangle their oil industries, divide debt, mark the poorly drawn border and decide who should control Abyei, a region the size of Connecticut that was a major battleground during the war.Landlocked South Sudan took about three-quarters of Sudan’s oil output when it broke away, but still needs pipelines running through its northern neighbor to export crude.Juba depends on oil for about 98 percent of state revenues, while for Khartoum transit fees are crucial since it lost the oil fields themselves last year. That plunged it into a severe economic crisis.The new U.N. member state said on Jan. 20 it would shut off its roughly 350,000 barrels per day of output after Khartoum started taking some oil in lieu of what it called unpaid fees. The shutdown was “100 percent complete” on Sunday, Minister of Petroleum and Mining Stephen Dhieu Dau told Reuters in Juba.To restart pumping, he demanded seized cargoes of oil be released, stolen crude returned and for Sudan to cease support for rebel groups in South Sudan, something Khartoum denies.“Oil production will restart when we have a comprehensive agreement and all the deals are signed,” said Dau, adding that any deal had to be overseen by the international community and linked to the demarcation of the border and control over Abyei.“Sudan must recognize the 1956 border, which means they must give back all the areas under occupation,” he said, referring to an internal boundary used around the time of Sudan’s independence.Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti also said this month that an oil deal would likely depend on an agreement on border and security issues.Speaking at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ban said he was greatly concerned that the dispute could reignite armed conflict and blamed a lack of political will on both sides. Their two leaders met on Friday but failed to resolve the row.“(South Sudan) President Salva Kiir and (Sudan) President Bashir should fully engage themselves ... making the necessary compromise and flexibility,” he told reporters.Read the full story here.

• 'Dogophobia'? Hague: Muslim party wants dog ban.(IIE).via Spitsnieuws (Dutch): Hasan Küçük, Hague councilor for the Islam Democrats, says dogs should be banned as pets in the city, reports De Telegraaf. The Muslim party says that the animals belong in nature, not inside the house. Küçük says that keeping dogs is animal abuse and should therefore be criminalized. He responded sharply during a council debate last Thursday, when the Party for Animals suggested more consideration for dogs.Paul ter Linden (PVV councillor) responded saying that pets are the norm in the Netherlands, and whoever disagrees should move to another country.Read the full story here.

• Iran announces production of laser-guided artillery shells.(JPost).TEHRAN - Iran said on Monday it had manufactured laser-guided artillery shells that were capable of spotting and hitting moving targets with a high degree of precision, state-run television reported.Iran does periodically unveil military advancements, but this latest report comes as tension between Iran and the West escalates over Iran's disputed nuclear program.Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi hailed what he described as "intelligent munitions" as a new chapter in the country's weapons and military equipment."Besides America and Russia, there are only three other countries which have this technology," Vahidi was quoted as saying during the unveiling ceremony.State television also showed footage of the shell, called Basir (insightful), being fired by an artillery piece. No more details were given in the report. Read the full story here.

• A Cold War Hot Victory: The Meaning of Assad's Fall.(INN).By Mark Langfan.The writer affords us convincing and compelling reasons to pray even harder for Assad's fall at the hands of Saudi supported rebels. Whether Syria democratizes or not is secondary to what is analyzed below.In the Syrian "Revolution," we are witnessing the beginnings of the greatest "hot" military victory the world has ever seen in a "cold" war. As we speak, in Syria, the dark evil forces of Iran are, hopefully, in the process of being militarily defeated by the bright, good forces of Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, the strategic importance to the West of what will be an inexorable Iranian Shiite defeat and a Saudi Sunni victory in Syria is not even partially understood by the mainstream narrative.A Sunni victory in Syria may very well spare the world from a looming World War which is casting Iran as the new Nazi Germany bent on world military domination. It is as if in 1938, instead of the West's Munich's appeasement, an anti-Hitler Italian revolution crushed the fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and turned Italy into enemy of Hitler and forward base of operations against Hitler for allied forces. Such a "1938 anti-Hitler Italian" revolution would have likely dealt a catastrophically fatal counter-stroke to Hitler’s world-wide ambitions. In a heartbeat, Hitler’s entire order of battle calculus, which had otherwise enabled Hitler to confidently start World War II and invade Poland, would have been reversed against the Third Reich.Similarly, the immediate consequence of the liquidation of Bashar Assad and his Shiite Alawite clan from its minority tyrannical and sectarian rule of Syria, would clearly be a catastrophic sui generis defeat for Iran, Syria's Senior Partner in the, until-now, waxing Pan-Shiite crescent.  But that's only the beginning of the fall of Iran's "House of Cards." This Iranian Shiite defeat in Syria will have many second and third order immediate consequences that are already beginning to be felt like an earthquake throughout the entire region.First, the Iranian "sphere" of Iraq will no longer be an Iranian sure-thing walkover, let alone an Iranian "sphere." With the new Sunni Syria as an Iranian enemy instead of an Iranian puppet-state to the West of Iraq, all of a sudden, Iraq will have the ability to stand up to Iran in the East in ways that Iraq never had before when it was bookended to the West and East by two long-standing Iranian military powerhouses.  Finally, the last thing this nascent, or even full-grown, Sunni Mesopotamian Alliance will want to do is start a war with the militarily benign Israel, and put the entire Levant into play. Israel provides the Mesopotamian Sunni Alliance with a cost-effective de facto non-hostile and indestructible logistics node for US and Western resupply of any Pan-Sunni defense against any Iranian westward attack.  If anything, the current Syrian revolution has only conclusively proved that Israel is not the cause of Middle East "instability," but rather, the bedrock of Middle East stability.In conclusion, the Anti-Assad Sunni Syrian revolution has the promise of forming an embryonic, indigenous Sunni Arab military counterweight capable of possibly defending itself against the waxing nuclear Iran.  Such a natural congealing of the Arab Sunni peoples may be the world's best, and only long-term hope, of defeating the Iranian mad Mahdian march to world nuclear domination.Hmmmm.....Yes if there were enough time.Read the full story here.

• Beijing Customers Can Buy Knives Only With ID Card.(RaiNovosti).Customers in large supermarkets of Beijing has to show their ID cards to buy knives from Saturday, Chinese Fachi wanbao newspaper reported.The requirement to register all knives' buyers has been initiated by city's public security agencies. From now on a customer who wants to buy a knife or any other blade has to tell supermarket's special officer his or her name, ID card number, home address and purposes of knife use.Supermarkets are prohibited to sell knives to teenagers and people with 'unusual and abnormal' behavior. If such categories of citizens want to buy knives, supermarket managers must call the police.The requirement has been already in force in city's largest supermarket chains, while owners of small shops in the Chinese capital do not register the customers, the paper said.The reason to tighten knives sale procedure is unknown. Previously ban on the sale of knives was introduced in Beijing during the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in October 2009.Read the full story here.

• Turkish Women Victims of "Permitted" Rape.(StoneGateInstitute).By Veli Sirin.At the beginning of the New Year, as reported in the daily newspaper Haber Türk (Turkish News) of January 6, 2012, E.D., a 25-year old man in the northwestern Turkish city of Bolu, took his 11-year old "wife," Z.Ç., to the hospital because she suffered pain. The news story identified the couple only by their initials. The doctor diagnosed the girl as eight months pregnant by her "husband." Whether the girl was in a condition to consent to sexual relations is obviously questionable. One would more probably assume she was raped by the 25-year old.Marriage to an 11-year old girl is illegal in Turkey, but such cases are a constant in the country's life.The doctor called for the girl to be kept in the hospital for in-patient care, but her "spouse" refused, and the couple returned to their village, Alpagut, near Bolu. The hospital released them after the girl signed a document declaring her wish to leave the facility.Two days afterward, the governor of Bolu province stated that he had spoken with health authorities who assured him the girl must have been older than 11, given her bone structure.E.D. and Z.Ç. told the doctor they had been married by an imam. Their neighbors had warned them that if they went to a city and disclosed this fact, they would face legal trouble.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Indonesia 5.7! More info here.

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

• Sarah Palin Hits Another Bullseye: If Tea Partiers Were Terrorists, Obama Would Pal Around With Them.(BigGovernment).It is a time-honored tactic of radicals to accuse their enemies of what they do in order to convert a negative into a positive, as the master of political agitation Saul Alinsky taught.This explains the Left’s newfound interest in the lie that the Tea Party is comprised of “terrorists.”Unless you think petitioning the government for lower spending is somehow akin to flying airplanes into buildings, you’ve got to agree with Sarah Palin, whose recent salvos on the topic are dead-on.As President Obama and his merry band of Marxists continue driving America off a cliff, Palin (and columnist Charles Krauthammer) have been pushing back hard against the liberal talking point that Tea Party supporters are terrorists.Her comments came after Vice President Joe Biden, Congressman Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), and their socialist buddies at MSNBC recently breathed new life into the “terrorist” smear. Because President Obama, who himself has ties to real, live terrorists, has not upbraided the vice president, we can safely assume he agrees with Biden. Said Palin on Fox News Channel:

Well, the president’s speech in Arizona as he asked folks to start ratcheting down the rhetoric was all talk. He wasn’t sincere in that. And that’s typical Barack Obama, unfortunately. That is typical of our president where it’s blah, blah, blah. You know, it’s all talk and no real action. Otherwise, he’d be on Biden and tell Biden to tone it down a little bit. Yeah, right. Independent patriotic Americans who desire fiscal sanity in our beloved nation being called terrorists, heck, Sean, if we were real domestic terrorists, shoot, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn’t he? I mean, he didn’t have a problem palling around with a Bill Ayers back in the day when he kicked off his political career in Bill Ayers’ apartment and then, you know, shaking hands with [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez and saying, he doesn’t need any preconditions with meeting dictators or wanting to read U.S. Miranda rights to alleged suspected foreign terrorists. No, if we were all domestic terrorists, I think President Obama wouldn’t have a problem with us.Of course Palin, who has bigger cojones than most Republicans in Congress, is right.It’s time for a quick refresher course on all the terrorists and terrorism supporters President Obama is buddies with.As reported in my book, Subversion Inc.: How Obama’s ACORN Red Shirts are Still Terrorizing and Ripping Off American Taxpayers, Obama worked for ACORN, which until recently was America’s largest urban terrorist group. ACORN, along with its thug allies in SEIU who beat up opponents at town hall meetings, routinely uses violence, physical intimidation, and extortion in its long-running war against American businesses. Obama had such a mastery of agitation he taught Saul Alinsky’s subversion techniques at the University of Chicago.Obama’s political career was launched at a fundraiser held in the Chicago home of unrepentant Weather Underground bombers Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. Ayers, who to the present day refuses to renounce the use of violence to achieve political objectives, participated in a plot to bomb a military dance that would have killed hundreds of people if it had succeeded.As I note in Subversion Inc., informant Larry Grathwohl witnessed Weather Underground leaders planning to slaughter the one-tenth of the U.S. population they expected would turn out to be “diehard capitalists” incapable of reeducation. These are the kind of people the president of the United States calls friends.Obama and Ayers also sat together on the boards of the Woods Fund of Chicago and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge where they funneled money to ACORN and other anti-American groups.Obama belonged to the church of Jeremiah Wright whose fiery anti-American sermons make even liberals wince. Wright blamed America for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and accused the U.S. government of inventing the HIV virus “as a means of genocide against people of color.” And under Wright’s leadership, his church’s newsletter reprinted a terrorist political manifesto by Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzook.Obama accepted as a fundraising “bundler” Jodie Evans, a co-founder of Code Pink, a radical group that specializes in attacking wounded U.S. soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and makes no effort to conceal its ties to America-hating terrorists worldwide. Code Pink is also working with the Muslim Brotherhood which it hopes will succeed into transforming Egypt into an Islamofascist dictatorship.Obama welcomed Cornel West, an African-American studies professor at Princeton University, to his campaign team in 2008. West denounces his native land as racist and patriarchal. He has described himself as a “progressive socialist,” and has written that “Marxist thought is an indispensable tradition for freedom fighters.” He visited Venezuela in 2006 and praised the brutal government of leftist strongman Hugo Chavez.Obama also welcomed Robert Malley as a foreign policy advisor on his campaign staff. Malley was forced out after it was revealed that he had been meeting with the terrorist group Hamas, which has called for attacks on the United States.Obama was a friend and frequent dinner companion of Rashid Khalidi, a Palestinian-American and former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) spokesman. Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. Khalidi held a fundraiser for Obama’s ill-fated congressional bid in 2000.All these terrorists and pro-terrorism activists have ties to President Obama and yet the Left and the media insist Tea Party supporters are the real terrorists.

America needs to know that ACORN is restructuring in time to help re-elect President Obama in 2012. Obama used to work for ACORN and represented the group in court as its lawyer. These radical leftists who use the brutal, in-your-face, pressure tactics of Saul Alinsky want to destroy America as we know it and will use any means to do it.Hmmmm.......Obama Gives New Grant to ACORN Violating Federal Law?Read the full story here.

• Goldman Sachs Drops A Bomb On Team Obama: Lowers GDP Growth To A Scant 2% To 2.5%, Ups Unemployment Rate Forecast To 9.25%.(Reuters) — After looking at today’s anemic unemployment report, Goldman Sachs drops this H-bomb on the Obama campaign:We have lowered our forecast for US real GDP growth further and now expect real GDP to grow just 2%-2½% through the end of 2012. Our forecast for annual average GDP growth has fallen to 1.7% in 2011 (from 1.8%) and to 2.1% in 2012 (from 3.0%). Since this pace is slightly below the US economy’s potential, we now expect the unemployment rate to be at 9¼% by the end of 2012, slightly above the current level.

2. Even our new forecast is subject to meaningful downside risk. We now see a one-in-three risk of renewed recession, mostly concentrated in the next 6-9 months. There are three specific issues that concern us. First, a worsening of the European financial crisis, and a failure of European policymakers to respond adequately, could lead to a further tightening of financial conditions and credit availability, which would worsen the economic outlook globally. Second, our forecast assumes that the payroll tax cut—currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2011—is extended for another year, but if that failed to happen the fiscal drag in early 2012 would increase significantly. Third, increases in the US unemployment rate have historically had a tendency to feed on themselves, and this could happen again.Read the full story here.

• Food stamp use rises to record 45.8 million.NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in May, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.The number of Americans using the government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- more commonly referred to as food stamps -- shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported. That's up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago.The program provides monthly benefits to low-income individuals and families, which they can use at stores that accept SNAP benefits.To qualify for food stamps, an individual's income can't exceed $1,174 a month or $14,088 a year -- an amount that is 130% of the national poverty level. The average food stamp benefit was $133.80 per person and $283.65 per household in May. The highest concentration of food stamp users were in California, Florida, New York and Texas -- where more than 3 million residents in each state received food stamps in May. Hmmmmm........"CHANGE"?Read the full story here.

• House Panel Approves Resolution Calling On Turkey To Return Christian Churches Confiscated During Ottoman Empire.(CNS News) – The House Foreign Affairs Committee recently voted 43 to one in support of a resolution that calls upon the Republic of Turkey “to safeguard its Christian heritage and to return confiscated church properties” – a step the Turkish Embassy described as “deeply regrettable.”The resolution (H.Res. 306), introduced by Reps. Edward Royce (R-Calif.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), cites the “Ottoman Empire’s oppression and intentional destruction of much of its ancient Christian populations, including over 2,000,000 Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Pontians, and Syrics,” and adds that Turkey “has been responsible for the destruction and theft of much of the Christian heritage within its borders.”The Ottoman Empire, from 1300 to 1922, was an Islamic-governed empire that covered much of southeastern Europe and parts of North Africa and the Middle East. In 1923, with the empire’s official dissolution, Turkey became one of its successor states.Aram Hamparian, director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told CNSNews.com that Turkey’s human rights violations “are far-reaching and widespread, having been extensively documented by the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and many others.”He added, “The Turkish Government must sincerely accept responsibility for the genocidal crimes that led to the confiscation of these churches, and then work – in partnership with Christian churches, minority communities, and key stakeholders in the international community -- to restore their rightful ownership.”Hamparian noted that there were over 1,460 Armenian Christian church properties functioning prior to the Armenian Genocide in 1915 that have since been confiscated or destroyed, which would need to be returned to the Armenian Church. Additionally, he said there are church properties that would need to be returned to the Greek and Aramean (Syriac) churches.Hamparian added, “To our knowledge, the Obama administration has not weighed in on this resolution.”CNSNews.com contacted the White House press office several times for comment on this issue but did not receive any response before this story was posted. The Embassy of Turkey also did not comment before this story was posted.Hmmmm.......Obama wont upset his 'buddy' Erdogan.Read the full story here.

• Blame the Washington Bureaucracy for High Gas Prices.(Heritage).Americans are paying more for gasoline today than they were six weeks ago when President Obama released 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, 10 drilling rigs — more than one-third of the fleet — have left on Obama’s watch.This incomprehensible energy policy is not only costing Americans more money at the pump. Bureaucratic delays in Washington are also stunting job growth and adding to the budget deficit.As the Obama Administration pivots to a new jobs agenda — at least its seventh attempt to do so — it would be wise to review the policies that are slowing energy production. Thirty-four years to the day President Jimmy Carter created the Energy Department, it’s time for America to embrace a pro-energy agenda that boosts the economy, increases federal revenue and creates jobs.The most glaring example of Obama’s mismanagement is the decision to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve on June 23. Heritage experts James Jay Carafano and Nick Loris outlined the limited circumstances under which the White House could release oil. None of these conditions were met in June, and the Administration itself backpedaled when questioned about the timing.And what did it accomplish? Aside from diminishing a vital national security asset, it didn’t reduce the price of gas. Americans were paying an average of $3.61 for regular unleaded on June 23, according to AAA. Today the average is $3.70.Six weeks later, it’s increasingly apparent that Obama took the action to bolster his dismal poll numbers, hurt by the sluggish economy and rising gas prices.If the President was serious about bringing down the cost of gas, he would instruct his Administration to reduce the bureaucratic red tape on energy projects in the Gulf of Mexico. A new report from Greater New Orleans Inc. revealed that the issuance of drilling permits is down 71 percent compared to the monthly average over the past three years.The decline isn’t for a lack of interest from energy producers. Two weeks ago the respected IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates and IHS Global Insight revealed the potential for production if government simply approved the drilling permits.That additional oil would ease the pain on consumers’ wallets and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil — a matter that’s even more pressing in light of OPEC’s new leader, Rostam Qasemi, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander under U.S. and European Union sanctions.Then there’s the impact on federal, state and local governments. At a time when many are facing budget deficits, the money generated from royalty payments and taxes would add an extra $12 billion in revenue next year.The biggest upside might be the number of jobs created from the additional production. Those jobs aren’t just in Louisiana and Texas, either. They’re spread out across America, according the study. A total of nearly 230,000 new jobs — an amount that exceeds the size of General Motors — is forecast for 2012 if the pace of offshore energy development and permitting increases.As things currently stand, however, those jobs are a figment of Obama’s imagination. Worse still is the news that the Department of the Interior might let hundreds of Gulf of Mexico drilling leases expire, costing jobs and further decreasing production.“In 2011 alone, more than 300 offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico are due to expire,” Senator David Vitter (R-LA) announced yesterday. “If these leases are allowed to expire, they will revert to the federal government, killing jobs and cutting off potential revenue from exploration and production.”Vitter is vowing to block the nomination of Rebecca Wodder to serve as an Assistant Secretary in the Interior Department unless the Administration issues a blanket extension of the leases due to expire this year. The Administration would prefer to make a case-by-case decision on the leases–an unnecessary bureaucratic hurdle, according to Vitter.How will it end? By threatening to delay another Administration nominee, Vitter was able to speed the approval of drilling plans. He also blocked a nearly $20,000 pay raise for Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. More must be done.The long-term implications are devastating otherwise. New exploration, which impacts oil supply in seven to 10 years, isn’t happening at a pace to keep up with demand.Americans, meanwhile, bear the brunt of the Obama Administration’s misguided decisions.Hmmmm.......Protect the leader at any cost?Read the full story here.

• Transgender training for TSA staff after agent 'fired for using women's toilet' wins payout.(Dailymail).A transgender TSA agent fired from her job at an airport for using the women’s toilet has received a five-figure pay-out from the agency.Ashley Yang was fired from her job at Los Angeles International Airport after allegedly being ordered to dress like a man and pat down men.She had informed human resources that a background check would reveal she was born male and had not undergone sex reassignment surgery.'I feel female - I don't think anyone considers me male,’ Ms Yang told In The Life.‘The hormones have given me a very female kind of look. It was obvious people perceived me as female because that's who I am.’Ms Yang has received back pay in addition to a five-figure award for pain and suffering as part of a civil rights settlement.'They told me the only way to work at checkpoints for females was I had to go through a complete transition,’ she told In The Life. ‘I'm like: "How do you define a complete transition"?'In addition to compensation, her settlement requires TSA managers based at the California airport to have transgender sensitivity training.A TSA spokesman said he cannot discuss details of her case because of privacy rules, but the manager training started this summer.Ms Yang says she now wants to use her story and lawsuit as a 'leverage' to help other transgender people in the future.Mara Keisling, of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told In The Life that the employment situation for many trans people is 'catastrophic'.‘We have an unemployment rate that's twice the national average. ‘When there's a recession and there are lay-offs the people who are most marginalised already in the workplace are the ones most likely to face additional scrutiny.'Hmmmm........TSA.....Transgender Secretive Anonymous?Read the full story here.

• Bloodbath in Berlin as morning 'DIShonour killing sees jilted lover shoot mother and sister of ex-wife dead’.(DailyMail).A horrific scene unfolded in Berlin in broad daylight yesterday morning when a gunman fired a volley of shots into a car, killing two women and seriously injuring the man driving it.The execution-style massacre was carried out in the busy Wedding district of the city and was witnessed by horrified shoppers and commuters.Media reports suggest it may have been a so-called ‘Dishonour killing’, as the car apparently contained the 24-year-old ex-wife of the gunman, who survived the ordeal.The driver, despite being shot in the head and shoulder, also survived, but the woman’s mother, 45, and younger sister, 22, who were both sitting in the back seat with her, died.Police identified the alleged gunman as a 26-year-old Turk called Mehmet Y, who fled the scene. It’s believed he was married to the 24-year-old woman passenger for four months.A police spokesman told German newspaper Bild: ‘He fired at least seven, probably more, bullets.’The front passenger seat was occupied by a man who was unscathed by the attack, but the 24-year-old woman received hospital treatment for serious shock.The cold brutally of the shooting – and the fact that it took place in a busy area in daylight – has stunned Germany’s capital.A local who witnessed the gruesome aftermath told German news site thelocal.de: ‘I am stunned and shocked. The perpetrator simply ran away.’Wedding is a district that’s popular with Berlin’s Turkish community, which one neighbour described as ‘socially difficult’.Police are hunting the killer, who they warn could still be armed.Berlin suffered a spate of honour killings in 2005, when six Muslim women in the city were killed in the space of four months.Hmmmm.......Perhaps the Chairman of the OIC should focus more on the DIShonor murders committed by Turks?Read the full story here.

• Somali soldiers kill 7 amid food aid looting chaos.(TheStar).Somali government troops opened fire during a looting rampage at a World Food Program food distribution program in Mogadishu on Friday, killing at least seven famine refugees, witnesses said.Witnesses said that government soldiers triggered the chaos by trying to steal some of the food aid. Then refugees joined in, prompting some soldiers to open fire, the witnesses said.“It was carnage. They ruthlessly shot everyone,” said Abdi Awale Nor, a refugee at Mogadishu’s largest camp for those fleeing the famine, “Even dead bodies were left on the ground and other wounded bled to death.”Another refugee, Muse Sheik Ali, said soldiers first tried to steal some of the food aid, and other refugees began to take the food.“Then soldiers opened fire at them, and seven people, including elderly people, were killed on the spot. Then soldiers took the food and people fled from the camp,” he said.The country’s president and prime minister arrived at the camp later and planned to speak to journalists.The deadly chaos in the course of trying to feed the thousands of hungry refugees who have fled to Mogadishu from Somalia’s famine-struck south underscores the huge challenges international groups have in distributing food inside Somalia.Witnesses said two World Food Program trucks were delivering aid when the chaos broke out. WFP often tries to do what it calls “wet feedings,” in Somalia — giving out already made food like porridge — to limit the chances that it will be looted.More than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are in need of immediate food aid. The U.N. says 640,000 children in Somalia alone are acutely malnourished. The U.N. has declared five famine zones in Somalia, including the refugee camps of Mogadishu.“They fired on us as if we were their enemy,” said Abidyo Geddi, another refugee. “When people started to take the food then the gunfire started and everyone was being shot. We cannot stay here much longer. We don’t get much food and the rare food they bring causes death and torture.”Delivering aid inside Somalia — where the militant group Al-Shabab controls much of the south — is a huge challenge. Private militias — most of them politically connected — are competing to guard or even steal food as aid. There are at least four competing militias in government-controlled areas of Mogadishu.The gunmen roar around in pickup trucks and wage battle over the wages they can be paid to either guard the aid or the cash it will bring when it is stolen and sold. The insecurity amid famine echoes the situation in 1992 that prompted deployment of a U.S.-led multinational force to safeguard the delivery of food to Somalia’s starving.That international intervention collapsed in 1993 after two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and militias hired to protect the aid operations ended up looting vast amounts of food.Hmmmm.......Sounds different than a $ 38.500 a plate birthday dinner no?Read the full story here.

• Somalia's Islamists appear divided on blocking famine aid.(MSN).NAIROBI, Kenya — International aid desperately needed by starving Somalis is ready to be shipped, but leaders of an Islamist insurgency blocking its delivery show few signs of lifting their ban, aid workers and diplomats said. The deadlock continued even as Washington on Tuesday night softened its line on aid for Islamist-held territory in Somalia. Agencies who take food to these areas no longer risk prosecution if any US-funded supplies fall into the militants’ hands, as was previously demanded by strict anti-terror laws at the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.Planeloads of food have already been sent to Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, where sections controlled by the globally recognized government are seeing handouts to the most affected people. But great swathes of the rest of southern Somalia remain off limits to the main agencies, including the UN’s World Food Programme.The problem is that Al Shabab, Somalia’s Al Qaeda-inspired Islamist group, has repeatedly denied that there is a famine in their territory, and refuses help from what they have termed “Christian organizations” with “hidden agendas.” Al Shabab’s spokesman was not immediately available for comment. But diplomats and aid workers in Nairobi privately say that its leadership, gathered around a global jihadist agenda, was still “strictly against” aid from groups it has already banned. At the same time, the sources said, there was a “very active and contested debate” going on within moderates in the organization as to whether the blanket opposition to aid should be removed.Already UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency, has landed an aid airplane at a Shabab-controlled airfield in the southern Somali city Baidoa – the first time it had approval to do so in two years. Its officials on the ground had made quiet approaches to local Shabab commanders to clear the flight. Those commanders lie on the Islamists’ moderate wing, made up of “pragmatists” with a more local agenda aimed simply at ousting the government in Mogadishu, rather than carrying out calls for global jihad. Other agencies still trying to take food and supplies into Somalia were said to be testing approaches to other “pragmatists” within Al Shabab, an analyst said on Wednesday. “I think the momentum is now with the people [in Al Shabab] who are saying let the aid agencies come in because of the gravity of the situation,” says Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa analyst with the International Crisis Group. “The clan elders are also putting on a lot of pressure, saying we cannot let our people die, if you continue on this crazy path we will rise up against you.” Approving deliveries is now very clearly a life or death decision, with senior aid officials warning that famine is “likely” to expand beyond the two Somali regions where it has already been declared.Hmmmm.......Ramadan is also a time of intensive worship, reading of the Qur'an, giving charity, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. Read the full story here.

• "Tirez les premiers messieurs les Taliban"?Taliban Statement: Most Islamic Battles, Like the Conquest of Spain, were Fought During Ramadan.(Memri).A statement issued by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (the Taliban's shadow government) has stressed that most Islamic battles were waged during the holy month of Ramadan, and that the Taliban "are accelerating their jihadi activities."The Taliban statement added, "The mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate that are holding their position on the frontline of jihad against infidels have made a strong commitment that they will celebrate this month of affection and devotion with their tireless jihadi efforts." The month of Ramadan began yesterday.Hmmmmmm......I think that answers the US command their illusions questions about Ramadan ceasefires?Read the full story here.

• How to Fight a Blood Libel.(SultanKnish).It's a long way from Arizona to Oslo to Tel Aviv, but all three places have been the sites of major blood libels against the right. And a reminder of what to do in these situations.2011 has seen the launch of two major blood libels aimed at the American and European right. The Breivik shootings and the Giffords bullseye. In both cases, the left tried to politicize an unstable man's shooting spree to silence and intimidate the political opposition. But my own experience goes back to the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin in the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv. A blood libel on an epic scale. There are common lessons to be drawn from all these events.Each event played out in three phases. Shock media coverage that splattered the full details everywhere, followed by calls for the right to accept moral responsibility for the killer's actions. In the final phase, the right atones by practicing self-censorship so that, "nothing like this can ever happen again."But let's follow a different path instead. A guide to how to handle these situations.Read the full story here.

• Toronto - Another honour killing in our midst and the silence is deafening.(TorontoSun).Shaher Bano Shahdady was just 21, a young mother who wanted to live her Canadian life as a free Canadian woman. And for that, she was strangled to death in front of her toddler.From the Baloch region of Pakistan, she came to Toronto as a little girl. At 14, her father, Mullah Abdul Ghafoor, sent her back to Pakistan to study at a religious fundamentalist madrassa and a few years later she was forced into an arranged marriage with her first cousin.But her precious son was her ticket back home.Complications in her pregnancy allowed her to return to Toronto. Her baby was born with a serious heart defect that eventually required a transplant, but at least she was back in Canada. Shahdady was a devoted mother, her friends say, and while she lived with her strict religious family in Scarborough, she managed to escape through Facebook where she chatted with friends and administered a Baloch entertainment page that had 6,000 members.She began to change, friends say. Shahdady no longer wanted to wear a burka that covered her face and body but would don just the hijab head scarf instead. She’d registered at the Adult Learning Centre to work on her high school diploma this fall and was hoping to one day realize her dream of becoming a doctor.“All her friends were finishing college or university and getting good jobs and she felt she was being left behind,” explains family friend Zaffar Baloch. “She wanted to throw away the veil and live an ordinary independent life of a woman.”But she had to sponsor her husband here and his arrival in May forced her back into the cage she had struggled so long to escape. He wanted her to wear a burka, to stay away from Facebook, to put aside any plans she had of resuming a secular education.“She rebelled,” explains Tarek Fatah, founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “With the help of social services, she got an apartment for herself and her son. She was leaving her husband and asking for a divorce. How dare she? It would dishonour everyone.”She and her son moved out July 1. After just three weeks of freedom, she was dead.Between 1 and 2 a.m. on July 22, neighbours in the building at 3131 Eglinton Ave. E. heard the shrill screaming of a child that went on for 15 minutes. And then silence. More than 15 hours later, Shahdady’s distraught father discovered his 2-year-old grandson alone in the apartment with his daughter’s dead body. She had been strangled on her bed.Her estranged husband Abdul Malik Rustam, 27, turned himself in to police the next morning. He’s been charged with first-degree murder.“Absolutely, it was an honour killing,” contends Fatah. “This is the fundamental issue here that no one wants to address. Nobody wants to tell Muslim men that women are not their possessions. It’s about women’s sexuality and men who say they own the franchise to it.”Toronto Police refuse to confirm that. Maybe all the facts aren’t in yet. Or maybe it’s just not politically correct. “She decided to separate from the marriage and it’s alleged that he killed her,” says spokesman Tony Vella.“This was clearly an honour killing,” the American Friends of Balochistan said in a statement. “No woman deserves to die in the way Shaher Bano Shahdady died.”Hmmmmm.......There is no honor in murder.Read the full story here.

Toronto synagogue site of anti-Semitic vandalism.(CTV).A synagogue in the city's northeast end was the target of anti-Semitic graffiti. Staff members of Beth Tikvah Synagogue on Thursday found the words "Islam will rule" and a swastika spray-painted on the exterior of their building. According to a press release published by the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, police have been contacted and measures were taken to increase the security at the synagogue. Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canadian Jewish organization said in a statement that the primary concern is the safety of the staff and its congregants. "We will remain vigilant in the wake of this disturbing and offensive event."Read and see the full story here.

• Risk of Suicide Greater for Turkish-German Women.(Spiegel).The number of attempted suicides is five times as high among young Turkish-German women than their ethnic German counterparts. In a state of limbo between two cultures, they often succumb to despair. Sema, a 27-year-old woman who tried to commit suicide twice, is a case in point.Berlin has about 170,000 residents of Turkish descent. For several months last summer, life-sized posters were displayed in subway stations and on advertising columns. They included a hotline telephone number and one sentence, written in both German and Turkish: "End your silence, not your life!"Meryam Schouler-Ocak , the physician-in-chief at the psychiatric clinic of Berlin's highly respected Charité hospital, is behind the poster campaign. Her office is in the St. Hedwig hospital, not far from the café where Sema is sitting.Schouler-Ocak is of Turkish origin. She has been hearing young Turkish women's stories for years. And ever since she saw the numbers corresponding to the stories, she has also been doing something about it.Young German women of Turkish origin, she says, are five times as likely to attempt to commit suicide as non-immigrant women of the same age, and they are twice as likely to succeed.During the poster campaign, Schouler-Ocak gathered all the information she could find. She found some information in the medical literature, but not much. At a hospital in Frankfurt, she learned that it was often young women of Turkish origin who tried to commit suicide.But what were the reasons?Schouler-Ocak and some of her colleagues put together a proposal for a project and secured the support of the Ministry of Education and Research. She staffed the hotline that was listed on the posters with two women who were also from immigrant backgrounds. She had interviews conducted and obtained additional data from emergency rooms in Berlin and Hamburg. Schouler-Ocak plans to analyze the data by the end of the year.The reasons why young women of Turkish descent try to commit suicide extend beyond the much-reported issues of arranged marriages, honor killings and threats from the family. Sometimes the process starts out harmlessly, quietly and without any violence. Schouler-Ocak is now well aware of this.The problem affects young women who were born in Germany and are in fact well integrated into German society, but still face pressures associated with their origins.Sema is still in psychological treatment, and she is taking her medication. She walks around in the streets a lot these days, she says. "I want to have a life, too," she says. "It's not so bad," say Sema's aunts whenever she asks for their opinion.Sema says that she has an image in her head. In it, the mother, the father and the child are standing next to each other. The mother and the father go to work. The mother and the father save money and go on vacation. It's an image of a German family.Read the full story here.

• Islamic Group Claims to Hoist al-Qaida Flag in Sinai.(InvestigativeProject).In a scene resembling an Islamist version of the post-apocalyptic film "Mad Max," dozens of kaffiyeh-covered young men ride into the heart of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on motorcycles and in the beds of pickup trucks into El-Arish. Although they may not be there to pillage and plunder, the al-Qaida flag waved by one militant heralds a dangerous new development.The video was posted on YouTube last week and followed by a statement Tuesday from a group claiming to be the newest branch of al-Qaida. The statement said that al-Qaida of the Sinai Peninsula promised to transform the dusty backwater of the Sinai into a new Islamic Emirate. It also called for Islam to be the only source of legislation in its new state, and demanded that Egypt's military revoke agreements signed with Israel.The group also demanded military support for its brethren in the Gaza Strip, where al-Qaida inspired militants have pushed for harsher application of Islamic law and open war with Israel.Mosques in El-Arish received demands that Sinai be recognized as an independent Islamic state following recent clashes between gunmen and police, the paper reported. The same militants are suspected of blowing up a natural gas pipeline to Israel, which represents a rare symbol of economic cooperation in the cold peace between Egypt and its Jewish neighbor.Mabrouk may be right in saying that the militants aren't really al-Qaida. An official statement from the al-Qaida branch has not appeared on popular jihadi forums like Hanein.info, which instead posted news stories about the group from Arabic media. A post on Ansar al-Mujahideen English Forum, an up-to-date and well-known forum for English-speaking jihadists, stated that the new group was simply the "Youth of Islam," following the title given to them in their YouTube video post.There has been no recognition of the new branch from al-Qaida's central division in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where al-Qaida affiliates have typically been formed by senior militants who fought with the core leadership, as was the case with al-Shabaab in Somalia and AQAP in Yemen, there are few signs that the Sinai branch has the credentials to claim a legitimate connection.But the lack of any formal membership in al-Qaida may have little effect on the group's potential for terrorism against Westerners, Israelis, and even Egyptians.With as many as 400 members, according to Egyptian daily al-Hayyat, the group has already carried out "a number of attacks against [Egyptian] security forces in the Sinai city of El Arish."Tourism in the region presents the biggest opportunity for the branch to strike Westerners. The Sinai Peninsula has been a popular tourist destination for nationals from Europe and Israel, who enjoyed warm, sandy beaches and friendly locals. Israelis have even ignored travel warnings from their government, and a new study shows that they rank concerns of a hostile reception by locals much higher than the threat of terrorism.Militants from the region have already wreaked economic havoc, targeting a natural gas pipeline to Israel and its Arab neighbors for the fifth time since the beginning of the year. The repeated bombings have disrupted supplies to Israel, Syria, and especially Jordan, which is highly dependent on the supplies for electricity. The Israel Electric Corporation also announced it was forced to pursue other methods to produce electricity, with a price tag of 3-3.5 billion Israeli Shekels [roughly $1 billion U.S.] in emergency funds from the government.The potential for the movement of armed religious fundamentalists between Gaza, the Sinai, and the Arab world also exists. Claiming more than 11,000 members, Gaza's Jund Ansar Allah declared an emirate in the territory in April 2010.While it's unclear if Hamas' suppression of these groups has worked - or merely pushed them underground - Salafist forces remain an annoyance and even a threat to Hamas' rule.Read the full story here.

• Family of albino Muslims terrorised after one of them marries a Christian man.(DailyMail).A family of albino Muslims are being terrorised by bigots because their daughter married a man from another religion. The so-called 'honour' retribution has included smashed windows at their Coventry home, vandalised cars and death threats. Now, head of the family Aslam Parvez has made a plea to the culprits to end the hatred.'We're a good family and have done nothing wrong yet we're being punished in the name of honour,' he said. Aslam Parvez, 53, blames members of the Muslim community who believe the family have been dishonoured by his daughter's marriage. The hate campaign started five months ago when a national magazine published an article on albinos which featured Naseem, who no longer lives in Coventry and has little contact with her family. It revealed how she has married a Christian, goes to church and is expecting her second child with her husband.Mr Parvez says copies of the article were quickly spread maliciously, and were posted on walls near their house and through the doors of Muslim homes in the community. Mr Parvez says he has received numerous death threats and has spent hundreds of pounds installing security cameras around his house. He has now stopped going to mosque and says he may be forced to flee the city with his wife Shameem Akhtar, 55, three sons Mohammed, 17, Haider, 28, Gulam, 30, and daughters Muqadas, 26 and Musarat, 19. Mr Parvez called the police last week and officers are investigating the issue.'We want it to stop now,' Mr Parvez said in a direct appeal to the culprits. 'We've had enough of all these bad things. We're not a bad family and have done nothing wrong. 'We're being punished for our daughter's decision. We just want to live our lives in peace. 'I'm a good religious man. Look at your own lives before you judge us. 'I know deep in my heart that I am a good man. God will judge you for what you've done to us.'Mr Parvez was born in Pakistan and moved to Coventry at the age of 10 to join his family. He later met and married his Shameem, who is also an albino. Their six children inherited their parents' condition, which causes an absence of pigmentation and partial sightedness. Mr Parvez says their condition has meant they have been subjected to ridicule, but recent events have made their lives unbearable.'I've always had it bad,' Mr Parvez said. 'I was called names when I went to school and then when I went to work. 'You get funny looks in the street but you get used to it.'We've dealt with discrimination all our lives. This has made us feel 10 times worse.'A Coventry Police spokesman said they received an allegation from the family on July 20 and are investigating the matter. Mandy Sanghera, a social worker and Coventry expert in honour violence, is supporting the family. She said: 'This family is already vulnerable because of their condition and have clearly been affected by honour violence against them. 'They don't deserve it. They need the support of the community not to be alienated by them. I urge those responsible for doing this to stop.'Hmmmm.....The 'religion of peace'.Read the full story here.

• Brussels: Muslim woman attacked for having relationship with non-Muslim.(IslaminEurope).Via Nieuwsblad (Dutch):A Muslim woman (34) from the Brussels suburb of Schaarbeek was attacked Wednesday night for having a relationship with a non-Muslim.The woman left her residence with her partner at 8:30pm, when three youth turned up and started punching her. The three ran off. They were chased by a witness, who manged to catch Mohammed (19) and call the police.The young man was taken for questioning, where he told the police that he attacked the woman because she was having a relationship with a non-Muslim and he couldn't accept that.According to Brussels parliamentarian Fouad Ahidar (sp.a) This is not the first time Muslim women are attacked for having a relationship with a non-Muslim, but such attacks are often kept quiet."In the media we don't often hear of it, but the reality is completely different. Such violence does indeed occasionally happen. I do want to emphasize that this is not an act of faith. Those are extreme youth who clearly had bad upbringing.""Moreover it surprises me that such a thing can happen during Ramadan. Right now a Muslim must have a lot more respect for other people. I myself am married to a Flemish woman, but we've never been accosted about it. I hope that these youth will be punished harshly."Read the full story here.

• Should We Snatch Pakistan’s Nukes?(BigPeace).Given the growing anxiety in security circles about the future of Pakistan, it should not be surprising that plans have been developed to snatch Pakistan’s nukes should the country fall into chaos, or under the influence of Islamists. Indeed, there are some reports that the U.S. special forces are conducting drills to do just that, should it become necessary.But this isn’t like 24. This would be an amazingly difficult operation. Where precisely are the nukes? According to Pakistani nuclear scientist Pervez Hoodboy, ”They are said to be hidden in tunnels under mountains, in cities, as well as regular army force and army bases.”But he warns,” A U.S. snatch operation could trigger war; it should never be attempted. An American attack on Pakistan’s nuclear production or storage sites would be extremely dangerous and counterproductive,” the physicist said. “By comparison the bin Laden operation [into Abbottabad] involved only minor risks. Even if a single Pakistani nuke (out of roughly 100) escapes destruction, that last one could be unimaginably dangerous.”There are so many unknowns with this type of operation. Will the nukes be dispersed? How well defended? How will we transport them? What are the implications if we attempt to destroy them? No easy answers. And yet, an Islamist Pakistan with nukes? Talk about a nightmare.So if a crisis erupts, what will it be: snatch operation, or no snatch operation?Hmmmmm......."To Snatch or not to snatch,that is the question.Read the full story here.