'Golfer-In-Chief' Obama defeated at Golf by the Republicans.

'Golfer-In-Chief' Obama defeated at Golf by the Republicans.HT: WhiteHouseDossier.

In another losing battle with Republicans, President Obama and his partner, Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, were beaten Monday by Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia at golf, aided by a hole-in-one Chambliss knocked in on the 11th hole.

Obama, who possibly shouldn’t have been golfing on a work day in the first place, is highly competitive and was no doubt chagrined to be on the losing end of the contest. He lost despite having the home field advantage – the foursome played on his usual course at Joint Base Andrews.

According to a White House official, Obama had the highest handicap of the group and therefore was paired with Udall, who had the lowest. Presumably, the estimation of Obama’s handicap came from Obama.

The official said the group talked mostly about the golf game and not substantive issues. Nevertheless, the White House says the outing was part of Obama’s new effort to build relationships on Capitol Hill, one that has featured meetings, phone calls, and the breaking of bread over dinner.

Some suspect, though, that the “outreach” is also designed to give Obama cover against charges he didn’t do enough to try to build bridges to Capitol Hill should Republicans block him on issues like the budget and immigration. He could then note that he had done all he could as he campaigns against the GOP in the 2014 midterm elections.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney seemed to foreshadow what could eventually be a posture that Obama attempted to be friendly but was rebuffed, asserting the golf game showed the president is “willing to try anything.”

President Barack Obama spent part of Christmas Eve on a Kaneohe golf course.

President Barack Obama spent part of Christmas Eve on a Kaneohe golf course while first lady Michelle Obama answered calls from children across the country tracking Santa’s whereabouts in the annual NORAD Tracks Santa program. The Obamas are on their annual vacation in Hawaii, but a telephone link allowed the first lady to pitch in with volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., who were answering phone calls and email for the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Santa-tracking program. It’s the 110th time of his presidency and the 18th outing of the year. Obama played with friends Mike Ramos, Greg Orme, and Bobby Titcomb. After golf, he hit the beach at the Marine base, where he was joined by the first lady and his daughters.Read the full story here.

"The Gutsy Photoshop" - The illusion of Obama's bin Laden raid situation room leadership.

"The Gutsy Photoshop" - The illusion of Obama's bin Laden raid situation room leadership.(TOF).Mara Zebest says apparently, my previous article on the famous "Situation Room" photo tapped a nationwide nerve. The response ranged from some eye-opening tips on other photos to a few perplexed criticisms as to the motivation for Photoshopping a Situation Room photo.

The answer to that latter question can be summed up in one simple thought: To hide the truth. Obama was out golfing while the OBL mission was unfolding, and the administration needed the Situation Room photo op for public perception -- to give the illusion that he's presidential. Obama's entire "Composite Presidency" and administration are orchestrated in this fashion. Not only is the photo's legitimacy in question, but so is the narrative illusion behind it. Obama knew of OBL's location for a year and refused to act. The CIA admits that there was "no live video feed," as implied by the iconic White House photo. It is anyone's guess what the captive audience was looking at, but it wasn't the OBL raid. It was recently reported that a highly lawyered CYA memo was drafted that made it clear that the military would take all blame for any errors, while Obama would claim all glory for successes. Not surprisingly, the real heroes seem to have a problem with this form of spiking the ball and using our brave SEALs for political gain. Why would Obama need to Photoshop the Situation Room photos? For the same reason behind everything else he does: to influence perception in which everything is about Obama.

As a follow-up to the previous article, a second "Situation Room" photo will be the target of discussion here. For those who would like to download the image, a high-resolution version can be found here. This White House Flickr link is a great place to check for high-resolution sizes of many of the White House photo sets released.

At first glance, the image overwhelms the viewer with a massive backside of Obama's jacket -- oddly oversized shoulders and arms supporting another small-head redux. Any more photos like this, and one might start speculating that Jeebs is the inspiration.
In all fairness, the initial impression leads the eye to believe that the beige fabric under the right armpit belongs to Robert Gates' pants (standing near Obama on the right). However, if that were the case, then who would be attached to the pant leg under the left armpit? It's not intuitively obvious, and it takes the viewer a little time to eventually come to a conclusion that these fabric strips are side panels built into the jacket design. Maybe the New York Times found the presence of this fabric an odd distraction as well -- and the reason behind their cropped version.

Even with this oddity solved, the image is not without significant problems. Moving up the Iron Man-like shoulders to the blurry Jeebs-sized head, zoom in for an extreme close-up of the right neck edge and ear. The right edge of the neck is missing a small but important piece -- it suffers a disappearing act as it approaches the jacket edge and displays a transparent gap (where a phone sitting on the desk can be seen through the neck).

The right ear is also inconsistent along the defining edge. The top ear rim edge is blurry but still clearly visible (similar to the left ear edge), but as the eye travels down around the right ear edge, an abrupt chunk is taken away from the outer ear rim, and the remaining pixel edge transition is significantly sharper (less blurry) for the lower portion.
Shifting to a different image section, it appears that there is a floating hand among the Situation Room attendees. Just to verify that a body wasn't being eclipsed by the folks in front, it seemed reasonable to obtain some answers by examining the reflections in the monitors on the wall behind them. By applying an image adjustment to lighten all the color values in the monitors, the reflection detail becomes more pronounced and easier to discern. Keep in mind that the adjustment applied to the monitors will distort color values -- thus the shirt that appears white could be the blue-shirted man seen in the photo. That said, the man in the reflection has his hand in front -- near his chin -- not at his back. The curvature of the fingers appears different from that of the floating hand's, as well as the fact that it is a man in the reflection, while the floating hand displays feminine characteristics.

The blue-shirted man standing in the room does not appear to be a match for the man in the reflection. So if the reflection is not the blue-shirted man, but rather an eclipsed individual, then where is the blue-shirted man found in the reflection? Wouldn't he be seen in front of the eclipsed individual (within the reflection)? Conversely, if the floating hand does not match the reflected man's hand, then where in the room is the reflected man (whose hand is near the chin)? Not to mention that the body for the floating hand has still not been accounted for via the reflection (more on floating hands in next item).
In case you were wondering how the people in the room translate to the rear monitor reflections, a capture is provided for your evaluation. Keep in mind that the reflections are at angles similar to looking in a mirror and viewing information at the opposing angle.Hmmmm......Another 'production' by "The Make Believe Presidency".Read and see the full story here.

New CIA Memo Reveals Admiral, Not Obama, In Charge of bin Laden Raid.

New CIA Memo Reveals Admiral, Not Obama, In Charge of bin Laden Raid.(PP).With the one year anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death less than one week away, the Obama Administration has been spiking the football for all its worth. The narrative that we have been told since May 1, 2011 is that President Obama made the call to kill bin Laden, with one aide even going so far as to say President Obama's action was "one of the ... gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory." The White House has run with this, milking bin Laden's death for everything its worth. It's even to the point where if go to "gutsycall.com," your browser will automatically direct you to barackobama.com. 
Honestly, if the final decisions were up to President Obama, and no other President would have even considered carrying out the raid that killed bin Laden, the President should have the right to use bin Laden's death any way he sees fit. The problem is that the so-called "gutsy call" never existed. Putting aside the fact that any President with Mr. Obama's intelligence information would have made the same call, a new memo released yesterday that Mr. Obama did not make the "final" call, nor was it terribly gutsy. Instead, it shows that the President merely authorized the possibility for going to Abbottabad... and left everything else up to Admiral William McRaven.You can see the memo here, which was written by then-CIA head Leon Panetta.
The memo reads (emphasis mine):
Received phone call from Tom Donilon who stated that the President made a decision with regard to AC1 [Abbottabad Compound 1]. The decision is to proceed with the assault. The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven’s hands. The approval is provided on the risk profile presented to the President. Any additional risks are to be brought back to the President for his consideration. The direction is to go in and get bin Laden and if he is not there, to get out. Those instructions were conveyed to Admiral McRaven at approximately 10:45 am. In other words, everything from when to go in, what to do, and how to do it were all up to Admiral McRaven. The President played practically no role in bin Laden's death other than being aware of it and allowing it... if bin Laden was indeed there. It wasn't gutsy in the least, but one of Mr. Obama's trademark non-committal commitments. If bin Laden wasn't there and everything went south, he could have easily pointed to the memo and said, "Gee, I told them to get out if he wasn't there!" Instead, bin Laden was there and the President took all the credit that he possibly could. Hmmmm.............If i remember correctly....Wasn't he playing golf when it went down?They came to collect him from the golf course as it went down, how could he go golfing after giving the 'go ahead?"...His 'gutsy call' that day was to go play golf?Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• The volatile Lybian situation live streams here.

Live Blog Libya - Al Jazeera. here.

• HT:BarracudaBrigade.Harvard professors hauled in big cash consulting for Gaddafi.You really can’t make this stuff up: a consulting company founded by Harvard professors has received millions of dollars from Moammar Gaddafi for, in effect, rendering the services of propaganda machine to the deranged dictator.The Boston Globe reports that the professors tried to help improve the dictator’s image:It reads like Libyan government propaganda, extolling the importance of Moammar Gadhafi, his theories on democracy, and his “core ideas on individual freedom."“The really nefarious aspect of this is that it reinforced in Khadafy’s mind that he truly was an international intellectual world figure, and that his ideas of democracy were to be taken seriously,’’ said Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor at Dartmouth College and author of “A History of Modern Libya.’’Beyond writing agitprop for Gadhafi, the firm sent a coterie of distinguished academics to visit Ghadafi, including Joseph Nye of the Kennedy School, Lord Anthony Giddens of the London School of Economics, and Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University. The firm also helped Gadhafi’s son with his dissertation for the London School of Economics. Is that what passes for academic honor these days?But the Monitor Group defended itself citing–what else?–hope, or change, or something: “The firm said that assistance and the book proposal were mistakes. But its statement stressed that the firm’s main effort was designed to help Khadafy’s dictatorship bring about change.”Hmmmm......."Change" where have we heard that before?Ah yes Gaddafi: 'Obama is My Muslim Friend'.Read the full story here.

• Eight SAS men in undercover mission are seized in Libya - by the rebel forces they went to help.An eight-man SAS team was being held by Libyan rebel forces last night after being captured as they accompanied a junior British diplomat on an undercover mission which ended in embarrassment. The elite troops had been escorting the diplomat through rebel-held territory in the east of Libya as he tried to make contact with opponents of Colonel Gaddafi. The diplomat had intended to pave the way for a more senior British official to establish diplomatic relations with rebel forces. But last night the young Foreign Office employee and his armed SAS escorts were locked up inside a military base in Benghazi, the largest city held by opponents of Col Gaddafi.It is understood the SAS incursion into rebel-held territory infuriated opposition politicians, one of whom told them to warn David Cameron’s Government that it should recognise the opposition as Libya’s legitimate leaders before attempting to open negotiations. Sources admitted last night that there was huge embarrassment in Whitehall that the SAS mission had backfired.Hmmmmm........"We come in peace"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina."The war on Christianity".Nearly 4000 Muslims Attack Christian Homes in Egypt, Torch Church.A mob of nearly four thousand Muslims has attacked Coptic homes this evening in the village of Soul, Atfif in Helwan Governorate, 30 kilometers from Cairo, and torched the Church of St. Mina and St. George. There are conflicting reports about the whereabouts of the Church pastor Father Yosha and three deacons who were at church; some say they died in the fire and some say they are being held captive by the Muslims inside the church.Witnesses report the mob prevented the fire brigade from entering the village. The army, which has been stationed for the last two days in the village of Bromil, 7 kilometers from Soul, initially refused to go into Soul, according to the officer in charge. When the army finally sent three tanks to the village, Muslim elders sent them away, saying that everything was "in order now."A curfew has been imposed on the 12,000 Christians in the village.This incident was triggered by a relationship between 40-year-old Copt Ashraf Iskander and a Muslim woman. Yesterday a "reconciliation" meeting was arranged between the relevant Coptic and Muslim families and together with the Muslim elders it was decided that Ashraf Iskander would have to leave the village because Muslims torched his house.The father of the Muslim woman was killed by his cousin because he did not kill his daughter to preserve the family's honor, which led the woman's brother to avenge the death of his father by killing the cousin. The village Muslims blamed the Christians.The Muslim mob attacked the church, exploding 5-6 gas cylinders inside the church, pulled down the cross and the domes and burnt everything inside. Activist Ramy Kamel of Katibatibia Coptic advocacy called US-based Coptic Hope Sat TV and sent an SOS on behalf of the Copts in Soul village, as they are presently being attacked by the mob. He also said that no one is able to contact the priest and the deacons inside the burning church and there is no answer from their mobile phones.Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub reported the mob has broken into Coptic homes and has called on Copts to leave the village. "Terrorized Copts have fled and some hid in homes of Muslim neighbors," he added.Witnesses said the mob chanted "Allahu Akbar" and vowed to conduct their morning prayers on the church plot after razing it.Hmmmm......Off course no word from the self confessed 'Christian'President ,who by the way pledged 1,57 Billion Dollars to Egypt for 2012.Read the full story here.

• As storm nears and temps rise, Obama hits golf course for first time this year.In a sign that spring is nearing in Washington, President Obama hit the golf course Saturday.Storm clouds have been brewing all day, but the temperature was expected to hit 60 degrees. The president left the White House at 1 p.m. for his first golf outing stateside this year.Obama to the Andrews Air Force Base golf course.Obama usually hits the indoor basketball court on winter days.Hmmm....It's not like there's a revolution going on or that they're burning Christians?Read the full 'story' here.

• Name this professor of law?Harvard professor of law can't explain the Second Amendment?Video: Obama Struggles to Explain the Second Amendment to Mexican Reporter After Asking Why He Doesn’t Veto it…“Well, the Second Amendment in this country is part of our Constitution, and the president of the United States is bound by our Constitution,” Obama said. “So I believe in the Second Amendment. It does provide for Americans the right to bear arms for their protection, for their safety, for hunting, for a wide range of uses.”Hmmmm.....I can only wonder what go's through the mind of the teachers at Harvard when watching this.Read and see the full disaster story here.

• WTF ? Obama: Israel may benefit from Arab uprisings.US President Barack Obama claimed on Friday that America “can’t be naïve” about the situation in the Middle East, stressing that Israel may benefit from the wave of popular uprisings that has swept across the Arab world. Speaking to democratic donors in Miami, the New York Times quoted Obama as saying, “When you look at what’s happening around the world what’s happening in the Middle East, it is a manifestation of new technologies, the winds of freedom that are blowing through countries that have not felt those winds in decades, a whole new generation that says I want to be a part of this world. It’s a dangerous time, but it’s also a huge opportunity for us.’’He stated that “All the forces that we see building in Egypt are the forces that should be naturally aligned with us. Should be aligned with Israel.”“I’m actually confident that 10 years from now we’re going to be able to look back and say that this was the dawning of an entirely new and better era. One in which people are striving not to be against something but to be for something,” he said.Hmmmm......Is he for real?The Muslim Brotherhood already states that they will eradicate Israel and he says Israel will benefit?What 'new dawn'the start of the Global Caliphat?I think the Presidents mental state is obstructing his 'vision', impeachment should be considered.Read the full story here.

• Air Force Launches Robotic Space Plane on Mystery Mission.After being delayed a day by bad weather, the U.S. Air Force's second X-37B robotic space plane blasted off from Florida this afternoon (March 5) on a mystery mission shrouded in secrecy.The unmanned X-37B mini-shuttle — known as Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (OTV-2) — took to the skies from Cape Canaveral at 5:46 p.m. ET today, tucked away in the nose cone atop a huge Atlas 5 rocket."Liftoff of the Atlas 5 rocket and the second experimental X-37B, America's miniature military space shuttle," the Air Force Space Command wrote in a Twitter post as the Atlas 5 streaked into the Florida skies.The space plane was originally scheduled to launch yesterday, but cloudy, windy conditions scrubbed two attempts. And a technical glitch caused the X-37B to miss a launch window earlier this afternoon; a faulty valve had to be replaced in a last-minute repair.What exactly the vehicle does while circling the Earth for so long is a mystery, since the craft's payloads and missions are classified. Partly as a result of the secrecy, some concern has been raised — particularly by Russia and China — that the X-37B is a space weapon of some sort.But the Air Force has repeatedly denied that charge, claiming that the X-37B's chief task is testing out new hardware for future satellites — instruments like sensors and guidance, control and navigation systems. And that's likely to be the case, experts say.Boeing's Space and Intelligence Systems division builds the X-37B for the Air Force. Originally, NASA used the space plane as an experimental test bed until funding for the project ran out in 2004.The vehicle then passed to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and was ultimately turned over to the Air Force in 2006.Hmmmmm....One satellite buster coming up?Read the full story here.More here and here.

• US Congressman : the Muslim Brotherhood must be kept out of Government!House Middle East subcommittee chairman blasts Obama gov't for not taking tougher line on Hezbollah in Lebanon, Muslim Brothers.The new chairman of the US House’s Middle East subcommittee blasted the Obama administration on Friday for not taking a tougher line against the Muslim Brotherhood and its possible inclusion in the next Egyptian government.“I think we ought to be very clear that the Muslim Brotherhood should not be part of a future government in Egypt,” Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), 58, told The Jerusalem Post in his first interview with an Israeli paper since becoming chairman of the US House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia.The US should condition aid to Egypt – now at around $1.5 billion a year – on whether the Muslim Brotherhood ends up in the government, Chabot said.“They’re about Shari’a law, they’re about suppressing women’s rights, and I don’t think that we ought to condone that, I don’t think that ought to be any part of the future of Egypt,” he said. “We might not have the power to implement the US program, but I think with our support – financial and otherwise – that we can maybe encourage things that would ultimately be in their best long-term interests, and Israel’s and the United States’.”Chabot criticized the Obama administration for not being bold enough in its position on the Brotherhood, and argued that the US weakness on this issue has emboldened Iran and other enemies of America who were calculating how to take advantage of the unrest.“They’ve been less than clear about accepting the Muslim Brotherhood in a future government and in what capacity, and I think that sends a message to those that are going to be negotiating the future of Egypt’s government,” Chabot said of the Obama administration. He added that broadly “this administration has oftentimes sent mixed messages, and pretty tepid and weak messages on occasion.”He described its “impotent” response to Iran’s repression of the opposition movement in 2009 as the “most blaring example,” and charged that as a result of that reaction and the one being expressed now, Iran feels stronger.Such strengthening of Iran contributed the rise of Hezbollah in Lebanon, he added.Just as Chabot doesn’t want to see American dollars going to a government including the Muslim Brotherhood, he is opposed to aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces in a Hezbollah-backed Lebanese government, as is currently being formed in Beirut. The Obama administration has defended such aid as necessary to encourage secular actors and counter-balance money coming Iran and its allies.While it is his own Republican Party that has been making loud calls for cutting foreign aid, Chabot said he was confident Israel’s more than $3b. in yearly assistance was secure.“Even though this new Congress and a new conservative Republican-oriented House, of which I’m a part, is absolutely bound and determined to get our fiscal house in order, even those folks understand the importance of our relationship with Israel,” he said.Chabot, who once went to The Hague to defend Israel when the International Court of Justice there was considering the legality of the West Bank security barrier, said he was pleased that his colleagues agreed with him in seeing Israel aid as “one area where we should absolutely not be cutting back on funding, that we need to continue to make sure that Israel gets the aid that it needs and deserves.”Hmmmm.......Does this mean the Muslim Brotherhood won't get the 1,57 billion Dollars their 'friend' promised?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Obama demands 'dramatic statements' from Bibi, Likud demands that he build.President Obama's obsession with the 'Palestinians' is getting worse. Now, he's demanding 'dramatic statements' from Prime Minister Netanyahu, including a reference to the 1949 armistice lines '1967 borders.' The Obama Administration will not make do with statements that are "not dramatic" alongside a new peace initiative reportedly planned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials in Jerusalem say.The political sources said they fear that the US Administration will demand clear reference to the 1967 borders as part of the plan and a subsequent Netanyahu speech.The officials said the PM would not be able to address sensitive issues such as Jerusalem's division or Palestinian refugees. Hence, the sources estimated that the issue of borders "must be on the table," with America expecting Netanyahu to refer to the 1967 borders as the basis for a final-status agreement and the establishment of a Palestinian state.But over the weekend, JPost reported that 19 of the Likud's 27 members signed a statement telling Bibi 'just build Bibi, build.'“Netanyahu feels that he is alone, under pressure from Obama and the world, but he is not,” council director-general Naftali Bennett said.“The entire government, the entire Likud and the overwhelming majority of Israelis are telling Netanyahu: Just build already. The only government since the Six Day War that has applied such a freeze on the cities in Judea and Samaria is the Netanyahu government. This is unacceptable.”Hmmm....With Spring comes the Jew bashing back?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Jewish student sues Berkeley after racially motivated assault.A first of its kind federal civil rights case has been filed in United States District Court in Oakland, California, against the University of California at Berkeley, the Regents of the University of California and their ranking officials, by a Jewish student who had been assaulted on campus last year by a leader of a Muslim student organization during a pro-Israel event.On March 5, 2010, Jessica Felber, a twenty year old Jewish student at Berkeley, was attacked and injured on campus because of her Jewish ancestry and religious affiliation. At the time she was holding a sign stating “Israel wants Peace.” Her assailant, Husam Zakharia, also a UC Berkeley student, was the leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (“SJP”) at Berkeley.There is a genuine fear by Ms. Felber and other students of Jewish ancestry on campuses throughout the University of California system that the tragic lessons of history have not yet been learned by these defendants. They fear that the University of California campuses are no longer places of hope and dignity, of academic and personal freedom, or of peaceful life and personal safety.Ms. Felber is represented by Joel H. Siegal a civil rights attorney in San Francisco, and New York attorney Neal M. Sher, who for many years was the Director of the Justice Department’s Nazi prosecution office.Hmmmm......Well done!Read the full story here.

• Saudi Arabia imposes ban on ‘un-Islamic’ protests.Saudi Arabia warned potential protesters on Saturday that a ban on marches would be enforced, signaling that small protests by the Shi’ite minority in the oil-producing east would no longer be tolerated.“The kingdom’s regulations totally ban all sorts of demonstrations, marches, sit-ins,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement – adding that security forces would stop all attempts to disrupt public order.The ministry said demonstrations violated Islamic law and the kingdom’s traditions, according to a statement carried by state news agency SPA.Inspired by protests in other Arab countries, there have been Shi’ite marches in the past few days in the east – and unconfirmed activist reports of a small protest at a mosque in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday.Hmmmmm......My guess ..these protesters havent read the report from Credit Agricole 'Unrest will not probably spread to Kingdom'?Read the full story here.More here and here.

• HT:BigPeace.Instability In Russia Puts 2014 Olympics At Sochi In Doubt.Georgians are infuriated by the accusation by Alexander Torshin, a senior senator in Russia’s government, that the “ruling regime” of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili perpetrated the suicide terrorist bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on January 24, killing 37 people, according to the Moscow Times. Tensions between Russia and Georgia have been great since the 2008 war fought between the two countries, largely over status of Georgia’s separatist province South Ossetia, whose status has not been settled to this day.Chechnya’s terrorist leader Doku Umarov has claimed responsibility for the airport bombing, but Torshin rejected that claim.“Saakashvili’s regime didn’t need Umarov to organize bombings because there is [South] Ossetian traitor [Dmitry] Sanakoyev and his agents. Saakashvili doesn’t hide his anger toward us. He made anti-Russian sentiment an item for sale a long time ago and sells it.”This accusation has raised tensions between the two countries to a new level. Georgia’s foreign minister said that the statement was a “purposeful provocation,” and an “absolutely groundless accusation,” according to Civil.ge. She pointed out that “Even the Russian law enforcement agencies have made not a single indication about the Georgian trace,” and accused the Russians of adopting these false allegations as policy.At the heart of the latest rounds of accusations and counter-accusations are Russia’s plans to hold the 2014 Winter Olypics in Sochi. Georgian officials have in fact called for relocation of games because of security threats, and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has for weeks been suggesting that Georgia is the source of those security threats. Reuters quotes Medvedev as saying “Forces that would impede holding the Olympics must be identified and brought to justice, if we are talking about citizens of our country. You all understand that there are also certain problems connected to our neighbour, Georgia.”This all comes as a new wave of violence is sweeping through the crucially important province of Kabardino-Balkaria (KBR) in the North Caucasus (Russia’s southern provinces). On February 21, three tourists were gunned down by suspected Islamist terrorists while while skiing on Mount Elbrus, a major tourist attraction in KBR. The attack on tourists in this normally calm region has shocked Russians, and has led to calls from officials to halt tourism in the area, according to Reuters.This was followed by the discovery of a shelter, on the slopes of Mount Elbrus, stocked with food, firearms, explosives and police uniforms and capable of housing eight people. Law enforcement officials carried out airstrikes and mortar bombings on Mount Elbrus to hunt down the militants, according to the Moscow Times, though it’s not clear that any insurgents were killed.Analyst Paul Goble is quoting Moscow political scientists are saying that the KBR violence is devastating to Russia as a whole, because it casts doubt on Moscow’s ability to ensure political stability in the North Caucasus, essential for the 2014 Olympics. In doing so, it’s adding to the instability of the entire country.The tourist attacks have severely damaged the credibility of both Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, both of whom have staked their reputations on a modernization program for the North Caucasus that was to have resolved the violence.Furthermore, the incident is increasing the level of nationalism and xenophobia among Russians, at a time when there has been repeated violence between Russians and Caucasus Muslims in Moscow.At the time that I wrote that report, the Circassian genocide was still a narrowly local issue, but it’s increasingly becoming a national and international issue, according to Goble.According to Goble, Russian authorities may be planning to try to divide the Circassians by offering them something in the hopes of getting them to drop these demands.I would be very surprised if this kind of bribery did anything but worsen the situation.From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, the Caucasus region is one of the most violent on earth, because of the interethnic wars, and because it’s one of the major regions (along with the Crimea and the Balkans) where fault line generational crisis wars have been fought between the Muslim civilization and the Orthodox Christian civilization. The great forces that have lead to these wars over the centuries appear to be rising again. It’s too bad that the 2014 Winter Olympics plans for Sochi are caught in the line of fire.Hmmmmm......And the fact that there will be no need for a visa between Turkey and Russia,will open the door to Russia for any would be terrorist in the Middle East ! Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Israel seeks ways to halt Göktürk satellite project,before they sell info to Iran.Israel has started lobbying to halt the Göktürk electro-optical satellite project, which will pave the way for the Turkish military to gather its own intelligence. The project will also enable the acquisition of high-resolution images for military purposes in Europe, the Caucasus and the Middle East, and it will strengthen Turkey’s hand in fighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Concerned that the satellite will gather images from its territory, Israel has put pressure on France, which is working on the construction of the satellite in cooperation with the Italian-based Telespazio to stop the project. Given the possibility that its efforts in France prove fruitless, Israeli officials are also lobbying in Ankara.Once the satellite is launched, Turkey will be able to sell the images obtained through the satellite to other countries as well. Israel is currently attempting to negotiate with Turkish officials in order to ensure Turkey does not sell images of Israel to other states. However, the response of Turkish officials was clear: “We decide how to use the images taken by our satellite.”Speaking to Today’s Zaman, high-level officials from the Turkish Defense Ministry said: “For years, Israel has obtained images of our territory. For the first time, we will have a satellite for intelligence. Reciprocity is essential in international relations. If they observe Turkish soil, Turkey has the same right, too.” Turkey’s defense and procurement authorities had completed a deal with Telespazio for the construction and launching of the country’s first military satellite, Göktürk, in 2009.Hmmmmmm.......Sounds like a case for "Stuxnet to the rescue"?Read the full story here.

• Turkey tired of Internet bans, mass punishment of users.“We don’t want to be punished along with those who use blogs to make money illegally. With the current technology, I don’t think it should be difficult to track down and punish individuals who violate the commercial rights of others with their blogs. Banning all the blogs is like throwing a package of rice into a garbage can because you think sorting it is difficult,” wrote one of Turkey’s millions of bloggers on her blog, which she wants to remain anonymous.The blogger’s reaction came in the wake of a recent court ban that has blocked Google’s famous blog-hosting service, blogspot.com/blogger.com, following complaints by digital satellite platform Digiturk.Internet Technology Association (İTD) President Mustafa Akgül said the ban imposed on blogspot.com was a violation of human rights and freedom of expression in particular, and it places Turkey in a difficult situation in the international arena. Akgül accused the courts of taking the easy way by imposing a ban on blogspot.com instead of finding the individuals who violated Digiturk’s broadcasting rights. He said those who commit an offense on the Internet should be punished individually and giving a mass punishment to all bloggers is an unfair thing to do. “Court should act fairly. While they want to punish several people for their illegitimate actions on the Internet, they should not also punish millions of innocent Internet users because justice does not call for punishment of the innocent while making the balance between the crime and the punishment proportional,” he told Sunday’s Zaman.A statement released by bloggers at blogumadokunma.tumblr.com said: “Digiturk, Google and the Republic of Turkey should be sensitive about the censoring shame from now on, all the anti-censor Internet users should support this movement, and all members of the press should lend their support to freedom of expression.” Tansel Parlak, an activist from the Young Civilians, a nongovernmental organization famous for its use of sarcasm in its protests, said the bans imposed on the Internet in Turkey have gone beyond being tragic-comic and become stupid. “It is like cutting all the trees in a forest when you just need a few of them,” he said.The Internet restrictions in Turkey are a subject criticized by the EU. “There are frequent website bans which are disproportionate in scope and duration,” according to the latest EU progress report, which was issued last November, noting “Law No. 5651 … limits freedom of expression and restricts citizens’ rights to access information.”Welcome to Turkey ....Iran style?Read the full story here.

• HT:CreepingSharia.U.S. open to sharia to to free U.S. “diplomat” in Pakistan.One way out of the mess surrounding the Jan. 27 arrest in Lahore of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, say senior U.S. and Pakistani officials, is a Muslim ritual for resolving disputes known as “blood money.”This approach would require a prominent Islamic intermediary – perhaps from Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates – who would invite relatives of the two men Davis killed to the Gulf. Payment to the victims’ families could then be negotiated quietly. Once the next of kin had agreed to this settlement, the legal case against Davis for murder might be moot in a Pakistani court.A senior Pakistani official in Washington outlined this “blood money” concept in a conversation Monday. An official of that country’s Inter-Services Intelligence directorate also endorsed this approach; he said it had the advantage of meshing with the dispute-resolution customs of the Middle East and South Asia.Asked about such a third-party mediation to free Davis, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday: “The United States is open to exploring any and all options that could resolve this matter. . . . It’s in our mutual interest to move beyond the Davis issue, and we believe the Pakistanis understand the stakes involved.Hmmmmm......In Arabic, the word Diyya means both blood money and ransom.In Islamic and Arab traditions, blood money is the fine paid by the killer or his family or clan to the family or the clan of the victim .Countries whose law follows the Shari’a, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, also enacted laws for Qisas and Diyat(Bloodmoney).In Saudi Arabia, when a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the prescribed blood money rates are as follows:

100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man

50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman

50,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish man

25,000 riyals if a Christian or Jewish woman

6,666 riyals if a Hindu man

3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman.The amount of compensation is based on the percentage of responsibility. Blood money is to be paid not only for murder, but also in case of unnatural death, interpreted to mean death in a fire, industrial or road accident, for instance, as long as the responsibility for it falls on the causer.Read the full story here.

• HT:Serbianna.Jihad ties emerge on Canada’s Bosnian Muslim group.Bosnian Muslim group “Institute for Research of Genocide of Canada” has hailed Canada’s decision to bar Dr Srdja Trifkovic from holding a lecture there, however, more evidence is emerging that this Bosnian Muslim group has ties with violent Jihad.The chief of the “Institute”, Emir Ramic, is on the editorial board of a radical Bosnian Muslim publication called Korak (Step) that is published in Sarajevo. The aim of the publication is to protect the legacy (zastita tekovine borbe) of the Bosnian Muslim Jihad in the 1990s.Some of the authors and “analysts” in that Magazine that Ramic edits are former Bosnian Muslim officials that were instrumental in issuing citizenship to foreign-born al-Qaeda and in weapons smuggling from Iran into Bosnia which opened doors to infiltration of Iranian agents in the region.A notable figure in Ramic’s magazine is Enes Ljevakovic, whose brother Irfan Ljevakovic is on the supervisory board of the Third World Relief Agency (TWRA) that has been mentioned by the CIA Report on NGOs With Terror Links.Irfan Ljevakovic is wanted for questioning by the Austrian government for recruiting Jihadists in Austria to go fight in Bosnia. According to a Washington Post report “Bosnian sources said [Irfan] Ljevakovic is one of several influential officials protecting the Islamic fighters who remain in Bosnia in violation of the Dayton peace accord”.Now, Irfan Ljevakovic is the youngest among 5 Ljevakovic’s – oldest Zijad, then Ekrem, Advan, Enes and Irfan – and all of them have been instrumental in the formation of the Izetbegovic extremist government in some form or fashion. Politically managed by Zijad, Enes’s role in Jihad has been to provide intellectual foundation for worldwide “stealth” Jihad.Ramic, who is on the editorial board of Korak, had to have approved Enes’ declaration that “Jihad is a just and legitimate fight against aggression and a struggle in protection of human rights and freedoms”.Ramic also had to have approved a text posted on the “Institute” web site in which his Ramic’s intellectual mate, Dr. Josip Pecaric, claims that the WWII genocide of Serbs, Jews and Roma in Croatia’s Jasenovac death camp is “Serbian propaganda“. Some of the Nazi guards were Bosnian Muslims at Jasenovac.Ramic’s group is also accusing distinguished General MacKenzie to be “the accomplice to the crime of aggression and genocide” while on the peace mission in Bosnian in early 1990s. Other Bosnian Muslim groups, with ties to Ramic, have joined the campaign against General MacKenzie charging the General of alleged multitude of rapes of Bosnian Muslim females. MacKenzie is apparently suing Ramic.The rape charge against MacKenzie is led by the US branch of the Bosnian Muslims, the Congress of North American Bosniaks whose Treasurer is Uzeir Ramic. Both serve on an “Advisory Council” and Uzeir is noted for his $5,000.00 donation for a New York mosque.As the story Ramic develops, some have told me that Ramic harbors more radical Islamist ties and represents the “stealth” wing of the radical Bosnian Muslims who seek to establish intellectual foundation for Jihad in north America.Hmmmmm......"Bosnian Muslim kills two US Soldiers in Frankfurt".Read the full story here.

• "Life or Death in Iran's Prisons".Political prisoner with paralyzed arms sent to solitary confinement.Human Rights Activists News Agency – Ali Afshar is a political prisoner who has been held in solitary confinement for the past 40 days in the Orumiyeh central prison. Security agents transferred him there from the Orumiyeh intelligence agency.About three months ago, Ali Afshar was arrested by Iran’s security forces in northwestern Iran near Bukan and Mahabad. During the arrest, security agents shot Ali Afshar five times, causing severe injuries. Following a rudimentary outpatient care, he was moved to the Orumiyeh intelligence agency.Due to the gun shot wounds, Ali Afshar became completely paralyzed in both arms. Currently, his health is suffering greatly and his life is under great threat. He is being held in solitary confinement where these is no heat. In the winter, the temperature in Orumiyeh can reach ten degrees below the freezing point.Ali Afshar is accused of cooperating with a Kurdish party. He is charged with “Enmity against God” and “Corrupter on Earth”.Hmmmm.....Iran...best friend of Turkey...who's best friend is....... Obama,makes you wonder why Obama keeps silent?Read the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.In pictures: Obama's devastating cuts to the federal budget.Hmmm......Reading or magnifying  Glasses adivised!Read and see the whole thing here.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.Texas Legislation Proposes Felony Charges for TSA Agents.Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) introduced a package of bills into the Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday that would challenge the TSA’s authority in a number of ways. The first bill, HB 1938, prohibits full body scanning equipment in any Texas airport and provides for criminal and civil penalties on any airport operator who installs the equipment. The second bill, HB 1937, criminalizes touching without consent and searches without probable cause.

HB 1938 reads in part:

(b) An airport operator may not allow body imaging scanning equipment to be installed or operated in any airport in this state.Both bills empower the Texas Attorney General to bring suit in court. The TSA will likely challenge such a law, but the Texas legislature stands on solid ground. Local governments control airports and no enumerated power in the Constitution gives the federal government the authority to regulate them. Under the Tenth Amendment, airport operation falls under state jurisdiction.TSA regulations allow for passengers to refuse the body scans, but they must instead submit to an intrusive full-body pat down. This package addresses both issues. The HB 1938 legislation addresses the physical installation of full-body scans, and HB 1937 addresses the problematic constitutional issues of TSA security screening procedures. Random full-body scans and pat downs in the absence of probable cause arguably violates the Fourth Amendment.The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…Hmmmmmm........Do you "Remember the Alamo" Obama?Read the full story here.

• HT:Ahmadiyyatimes.Pakistan: Another blasphemer’ gunned down.RAWALPINDI: Only two days after the assassination of Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti in broad daylight, a poor man who had been accused in a blasphemy case and released last year, was gunned down on the outskirts of the city on Friday.According to police, Mohammad Imran, who was released along with his friend Sajid Mehmood on Feb 13 last year, was sitting at a shop near a bus stand in Danda village when three masked gunmen attacked him.Sub-inspector Mehmood Ahmed, who heads the team investigating the murder, said that two of the attackers entered the shop owned by one Abdul Rehman, while the third stayed outside. “After spotting their target they opened fire, killing Imran on the spot and escaped,” he added.Mohammad Akram, an elder brother of Imran, in his complaint suspected that Imdad Hussain, son of Altaf Hussain, of Ckak Baili, was behind the murder. Dawn.Imran and Mehmood were booked by police in a blasphemy case in April 2009 on a complaint lodged by one Asif Fareed who had accused them of passing `insulting` remarks against the holy prophet (PBUH) during a discussion at a village café.Hmmmm.......How long before Pakistan starts exterminating 'blasphemers' on a massive scale?Lets say Nuclear scale?Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Indonesia: Assaulted by Islamist Extremism | After East Java, West Java Bans All of Ahmadiyah’s Activities.Bandung. West Java joined a string of other regional governments on Thursday in banning activities of the Ahmadiyah sect.West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan said he issued a gubernatorial regulation, No. 12 of 2011, banning the activities of the Ahmadiyah in the province. He said it was effective immediately.“This gubernatorial regulation is a follow-up to the joint ministerial decree and a 12-point joint agreement which was also signed by representatives of the Ahmadiyah,” Ahmad said.He was referring to a 2008 joint ministerial decree that prohibits the Ahmadiyah from practicing their faith in public and spreading their beliefs. The decree, which stopped short of banning the sect altogether, has been criticized by human rights activists as it is frequently used to justify violence against the Ahmadiyah community.The joint agreement Ahmad referred to was recently signed and outlined some of the prohibitions on Ahmadiyah activity.He said the gubernatorial regulation was based on the desire of the government to prevent any social conflict from breaking out because of the activities of the Ahmadiyah, which many mainstream Muslims consider a deviant sect.“We are not in a position to dissolve the Ahmadiyah organization, but we are in a position to follow up on the joint ministerial decree and the 12-point agreement,” h e said.The regulation prohibits Ahmadis from trying to spread Ahmadiyah teachings orally, in writing or through electronic media. That also means all signboards containing the name of the organization must be taken down from public places, including mosques and schools. Ahmadiyah attributes may no longer be visible anywhere in West Java.“Ahmadiyah mosques are mosques for all. All Muslims should be allowed to enter those mosques,” Ahmad said. He added that religious authorities will also organize Islamic events in mosques identified as Ahmadiyah mosques to put an end to alleged exclusivism there.The West Java regulation forbids people from launching any unlawful action against the Ahmadiyah community, but it also calls on the public to help monitor and report any violation by Ahmadiyah members.Saerodji, who heads the West Java office for religious affairs, said there were some 17,000 Ahmadis in the province.Sugiyanto, head of the West Java High Prosecutor’s Office, said the regulation was aimed at protecting Ahmadis from the attacks they had experienced in the past.“We want to protect the Ahmadiyah community from anarchic actions. If there are violations of the 12-point agreement, let the authorities deal with it,” Sugiyanto said.“This is no longer a mere call but has been laid down into a written regulations. The public should not take matters into their own hands.”West Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Suparni Parto said the regulation was a good solution and added that police would now no longer hesitate to take action against whomever violated it.The spokesman for the Ahmadiyah community in the western part of West Java, Rafiq Ahmad Sumadi Gandakusuma, told the Jakarta Globe they had not been invited to discuss the new regulation.Earlier this week, authorities in Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city and capital of East Java, issued a similar regulation banning the display of any Ahmadiyah attributes and any efforts by the group to spread its faith in the province.In the province of Banten, Lebak district recently said it would issue a bylaw banning the Ahmadiyah, and Pandeglang district already issued such a decree on Feb. 21.Hmmmm.....Remember that defender of the 'oppressed'saying "Indonesia is an example of religious tolerance",seems more like wherever he passes chaos follows soon.Read the full story here.More here and here .

• Video - Poverty forces 13-year-old to pull rickshaw.Difficult childhood: Poverty forces 13-year-old Sonam to pull a rickshaw and eke out a living.Hmmmmm......And then you have 'people' who spend between 22 - 50 Million dollars on a wedding?Read and see the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Live sex show spices up college class in Chicago.Live sex show spices up college class in Chicago.Once the demonstration began, Smith said, "there was a lot of covering of the mouth like 'Oh my gosh.' It was pretty quiet.... I didn't really see people take affront, but they were engaged with the experience."Faith Kroll, 25, said she had planned to simply answer questions and show off her sex toys but was game to demonstrate in the flesh after the students were shown an "absurd, clinical" video."One of the students asked what my specific fetish was and mine is being in front of people, having the attention and being used," she told the Chicago Sun-Times. "The students seemed really intrigued."Psychology professor John Michael Bailey said he initially hesitated, but decided to allow the public sex act."My hesitation concerned the likelihood that many people would find this inappropriate," he wrote in a statement. "My decision to say 'yes' reflected my inability to come up with a legitimate reason why students should not be able to watch such a demonstration."The university initially defended the risque display, with a spokesman saying in a statement that it "supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge" even though some of the topics may be "controversial."The university will reportedly pay several hundred dollars to Melvoin-Berg, the co-owner of Weird Chicago Tours, for the lecture.He said neither Kroll nor Marcus - exhibitionists who are happy to have people watch them have sex - would be paid.But as the news went viral Thursday, the university's president issued a statement saying he was "troubled and disappointed by what occurred.""I feel it represented extremely poor judgment on the part of our faculty member," Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro said."I have directed that we investigate fully the specifics of this incident, and also clarify what constitutes appropriate pedagogy, both in this instance and in the future."Hmmmmm.......I can't help but wonder what Islam says about this?Read the full story here.Video report here.