United Madness - Despite Military Atrocities, Ivory Coast Elected as UN Disarmament Commission Vice-Chair.

United Madness - Despite Military Atrocities, Ivory Coast Elected as UN Disarmament Commission Vice-Chair.(UW).Despite massive abuses by its military recently committed during a brutal crackdown, Côte d’Ivoire has just been elected by the UN to serve as Vice-Chair of its Disarmament Commission, for its upcoming 2013 substantive session, a decision eliciting sharp protest from the Geneva-based human rights group UN Watch, which called for the move to be reversed.
“A government whose military has just committed widespread human rights abuses — including arbitrary arrests, illegal detentions, extortion, inhuman treatment, and torture — should not be made vice-chair of a U.N. arms control body. The U.N. should recognize that it has sent absolutely the wrong message at the wrong time, cancel the decision, and apologize to the victims,” said Hillel Neuer, UN Watch executive director.
Abuses by the Côte d’Ivoire military were documented the Guardian, citing a Nov. 19th report by Human Rights Watch.
President Ouattara’s rule is increasingly precarious, according to another Guardian article, with his government accepting military help from a rebel group now accused of carrying out mass atrocities against members of ethnic groups known to be allied with former president Laurent Gbagbo, now under detention by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.Hmmmm.....Is this 'madness' contagious?Read te full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 13. Here .(Al-Jazeera).
• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 4.5 and 5.4! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 84.On 12.04.2011 at 02:59 GMT+2. Here .

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

• HT:Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Workers fear radioactive water spill at Fukushima.The Mainichi Daily News.13 April 2011.Nuke plant workers fear water poured on reactors could overflow and leak radiation.Emergency workers are fighting an uphill battle to contain one of the troubled nuclear reactors in northeastern Japan, as they cannot pour large amounts of water on it to cool it down for fear that it will be contaminated with radiation and overflow.It was discovered on April 13 that the temperature of water in the spent fuel pool of the No. 4 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had risen to 90 degrees Celsius. The level of radiation around the reactor is very high at 84 millisieverts per hour. Under normal conditions, the level of radiation is 0.0001 millisievert per hour, a level where people can walk by the pool with ordinary clothes on.The workers are unable to cool it down sufficiently because they are only pouring on an amount of water that evaporates from the fuel pool, to prevent it from overflowing. Therefore, they are in difficult dilemma.Of the 1,331 fuel assemblies stored in the pool of the No. 4 reactor, 548 are new and therefore they could generate more heat than ordinary spent nuclear fuel. Heated waste from the fuel is believed to have caused the fuel pool to boil, and exposed fuel rods in turn overheated. It is then believed that hydrogen was generated after the rods’ cladding tubes reacted with water and exploded four days after the March 11 disaster. The fuel rods were said to have stopped being exposed after receiving water supplied from concrete pumping trucks.The Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) used a remote control system to collect samples of water from the pool on April 12. At that time, the temperature of water in the pool was found to be 90 degrees Celsius against 84 degrees Celsius recorded on the eve of the hydrogen explosion. A high level of radiation — 100,000 times the normal level — was detected in the atmosphere about 6 meters above the fuel pool.The power company says the fuel was covered with water and not exposed. On the question of why the level of radiation was so high, the power firm said, “We think either the fuel in the pool was damaged or materials seeped out from the pressure vessel.” Based on that assumption, the power company is analyzing the ingredients of the radioactive materials.Concrete pumping trucks are currently being used to supply water to cool down the fuel pool, but if the amount of water is increased further, radioactive water will overflow, making it even more difficult to deal with the spread of contaminated water. In the meantime, as long as workers keep supplying only the amount of water that evaporates with the heated waste, they are not able to prevent the pool from boiling. “We want to restore the recirculating cooling system (using seawater), but we cannot do that because radiation in the reactor building is high,” said TEPCO executive Junichi Matsumoto.end quote.This is a technical issue complained bitterly about by opposing scientists over many decades, only to have the technical facts disputed by nuclear authorities. The so-called “nuclear age” is reduced to the sophiscation of concrete pumps and evaporation rates. Read the full story here.

• HT:Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.More disclosures of radionuclide contamination at Fukushima – including Sr89.Update from Dr. Saji- former Secretariat of Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission.Last Update: 9 April 2011. Dear Colleagues : 27th day!

I. Stop that leak?

After the successful operation performed yesterday, the sea water sampling at the sea water discharge inlet reduced down to 5700 Bq/cm3, a factor of 50 decrease from the value of samples taken on April 2. Likewise, Cs-137 concentration was 3200 Bq/cm3. These values indicate that the leakage from the pit to the sea water was stopped.

It was reported yesterday that the water level in the trench of 1F2 has increased by 5 cm, however, it went back to the original level on the morning of April 7. This may indicate that the water leaking from the basement of the turbine hall of 1F2 found its way to the trench. TEPCO is keeping a close eye on the water level, as well as possible leak to other locations.Read the full story here.

• HT:BeforeitisNews.Obama's 1890 SS number traced to a dead man in Honolulu,HI !

          This news is breaking: This is bad news for Obama.

This is what we know so far. We get more info on Jean Paul Ludwig, who was born in 1890, had CT SSN obtained in 1976 and died in HI around 1981. There are 2 SS numbers for him and records show him dying in 2 different states: CA and HI around 1981.The reason this is important, is because there is a similar fact pattern to Obama. Barack Obama is residing today in the White House, using CT SS number 042-68-4425, issued in CT in and around March 1977 to an elderly individual named John Paul Ludwig, who was born in 1890, who is presumed dead and whose death was either never reported to the SS administration or reported and deleted from the database by someone.

Obama’s maternal grandmother Madelyn Dunham, worked as a part-timer or volunteer in the Probate Office in the Honolulu Hawaii Courthouse. Thus she would have access to the estate files of anyone who died there. Thus if the elderly man originally from CT died intestate in Hawaii with no known relatives, Grandma Dunham would have known this person is a prime candidate to steal the SSN of since there would be no known surviving family worrying about the death benefit from SSN and that the benefit was not likely applied for and thus SSA did not know he died. Thus the SSN remained active for the deceased person and Obama could “adopt” it as his own. This is a clear case of identity theft at the federal level.

This is what we know about Ludwig:

In 1924, Jean Paul Ludwig worked for Senator Reed of PA, in Washington DC.On the ship manifest of ‘Leviathan’, he listed Senator Reed in Washington, DC as his empl., in answer to where he intended to live in the US.Jean Paul Ludwig had been in the US for 3 yrs in 1924, but he was listed on the “Immigration” manifest and refered to as an alien in the column headings.Listed under “States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival”, New York, Aug 12, 1924:

Jean Paul Ludwig, Date of Arrival: Aug 12, 1924, Port of Departure:

Cherbourg, France, Line#: 0008

Line #8: By Whom was Passage Paid: Emp. Mr. Reed; Whether in possession of $50: Yes; Whether ever before in US: Yes; If Yes-Period of Years: 3; Where: PA

Whether going to join relative or friend: Empl. Senator Reed, Washingto, DC

Length of time alien intends to remain in the US: Always

Height 5′5″, Complexion Dk., Hair Br., Eyes Br., Marks of ID: None

Place of Birth: France, Ammersville.[www.ellisisland.org]

First Name: Jean P.

Last Name: Ludwig

Ethnicity: France

Last Place of Residence: Washington, D.C.

Date of Arrival: Aug 12, 1924

Age at Arrival: 34 Gender: M Marital Status: S

Ship of Travel: Leviathan

Port of Departure: Cherbourg, France

Manifest Line Number: 0008

U.S. Social Security Death Index

Name: Jean Ludwig

Birth Date: 17 February 1890

Zip Code of Last Residence: 96816 (Honolulu,HI)

Death Date: June 1981 , Estimated Age at Death: 91
Hmmmm......This would correspond with the claim that Barack Hussein Obama is none other than Barry Soetoro who never changed his name to B.H.Obama!Read the full story here.More here.

• Belarus questions dissidents in subway bombing.MINSK, Belarus – Authorities in Belarus rounded up dissidents across the country Wednesday for questioning in the Minsk subway bombing after the president declared that his political opponents might know who "ordered the attack."In a televised statement Wednesday, President Alexander Lukashenko said two suspects have confessed to carrying out the subway attack but said authorities still did not know the mastermind behind the bombing.The authoritarian president said he has asked the prosecutor general to interrogate leading opposition figures in connection with the blast "regardless of democracy, and cries and wailing of foreign sufferers.""Maybe those politicians from the fifth column will open their cards and show who ordered it," he said.Human rights activists said prosecutors were summoning opposition activists from all over for interrogations."Authorities clearly want to use the attack to boost their control over society and carry out new repressions," said Valentina Stefanovich of Vesna, a human rights center.Lukashenko, dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the West, had already launched a massive crackdown on opposition members in Belarus after widespread protests erupted over the December presidential election. Lukashenko was declared the overwhelming winner of that vote, which international observers strongly criticized and opponents said was rigged.Belarus is going through a severe economic crisis with hard currency reserves running critically low. People have been waiting in daylong lines to exchange Belarusian rubles for euros and dollars, fearing a likely devaluation of the national currency."Lukashenko needs to find a scapegoat for the disastrous situation in the country," said former presidential candidate Grigory Kostusev, who was jailed during the December rally. He was released after signing an agreement not to leave the country and is now facing 15 years in prison for staging the rally."With the economic collapse looming, Lukashenko is trying to make the most of it — consolidate the public opinion by offering it a theory about foreign enemies from Strasbourg who colluded with opposition," said independent political analyst Alexander Sosnov.Hmmmm.......Why do i keep having the Gut feeling that it might be Luka himself who arranged the bombing?Yes probably Luka was right the explosives came out of a government ammo depot?Read the full story here.

Minsk Metro blast solved – Belarusian president.The President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko has announced that the case of the terror attack in the Minsk Metro on Monday has been solved and those responsible for it detained. “The detainees have admitted not only committing the metro attack, they are also responsible for terror attacks on Independence Day (2008) and in Vitebsk (2005),” Lukashenko claimed Wednesday. “We still do not know why they carried out the attack, but we will get to know it soon,” he added. The Belarusian president vowed that "the villains will face the toughest punishment" and urged security forces to stay on high alert following Monday’s bombing.Hmmmm.....Major crackdown on opposition in one...two....?Read the full story here.

• SPIEGEL Interview with NATO Head Rasmussen'There Is No Military Solution to the Libya Conflict'.Even after weeks of NATO air strikes, the conflict in Libya appears no closer to being resolved. SPIEGEL spoke with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen about whether bombs can lead to democracy, the possibility of Libya becoming a failed state and Germany's reluctance to get involved.Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Documents Show White House Spent $200 Million in Taxpayer Money on ObamaCare Propaganda.Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing the agency’s massive taxpayer-funded multimedia campaign designed to promote the Affordable Health Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and other HHS policy initiatives. According to the records obtained by Judicial Watch pursuant to a March 23, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 11-608)), the total cost of the campaign, which targets Obama’s electoral coalition, could reach as much as $200 million.Hmmm.......You know what they say about spending a lot to sell a product"A good product sells itself".Read the full story here.

• Budget Deal Guts $226 Million From Southern Border Fence Project at the suggestion of the Obama administration. House and Senate appropriators revealed details of the 2011 spending-cut deal early Tuesday morning, missing a self-imposed midnight deadline.In dueling press releases, House Republicans emphasized the magnitude of cuts they won in the six-month spending bill after marathon negotiations, while Senate Democrats emphasized cuts they were able to avoid or diminish. . . .The Homeland Security Department sees significant cuts as well: $226 million is cut from the southern border fence at the suggestion of the Obama administration, and the number of Transportation Security Administration workers is capped. FEMA first-responder grants are cut by $786 million.Contributions to the U.N. and other international institutions are cut $377 million [we kick in over $6 billion annually to the UN — ed]; federal highway investment is cut $650 million.Hmmmm....Meanwhile spend more on the Northern border don't want all these 'crazy Canucks' entering illegally the US?Read the full story here.

• 'US will have hard time standing alone in UN'.State officials feel efforts to prevent UN support of Palestinian state futile, believe US will have hard time voting against declaration in September.Israeli state officials estimated Wednesday that the US decision to postpone a European initiative to set parameters for peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will involve a price to be paid by Benjamin Netanyahu. "The prime minister will be forced to outline his plans in a clear manner," one state official said. Israel has been working to prevent UN support in a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state, however efforts to block endorsement have thus far failed. State officials now believe such efforts are futile, particularly in regards to the General Assembly. An Israeli official said: "Obama wants a Palestinian state and although the US is not interested in a unilateral declaration, it would be hard for it to stand alone in the General Assembly and vote against it." In fact, many state officials believe Israel has failed on the UN front. "The fact that the Americans stopped the Quartet's plan only proves how deeply we depend on them," one official said. "But this hold-up will not change matters in the General Assembly and this is a trend we cannot change." State officials stated that the US has decided to step in order to take control of the situation and achieve progress. "The Europeans couldn't get the Palestinians to the negotiating table, the Americans want to control matters and set the agenda."Until Netanyahu visits the US in May, US pressure will grow. They want to see a plan with clear details and timetables. The fact that they decided to intervene is a clear message to Netanyahu and Israel." Obama wants Netanyahu to publically declare he is willing to renew peace talks based on withdrawal to 1967 borders.When peace talks came to a halt several months ago, the forum of seven ministers addressed the possibility of unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank. However, the option was never discussed publically "so as to allow the Americans to exhaust all other possibilities of renewing peace talks." The idea will likely be reviewed again ahead of the September UN meeting.Hmmmm.....The worst ennemy of Israel is sitting in the WhiteHouse.Netanyahu better prepare to utter "Et Tu Hussein"!Read the full story here.

• IMF Says Obama Regime Lacks “Credible Strategy” to Stop Mounting Public Debt, Risks Triggering New Global Economic Crisis.The US lacks a “credible strategy” to stabilise its mounting public debt posing a small but significant risk of a new global economic crisis, says the International Monetary Fund.In an unusually stern rebuke to its largest shareholder, the IMF said the US was the only advanced economy to be increasing its underlying budget deficit in 2011 at a time when its economy was growing fast enough to reduce borrowing.To meet the 2010 pledge by the Group of 20 countries for all advanced economies — except Japan — to halve their deficits by 2013, the US would need to implement tougher austerity measures than in any two-year period since records began in 1960, the IMF said. In its twice-yearly Fiscal Monitor, the IMF added that on its current plans the US would join Japan as the only country with rising public debt in 2016, creating a risk for the global economy.Carlo Cottarelli, head of fiscal affairs at the Fund, said: “It is a risk that if it materialises would have very important consequences . . . for the rest of the world. So it is important that the US undertakes fiscal adjustment in a way sooner rather than later.”Hmmmm.....If he really wanted to destroy America would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Israel asked Turkey to stop flotilla, envoy says.Ambassador Gabby Levy tells Hurriyet paper he explained Israel's position to Turkish government, stresses Israel does not object to legal transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel's Ambassador to Turkey Gabby Levy has asked the Turkish government to stop the flotilla scheduled to set sail next month, the Hurriyet newspaper reported Tuesday. Levy told the paper that Israel explained its position to the Turkish government. The Israeli envoy handed over the request to a senior official in the Turkish foreign ministry. Levy stressed that Israel has no problem with humanitarian aid being legally transferred to the Gaza Strip via the Turkish Red Cross, for example. "The Gaza crossing is open. The Israeli side has shown greater flexibility. The quota was set at 220 trucks which we do not cover as there is no need for further aid. Consequently such a campaign can only be seen as pure provocation," he said. Meanwhile, the government held a meeting regarding the impending flotilla where it was proposed to allow the vessels to reach the Gaza shores. However, this option was not discussed and no decision has been reached.Hmmmmm.....I don't think Erdogan wants another flotilla on his hands in the middle of elections .Read the full story here.

• Flotilla organizers ask Europe for protection from Israel.Organizers of a new flotilla to deliver aid to Gaza have called on European states not to bow to pressure from Israel to stop their mission and have asked for protection against what they say are threats from Israel. The new flotilla, called Freedom Flotilla 2, is expected to sail to Gaza in the coming weeks, a year after a raid by Israeli forces on a similar mission that left eight Turkish citizens and one American citizen dead. About 15 ships are expected to take part in the mission, although organizers, speaking after a meeting in Athens on Monday, declined to give an exact number due to security considerations.Israel has appealed to the UN and European nations to stop the flotilla. Organizers, which include activists from a number of countries including several European nations, US and Turkey, said they were determined to continue with the convoy, despite last May’s fatal raid on Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship Mavi Marmara and the threat of new violence. “Now, on the eve of the second Freedom Flotilla 2 voyage, the Israeli government is threatening to attack us again. As occurred last year before the first Freedom Flotilla, Israeli leaders are busy developing an atmosphere of hostility that should leave no doubt as to their intentions if and when they illegally attack this civilian flotilla,” organizers said in a statement posted on their website.“Therefore, we are calling on all our governments, the international community and the United Nations not to succumb to Israel’s intimidation. Governments need to fulfill their ‘responsibility to protect’ their own citizens. The threats against the Flotilla are not just at sea, but also in our home countries, as Israeli agencies are targeting individual groups and personalities,” read the statement.Organizers added that Freedom Flotilla 2 partners will go to the European Parliament in early May for meetings with members of European Parliament as well as the UN and other international bodies to present Freedom Flotilla 2’s goals. Organizers statements came as Israel urged European states to stop their nationals participating in the flotilla. On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed for action from EU ambassadors in Jerusalem during a meeting with them. “This flotilla must be stopped,” he told ambassadors.Participants in the Freedom Flotilla 2 convoy will include Turkish, Algerian, Scottish, Spanish, Dutch, Irish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Jordanian, Malaysian, Indonesian, Swiss, US, Canadian, British and French nationals, and include lawmakers and journalists.Turkish charity Humanitarian Relief Foundation (İHH), which owned the Mavi Marmara, said its activists will be among the passengers of the Freedom Flotilla 2, although it plans to send a separate convoy, whose flag ship will again be the Mavi Marmara, after Turkey’s parliamentary elections on June 12. “Our activists will join the European convoy but our own convoy will head to Gaza after the elections,” İHH spokesman Salih Bilici told Today’s Zaman in a phone interview on Tuesday.In Athens, a Freedom Flotilla 2 organizer suggested that the two convoys could unite. “We are seriously considering the Turkish elections and we are examining whether to depart after the elections so that we could start our mission as a big and strong convoy,” Vaggelis Pissias, a Greek organizer, was quoted as saying by private news agency Cihan at the press conference in Athens on Monday.“Preparations are on track, adequate conditions for the departure of the ships will be met by the end of May,” Pissias added.Hmmmm.....How long would it take to lay a minefield at sea?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Deja vu all over again: Obama stringing Israel along.Jennifer Rubin is seriously concerned at the games that the Obama administration is playing with Israel.Beginning last Thursday I started questioning the State Department. Could its spokesman confirm that the U.S. would oppose a proposal for a ’67 border settlement, given Israel’s categorical statements that such borders would not be defensible? Could the administration confirm it would oppose and seek to block moves by the U.N. or Quartet to recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally (i.e., not as a product of bilateral negotiations)? These are not hard questions, and the fact that the administration would face questioning is an indication of how strained the U.S.-Israeli relationship has become.Likewise on the House side, members of both parties are nervous that the administration is playing this too cute by half. A congressional aide to a key Democrat on Israel???? tells me, “The administration ought to remember where Congress is on this issue. The fact that they insist on continuing to go out of their way to upset many of their key supporters in Congress is baffling.” He noted this wasn't the first instance in which Israel has been strung along. He recalled, “As with the U.S. veto at the U.N. in February, the administration seems to be interested in repeating virtually every political and diplomatic mistake that led up to that vote. I assume they’re going to do the right thing, but it would be nice if they didn’t make us hold our breath for so long.”The administration's treatment of Israel reflects a genuine ambivalence. Obama really would like to abandon Israel and so would most of his advisers.Hmmmm.....Israel and the Jewish people have nothing to fear but Barack HUSSEIN Obama.Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Women Learning to Drive--in Saudi?!Translated from Dar al-Hayat, 8 April 2011: Women Are Learning to Drive Near the King Fahd Airport in Dammam.Muhammad al-Dawud.Hundreds of cars, the majority of them four-wheel drive, on the weekend head towards the road that leads to the King Fahd International Airport west of the city of Dammam. Most of them do not intend to travel, whether inside the country or outside of it, nor do they intend to meet travelers. Most of their drivers do not go to the reception area, but instead turn off to the right a few kilometers before arriving at the airport, to a sandy area with many dunes. This sandy eastern area outside the airport has been converted into an "open square" for teaching driver's education. Most of the students are Saudi women.It is noteworthy that some of the girls, who go to the "Airport Dunes" weekly, have surpassed the basic driving stage, and have reached the point where they are learning advanced techniques such as drifting. The number of those interested in driving at the dunes has greatly increased recently, especially after the return of many female students who had been sent abroad for study. The circumstances of their daily life (outside Saudi) required them to learn to drive, which has led them to want to practice here, "Fearing that we would forget what we had learned, and also in preparation for us making the attempt, in the event that we are officially allowed to drive soon," according to 'Abir Musa, who returned a few months ago from the United States.'Abir did not hesitate to insist on daily practice, convincing her husband of the need to "Drive the car any way possible." She stressed that she had learned to drive during her academic studies in the United States, with encouragement from her husband. However, he "was reluctant to agree to my driving in the Kingdom. He only agreed on condition that I drive in areas far away from the main roads, fearing that people he knows would see me and he would feel embarrassed, in addition to his fear that I would be stopped by security officials."Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.REVEALED: California Teachers Association Union Planning Takeover of State Capitol Building Next Month.Documents call for takeover of Capitol, using kids and taxpayer-funded public classrooms for protest activities, controversial “secondary boycott” tactics The California Teachers Association is preparing for Wisconsin-type activities aimed at forcing the legislature to pass tax increases on Californians in a series of actions planned for next month culminating in a takeover of the State Capitol.Many of the steps outlined in CTA plans include the use of students, taxpayer-funded public school facilities to which the union has access, and highly controversial “secondary boycott” tactics that involve targeting businesses in the districts of legislators who refuse to accede to union demands.The union is conducting its actions in support of taxes under the guise of a “State of Emergency.”Our team believes the true “state of emergency” is in public education’s crushing bureaucracy, lack of choices and options offered to parents, and bizarre union-supported work rules that produce phenomena like New York City’s infamous “Rubber Room” where the city’s worst teachers go because they can’t be fired.Union officials were clearly caught off guard today when our team circulated links to the union’s plans, which were posted on a non-descript website online.Hmmmm.....If you want to destroy America would you do anything different?Read the full story here.

• HT:CNET.Democratic senator wants Internet sales taxes.A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping. The proposal--expected to be made public soon after Tax Day--would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter recess, a Democratic aide told CNET.Making matters more difficult for the pro-tax forces is the decision by Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat, not to run for reelection last year. Delahunt was probably Congress' most enthusiastic proponent of Internet sales taxes, and it's not clear a Republican-controlled House will be as eager to embrace the idea. One early indication: Rep. Dan Lungren, a California Republican, introduced legislation in February saying that allowing states to levy "onerous and burdensome sales tax collecting schemes on Internet-enabled small businesses that do not even reside in their state would adversely impact hundreds of thousands of jobs." Former GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is one of the sponsors. The Direct Marketing Association, which sued Colorado last year to block a state tax law from taking effect, is preparing to rally opposition to Durbin's legislation. "You're just giving the states a blank check to make changes without any congressional oversight," says Jerry Cerasale, the DMA's senior vice president for government affairs. "We oppose that...We think that's abrogating the authority of Congress."Support for Durbin's forthcoming legislation is likely to come from the Alliance for Main Street Fairness and like-minded companies including Wal-Mart and Best Buy. "Big box stores love to mobilize smaller booksellers to complain about competing with Amazon," says Steve DelBianco, executive director of the NetChoice coalition, which counts eBay, Overstock.com, and Yahoo as members. "The irony is that those small booksellers have been clobbered by big box stores. The Internet's their friend."Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Salafi-Jihadists to Jordanian Authorities: We Have Masses of People Willing to Martyr Themselves in Jordan.Last week, senior leaders of the Salafi-jihadist movement in Jordan threatened to hold a sit-down demonstration today, April 11, in Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasser Square (also called Al-Dakhiliyya Square) in central Amman, and to intensify their protest in other ways, unless the authorities released four activists from the movement who were recently arrested. The four are 'Abd Al-Nasser Khamaysa, Mustafa 'Abd Al-Latif, Muhammad Abu 'Omar, and Furas Al-Na'lawi. The movement's spokesmen even explicitly warned that the "storm of jihad" would reach Jordan.Abu Muhammad Al-Tahawi: The State Knows that When the Salafi-Jihadis Say Something, They Mean It.Sa'd Al-Hunaiti: "Those Who Freed These Detainees Can Also Free the Other Prisoners Who Were Arrested in the Service of the U.S. and Israel"Hmmmm......Abdullah's father would have dealth with them in a very swift way.Read the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.From an Arab Spring to a Muslim Winter.The Communists wanted to turn every country in the world into communists, the Muslims want to turn every nation Islamic, and we want to turn them all into Democrats. Our national passion for democracy long ago overshot baseball, football, horse racing and billiards. Lately even our wars have turned into perverse democracy crusades. But the tonic of democracy does not cure all ills. And like most medicines, it is quite poisonous when used against the doctor's instructions.Lately some of us have gotten caught up in the idea that the Arabs have finally become just as passionate about democracy as us. But where we have come to value democracy as an end, their passion is for democracy as a tool of change, a means, not an end. Even the most devout Mahmoud, his scraggly beard caught in the pages of the Koran, blesses democracy as Halal, so long as it ushers in the rule of the devout. What matter if the Caliphate of the 12th Imam comes by way of a lottery, inherited monarchy or the ballot box-- so long as it comes.The noble clause of democracy is that it makes government in the image of men, rather than men in the image of governments. And our own government practices a perversely cynical view of its own citizens-- and an even more perversely idealistic one of Muslims. The American people are not ready for self-government, they insist, but the Egyptians are. And now as ice forms on the petals of their Arab Spring, they are about to learn once again that in a Muslim winter, democracy is the temperature at which freedom freezes.Read the full story here.

• HT:IslamIneurope.Poland: Grand Mufti declares suicide bombings ‘haram’, offers to mediate in Pakistan.Poland: Grand Mufti declares suicide bombings ‘haram’, offers to mediate in Pakistan.I think this is the first time that a European Muslim says radicalism and terrorism in the Muslim world should be dealt with since they reflect back on European Muslims. Or in other words, that Muslim terrorism is cause for 'Islamophobia'.Mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz, head of the Muslim Religious Union (MRU) in Poland, visited Pakistan from April 4-10. The Mufti, who graduated from the Institute of Teaching Arabic Language for Foreigners and studied Theology at Islamic University of Madina in Saudi Arabia, met Pakistani officials and delivered lectures at the International Islamic University and Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad during his stay.He was accompanied by his wife, who is the project manager of the MRU and accompanies him on his official visits.She speaks fluent English and was charming and friendly, answering questions and giving information that was very helpful in getting to know the Muslim community in her country.After being introduced by Dr. Andrezej Ananicz, the new ambassador of Poland, briefing media persons about the visit of Mufti Miskiewicz, said he had a fruitful visit and exchanged views with various scholars and heads of religious institutions. In reply to questions by media persons, he said suicide bombings were ‘haram’ because suicide was forbidden in Islam and killing innocent persons a crime.He said he has offered to play the role of a mediator between religious extremists and authorities in Pakistan. He believes extremist violence in Pakistan is giving a bad name to Muslim minorities in Europe.Hmmmm...."A Light in the darkness"?Read the full story here.

• 'Make jihad with me': The all-American high school class president who went from sweet home Alabama to rapping for Al Qaeda.Officials believed he was killed in combat in Mogadishu in february.

Two Jihadist rap videos suggest otherwise.

Government officials say they have never had an American citizen rise to this kind of rank in a terrorist organisation before.

Details emerge about his Christian all-American up-bringing when he was the most popular student in school.

A trip to Damascus changed everything and he converted to Islam.

Six weeks ago there were claims he was dead. Now an American jihadist climbing the ranks in Somalia's deadliest militant group appears to have resurfaced.And he's released two new rap videos to prove it. In the videos, posted on a jihadist website this weekend, the Alabama-born Omar Hammami raps that he wants to die a martyr.In two songs entitled 'Send me a cruise (missile)' and 'Make jihad with me', he taunts the West in a toneless drone and calls on other young Americans like him to rise up and join the jihad. Hammami, who grew up in the middle-class town of Daphne, Alabama, is the most high-profile American member of the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabbab. He joined the militant group in 2007, when he was in his early 20s, taking on the nom de guerre Abu Mansur al Amriki, or 'the American'.In late February it was rumoured that he had been killed in heavy fighting in Mogadishu. Last month Somalia's defence minister told The Associated Press that intelligence reports indicated that Hammami may have been killed during the anti-insurgent offensive. But the minister said the reports weren't confirmed. U.S. intelligence still suspected that Hammami was alive. The new videos seem to prove it. In them, however, he appears to yearn for death.'There's nothing as sweet as the taste of a tank shell,' he says in one song, according to a transcription by the website The Long War Journal. 'It was a beautiful day, when that predator paradise missile sent me on my way.'Last year in emails he wrote on an internet forum, he said they would obey all the commands given to them by Bin Laden and confirmed that 'America was an obvious target' for them.Hmmm.....Lets hope America deals with him swiftly.Read the full story here.

• Oil to stay above $100 - $ 110 for 6 months.High crude prices to boost Saudi growth, says study.Oil prices are expected to remain above $100 a barrel because of regional turbulence and this will boost growth prospects in Saudi Arabia, according to a survey of business leaders in the Gulf Kingdom.While the improvement is tempting local firms to suspend a freeze on hiring plans, instability has triggered investment uncertainty and is pushing business leaders to shun equity and turn to cash and bonds for investment, showed the survey conducted by Banque Saudi Fransi (BSF).“Regional political instability has had the dual effect of bolstering Saudi Arabia’s economic condition by driving up oil prices and stirring uncertainty among investors… company managers revealed in the Q2 2011 BSF Business Confidence Index that they are more bullish about the future performance of the broader economy as well as their own businesses as oil prices above $100 a barrel assure that the economic recovery is on firm footing,” it said.“For the first time in four quarters, a majority of business leaders expect to hire more staff, and the ratio that expect to raise investments in production capacity has risen consistently for the past six quarters…..when it comes to charting out their business plans, therefore, businesses operating in Saudi Arabia are much more optimistic than they were just six months ago.”The survey showed oil prices are likely to continue trading above $100 for the next six months, boding well for an upturn in the Saudi economy that would have “knock-on” benefits for sales and profits of businesses operating in the kingdom.Yet regional political uncertainty appears to have upset the risk appetite of Saudi Arabia’s business leaders, who have considerably altered their investment strategies to reduce their exposure to more volatile asset classes, BSF chief economist John Sfakianakis said in the survey, sent to Emirates 24l7.It showed all 831 respondents to the survey expect oil prices to remain above $100 a barrel for the coming two quarters, including around 76 per cent supposing prices will stay above $110 a barrel.Hmmmm.....What did i say last year,lets see once Iran is chairman of the Opec!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Bahai Spokesman: Iranian Regime's Persecuting Us.World Bahai organization spokesman Farhad Sabetan says that the Iranian regime is damaging Baha'i homes and cemeteries in the country, ejecting Baha'i students from universities, arresting Baha'is, and stripping them of their right to earn a living. He noted as an example the recent harsher sentence of 20 years' imprisonment for seven leaders of the Baha'i community in Iran, and said that the regime was keeping more than 80 Baha'is in prisons because of their faith, citing security reasons.Source.

• HT:Aina.France Enables an Islamist Takeover of Ivory Coast.Ironically, on the very day that France’s law banning the wearing of full-face coverings went into effect, French military forces helped Muslims add another country in Africa to their growing Caliphate – the Ivory Coast.The French, the former colonial rulers in the Ivory Coast, forced the surrender of former president Laurent Gbagbo to forces loyal to president-elect Alassane Ouattara, who the international community had recognized as the victor in last year’s presidential election.Ouattara is a Muslim, who prevailed in this election over his Christian opponent Gbagbo on the strength of masses of illegal immigrants who had emigrated over the last several decades from the neighboring Muslim states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea. It is estimated that nearly one fifth of the 21 million people now living in Ivory Coast are illegal immigrants, most of whom are Muslims.What was once a prosperous Christian country, viewed as a haven of peace and prosperity in the West Africa region, and home to the region's largest cathedral, was overrun in the north with an influx of illegal immigrants that divided the country. Before exploiting this influx to help achieve victory in last year’s election, the increasing number of Muslims in the north had previously tried to seize power militarily nearly ten years ago in the economic center of the country, Abidjan. They were defeated there, but other Muslim troops took control across the north, helping to destabilize a now divided nation. Ouattara took advantage of the chaos and dissatisfaction in the north to mobilize his supporters for his election victory, which the international community ratified.One might think that Gbagbo’s surrender was a good thing, ending a bloody civil war and allowing the democratically elected president to be able to assume office while the strong man standing in his way is in custody to face justice.However, as bad as Gbagbo’s forces behaved in attacking his own citizens to hold on to power, Outtara’s forces also behaved badly. Human Rights Watch claimed last weekend that forces loyal to Ouattara had killed hundreds of civilians, raped more than twenty women and girls and burned at least 10 villages in the western part of the Ivory Coast.Moreover, it is what Ouattara’s rule is likely to introduce to the Ivory Coast that should be of real concern.The Islamists want to revive what they claim was originally an Islamic emirate in the Ivory Coast. Perhaps the French, who enabled the Muslims to assume power, should have read the website of Islamic Revival to understand what may be in store. According to this website, the Ivory Coast is “an Islamic country with a Muslim majority” that was once “an Islamic emirate which implemented the Islamic Shari’ah” until the French colonized the country.But the Islamists are confident in their ultimate victory, as the Islamic Revival website attests : The Ivory Coast like other Muslim countries awaits the establishment of the Khilafah [Caliphate] State to liberate it from the strongholds of the kuffar [non-believer] colonialists and make it a part and province of the Khilafah State, this is not a tall order for Allah.The Islamic vision of a Caliphate is spreading in Africa, beyond Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa. The BBC has reported, for example, that President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan has announced plans to make Sharia law the "law of the land" in his country. The president has been quoted by BBC as saying that, "Sharia and Islam will be the main source for the constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official language."Kenya has recently instituted a shariah compliant constitution.Now, the Ivory Coast is about to follow.Hmmmm......Thank you Hussein for the 'Change'.Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.The Keystone of the Islamic Milieu: Inbreeding.The darkest hour is just before dawn. A huge swath of this planet, from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Philippine Sea, has been held in a synthetic, forced nightfall for nearly fourteen centuries. But the sunrise is coming, it is coming sooner rather than later, and this light will be the life of men.Everywhere in the western world, people look at the savage violence that is a daily occurrence in the Muslim world and shake their heads in stunned disbelief. A pastor of a very small Christian flock in Florida burns a Koran. Weeks later at literally the global antipode, Muslim imams drive through neighborhoods in a vehicle with loudspeakers attached, calling the townsfolk to riot. The townsfolk respond, and before it is all over, at least 22 innocent people are dead at the hands of these townsfolk, with at least two of them beheaded. How is this possible? How can this be? How can human behavior and culture be so monstrously different? Is this difference attributable to nothing more than environmental nurture theory?No. There is something else. There is a catalyst -- absent in every other culture on earth -- that has poisoned the cultural soil, thus yielding the fruit of bad harvest for nearly 1,400 years. That catalyst is inbreeding. As a direct result, the Muslim population is mentally developmentally disabled on a mass scale.All human cultures display strict prohibitions against inbreeding and consanguineous marriage. Incest is a universal taboo. This is a transcendent anthropological fact. As a Roman Catholic, I attribute this to what is called "The Natural Law." Every human person without exception is created by God with a deep, innate knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong. Stabbing someone in the neck for no reason whatsoever is just as wrong here in Lone Tree, Colorado as it is in the Amazon basin, as it is on the high plateaus of Mongolia.Marrying your first cousin is the genetic equivalent of marrying your half-sibling. Think of your own family. Let's say your dad has a sister, who is "Aunt Linda" to you. Your dad and Aunt Linda, being full siblings, have exactly the same genetic constitution. Their family trees prior to their generation are identical. Therefore, if Aunt Linda has any children, who are your first cousins, they are, in genetic terms, 50% identical to you. You share one of your two genetic constituencies with your cousins, thus making them genetically the same as a half-sibling would be.Muslim men are never, ever allowed to be around, see, converse with or otherwise interact with any females outside of their families. However, they are permitted to act as chaperones for their female first cousins. If your first cousin is the only person of the opposite sex you ever get to interact with, is it any surprise that Muslims are marrying their first cousins more as the rule than as the exception?According to the BBC, 55% of Pakistani-Britons are married to a first cousin, and as a corollary to that produce "just under a third" of all children in the UK with genetic illnesses, despite being only 3% of the total births. As a direct result of inbreeding, the Muslim population is the only population on earth that is mentally and physically devolving. This inherent weakness makes Muslim populations more susceptible to nefarious, oppressive leadership and mass manipulation. The amount of objective evidence supporting this statement is colossal and obvious.But there is hope. All is not lost. In my education in animal husbandry, I was keenly interested in my genetics classes. One of the key concepts in farm animal genetics is "hybrid vigor." This is the genetic principle which states that the crossbreeding of two genetically diverse plants or animals of the same species yields offspring of increased vigor and other superior qualities. All plants and animals have been designed to "bring out the best in themselves," and our DNA has built-in fail-safes to edit and correct any flaws which creep into our DNA over time. Given this, if the people now living under the fist of Islam are finally freed and can court and love and marry whomever they choose, thus reopening the genetic pool, this will allow hybrid vigor to cleanse and restore to full health their populations.". . . et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt."And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.Read the full story here.

• HT:TranslatingJihad.Al-Qaradawi: "The Christian Will Reach an Understanding With His Muslim Brother to Choose a Muslim President".Translated from an excerpt of an interview with Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, posted on his website 7 April 2011.

Q: Would you accept the next president of Egypt being a Christian or secularist?

A: I think that this question is unrealistic, for we suppose that the era of election fraud has passed, never to return. But if the elections were free and clean, then it would be logical and natural for the president of Egypt to be a practicing Muslim, not a secularist or a Christian. This is because the majority of the people are practicing Muslims, and would not choose secularism, because secularism is, as Dr. Muhammad al-Bahi said: "Belief in part of the Qur'an, and disbelief [kufr] in part of it." In this era of revolution, the Christian will reach an understanding with his Muslim brother to choose a Muslim president. For the president in Islam is the Imam who leads the people in prayer, and is the teacher in the mosque, and guardian of the entire nation--both Muslims and Christians--according to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. [The Muslim] is more fit for the presidency than the secularist, and more concerned for the religion and life of the Christians.Hmmmm.....The people the Obama regime pledged 1,57 Billion dollar to in 2012.Read the full story here.

• Are these nails from the crucifixion? Investigator claims 2,000-year-old relics were used to fix Jesus to the cross.These are the two nails used to crucify Jesus, an investigator has claimed after they were discovered in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem.The tiny relics, which are around two inches long, were first found in 1990 in an ancient Jerusalem grave said to belong to Caiaphas - the Jewish high priest who sent Jesus to the cross. But shortly after the excavation, the tomb was resealed and the artefacts mysteriously disappeared - until now.In a new documentary, The Nails Of The Cross, Simcha Jacobovici claims that he tracked down the remains to the laboratory in Tel Aviv of an anthropologist who is an expert on ancient bones.However, his dramatic revelations have been met with a cool response from scholars and experts who have dismissed him as a publicity seeker.The film begins by revisiting the burial place hailed by many at the time as the burial place of Caiaphas, who in the New Testament presides over the trial of Jesus.The grave, along with a number of ossuaries - or bone boxes - was uncovered during construction work on a hillside a few kilometres south of the Old City.Caiaphas is a major figure in the Gospels, having sent Jesus to the Romans and on to his death, and one of Jacobovici's assertions is that the high priest did not deserve such a bad reputation.Two iron nails were found in the tomb - one on the ground and one actually inside an ossuary - and, according to the film, disappeared shortly after.Jacobovici says that because Caiaphas is so closely linked to the crucifixion, he believes the nails found in his tomb will be shown to belong to Jesus.The Israel Antiquities Authority, which oversaw the Jerusalem excavation, said in reaction to the film's release that it had never been proven beyond doubt that the tomb was the burial place of Caiaphas. It also said that nails are commonly found in tombs.'There is no doubt that the talented director Simcha Jacobovici created an interesting film with a real archaeological find at its centre, but the interpretation presented in it has no basis in archaeological findings or research,' it said.A relic claimed to be a thorn from Jesus' crown will go on display at the British museum later this year.The Crown of Thorns plundered in the Fourth Crusade, sold to French royalty and has spent the past 200 years in safekeeping at a British public school.Hmmmm......Relics used to be big business in medieval times.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

              
                       Afternoon Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 11. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Middle East Live Blog April 10 here .(Al-Jazeera)

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world increased seismic activity in Japan  today between 5.0 and 7.1! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 82.  Source.

• Earthquake - Japan Prefecture of Ishikawa.

• Iranian students hurl firebombs at Saudi embassy.TEHRAN, Iran – Scores of Iranian students have attacked the Saudi Arabian embassy with firebombs to protest the Gulf country's role in cracking down on anti-government protesters in Bahrain.The official IRNA news agency says protesters tried to attach a flag of the Lebanese group Hezbollah to the embassy's gate Monday, but were prevented by police. Protesters chanted slogans against Saudi and Bahraini leaders, both followers of Sunni Islam.Iran, predominantly Shiite Muslim, has denounced the deployment of a Saudi-led force to help prop up Bahrain's monarchy. A government crackdown against Bahrain's Shiite-led protests has killed at least 27 people. Authorities say they see Iran's influence among the opposition, though there are no visible links.Hmmmm....i'm getting visions of petrol at 500$/Barrel.Read the full story here.

• Minsk metro blast leaves several (Seven) dead,56 wounded.A blast tore through a metro station near Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko's main office in the capital Minsk on Monday, killing at least five and wounding several commuters, according to reports.It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, which hit the Oktyabrskaya metro station in the city centre. The exit to the metro leads directly to both Mr Lukashenko's main working office and his residence. Ambulances and fire engines were seen racing to the scene. Witnesses told AFP that dark plumes of smoke rose from the station tunnel, with dozens of people walking out in a daze, covered in pieces plaster and their clothing tattered. At least one person had both legs maimed by the blast, a witness said.The Interfax news agency separately said that at least 30 people were carried out on stretchers from the station. The RIA Novosti news agency reported that at least 10 people were hurt in the blast, adding that the ceiling of the underground station may be in danger of collapse. The explosion comes amid growing political tensions inside Belarus linked to the trials of opposition members who rallied against Mr Lukashenko's controversial re-election on December 19. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated through central Minsk on election night after Mr Lukashenko's overwhelming victory was announced, with police wielding truncheons moving in against the protesters and arresting hundreds. Several presidential candidates remain in KGB jails, facing prison terms of up to 15 years for organising riots and mass disorders. Dozens of other opposition leaders face shorter jail terms in trials that began this year. The arrests have added to the Lukashenko regime's growing international isolation, with both the European Union and the United States announcing travel bans and economic sanctions against some Belarussian state companies. However despite the political unrest, Belarus is normally considered a safe country and has never been touched by large-scale militant attacks such as those carried out by Islamist militants in Moscow.Hmmmm....."Lukashenko the last dictator from the ex-USSR period". Read the full story here.More here .

• HT:Memri.Article In Hamas Paper: Israel's Claim Of Attack On Bus Is Exaggerated – Just Like Holocaust.In an article in the Hamas daily Falastin, 'Imad Al-Hadidi rejected Israel's claim that the bus struck by a 'missile of the resistance' near the Gaza strip on April 7 was transporting school pupils, calling it a lie and saying that the pupils had disembarked a short time before the missile struck.He said that the bus could not have been transporting pupils because it was so far from the settlement and also because there were no photographs of the wounded children or of ambulances taking them to hospital. Al-Hadidi added that Israel was distorting history and inventing tearjerker stories in a bid for sympathy – just like it exaggerated about the Holocaust.Hmmmm.....The people the Obama regime and the left support!Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Obama's Fort Hood Jihadist.By Pamela Geller.We have been hearing for years that the White House is withholding evidence on the Fort Hood jihadi, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Now comes direct confirmation of this from Hasan's own lawyer.

Major Hasan, also known as Soldier of Allah, according to his business card, mowed down thirteen U.S. soldiers while screaming Allahu akbar on the Fort Hood military base in Texas a year and a half ago, in November 2009. Yet his trial keeps on being postponed. On March 30, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the outgoing commanding general at Fort Hood, granted a request from John Galligan, Hasan's lawyer, to delay the trial until late April. Galligan, however, disclaims responsibility for all the delays, blaming them on none other than Barack Hussein Obama.

Rick, a reader of my website, AtlasShrugs.com, forwarded to me an email exchange he had with Galligan. Rick wrote to Galligan last Thursday: "The American people are getting pretty upset about all of these delays." On Friday, Galligan responded: "Delays are due to prosecution/White House refusal to disclose evidence. Blame them for the delays."So where is justice? This Islamic supremacist should have been executed by now. What's the hold up? Galligan's blaming Obama is consistent with how the White House has behaved throughout this case. Back in November of 2010, I wrote at Atlas Shrugs that the Obama administration was "still covering up the motivation behind the attack." Even worse, in October 2010, a soldier at Fort Hood who caught Hasan's jihad murders in two videos on his cell phone camera was ordered by his commanding officer to delete both videos. This is unacceptable. An army officer ordered the destruction of evidence in a jihadist attack on American soldiers? The officer should be on trial for obstruction of justice. And back in April 2010, Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-ME) had to subpoena the Obama White House to get information it was withholding for a congressional investigation into the Fort Hood jihad massacre.Also, a fellow psychiatrist recalled a lecture Hasan gave (a "grand round" is the term for it) when he was a medical resident at Walter Reed: "It freaked them out." Normally, a lecturer focuses on a particular disease or disorder and recent research or treatment options. Instead, Hasan reportedly harangued the doctors and staff about what the Qur'an teaches about non-believers going to hell, being scalded, beheaded, etc. A Muslim psychiatrist in the audience reportedly challenged Hasan about his interpretation of the Qur'an, but he would not back down (because he was right). Other sources said that several in the audience suggested afterward that Hasan might be a shooter someday.Yet Obama has continued to withhold evidence in the Fort Hood jihadist attack and, as Galligan has just revealed, continues to shield the Muslim terrorist. So crippled has our military (and other branches of government) become by this self-imposed Sharia (do not insult Islam!), that despite the staggering loss of U.S. soldiers in Hasan's Fort Hood massacre, the chief concern of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. in the bloody aftermath of the Fort Hood jihad was that "speculation could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers and what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here."That was the concern.By Gd, what have they done? They have abandoned, by their own volition, the only weapon of survival -- they are practicing suspension of the mind, refusing to think. Who is looking out for Americans? We know who is looking out for the jihad in America. John Galligan just reminded us.Hmmmm....."I will stand with my muslim Brothers'?Read the full story here.

• Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home.To encourage healthful eating, Chicago school doesn't allow kids to bring lunches or certain snacks from home — and some parents, and many students, aren't fans of the policy.Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school."Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!"Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?"At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria.Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices."Nutrition wise, it is better for the children to eat at the school," Carmona said. "It's about the nutrition and the excellent quality food that they are able to serve (in the lunchroom). It's milk versus a Coke. But with allergies and any medical issue, of course, we would make an exception."Carmona said she created the policy six years ago after watching students bring "bottles of soda and flaming hot chips" on field trips for their lunch. Although she would not name any other schools that employ such practices, she said it was fairly common.A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals."This is such a fundamental infringement on parental responsibility," said J. Justin Wilson, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Consumer Freedom, which is partially funded by the food industry."Would the school balk if the parent wanted to prepare a healthier meal?" Wilson said. "This is the perfect illustration of how the government's one-size-fits-all mandate on nutrition fails time and time again. Some parents may want to pack a gluten-free meal for a child, and others may have no problem with a child enjoying soda."For many CPS parents, the idea of forbidding home-packed lunches would be unthinkable. If their children do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals, such a policy would require them to pay $2.25 a day for food they don't necessarily like.Many Little Village students claim that, given the opportunity, they would make sound choices."They're afraid that we'll all bring in greasy food instead of healthy food and it won't be as good as what they give us at school," said student Yesenia Gutierrez. "It's really lame. If we could bring in our own lunches, everyone knows what they'd bring. For example, the vegetarians could bring in their own veggie food."

"I would bring a sandwich or a Subway and maybe a juice," said seventh-grader Ashley Valdez.

Second-grader Gerardo Ramos said, "I would bring a banana, orange and some grapes."

"I would bring a juice and like a sandwich," said fourth-grader Eric Sanchez.

"Sometimes I would bring the healthy stuff," second-grader Julian Ruiz said, "but sometimes I would bring Lunchables."Hmmmm......Chicago........"Let them eat school lunches!"Read the full story here .

• HT:Memri.Salafi-Jihadist Movement in Jordan Threatens Demonstration in Amman, Warns of 'Storm of Jihad'.For the past month, the Salafi-jihadist movement in Jordan has been holding demonstrations in which protesters wave Al-Qaeda flags, denounce the Jordanian regime, and demand the instatement of shari'a law in the country and the release of the movement's prisoners.

Last week, the Jordanian security apparatuses arrested four Salafi-jihadist activists: 'Abd Al-Nasser Khamaysa, Mustafa 'Abd Al-Latif, Muhammad Abu 'Omar, and Furas Al-Na'lawi.In response, the movement threatened that, if they were not released, it would hold a sit-down demonstration this Tuesday (April 12) from ten in the morning until ten at night in Amman's Gamal 'Abd Al-Nasser Square. One of the movement's senior leaders in Jordan, Abu Muhammad Al-Tahawi, said that this was only "the first step in the escalation," and that "all options are open." It should be noted that 'Abd Al-Nasser Square is the most central junction in the capital, and that the authorities generally forbid sit-down demonstration held in the square. Two weeks ago, a demonstration organized by the March 24 Youth led to clashes with security forces, ending with one person dead and 100 wounded. Salafi-Jihadist Leader to Jordanian Intelligence: Learn a Lesson from What Happened to the Egyptian National Intelligence Apparatus.Imam of Irbid Mosque to Jordanian Authorities: Implement the Shari'a, Otherwise the Storm of Jihad Will Reach Jordan

Another speaker at the demonstration was the imam of the Khalil Al-Rahman mosque in Irbid, Sheikh Muhammad Al-Khatib. He said that the masses had taken to the streets "to declare with one voice: We want to restore the Islamic Caliphate," and added: "The righteous Caliphate will soon return, Allah willing." Addressing the Jordanian authorities, he warned: "[Even] if you survive the political storm [rising] out of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the storm of military jihad is [rising] out of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen. It will undoubtedly pass through Jordan, unless you fix the situation and implement Allah's law."Our War Is against the Jews and Their Agents in JordanAnother Salafi-jihadist leader in Jordan, Dr. Sa'd Al-Hunaiti, said at the demonstration that "the Salafi movement is being targeted because [its demands] are so lofty... [Our demands] surpass all those of the opposition, because we are demanding to impose shari'a [law]. Implementing the shari'a will bring down all of Allah's enemies who are [conducting] security coordination with the Jews, and all those who are sending the Muslims to fight as mercenaries alongside the Jews and Crusaders in Afghanistan..." He added that "the demand to implement the shari'a is causing the oppressors and infidels everywhere to lose sleep." Responding to a statement by Israeli Knesset Member Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who expressed concern for the stability of the Jordanian regime, Al-Hunaiti said: "Our war is against the Jews and their collaborators and agents in Jordan... When the [Jordanian] masses began to [protest], they [i.e., Jordanian King 'Abdallah] fired [former prime minister] Samir Al-Rifa'i and brought us Ma'rouf Al-Bakhit in his stead. [The latter] is a military figure who served as an advisor to the Jordanian intelligence and as an ambassador to the Jews, so he is from the camp [of the Jews and their collaborators and agents in Jordan]."Hmmmm......Thank you Hussein for all the 'Change'.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iranian Majlis Member: Adopt A More Aggressive Position Vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia.Iranian Majlis member Ruhollah Hosseinan, who is close to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has called on the regime to adopt a more aggressive position vis-à-vis the massacre he says that Saudi Arabia is carrying out in Bahrain, and proposed that the regime prepare for a military move. Iranian armed forces joint chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said that Saudi Arabia made a mistake sending its forces into Bahrain, and that the U.S. is behind the move.Hmmm.....Obama already trembling in his golf shoes.Read the full story here.

• IHH Organizing Another Flotilla - This Time with an Airplane.The people who brought you last year’s Turkish IHH ill-fated anti-Israel convoy to Gaza are organizing another one – this time with an airplane.Virulently anti-Israel Bulent Yaldrim, director of the Turkish terrorist-affiliated IHH group, said last week at a monthly event commemorating last year’s Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza that preparations are underway in full force for an even bigger one. “Weh IHH ill-fated anti-Israel convoy to Gaza are organizing another one – this time with an airplane.Virulently anti-Israel Bulent Yaldrim, director of the Turkish terrorist-affiliated IHH group, said last week at a monthly event commemorating last year’s Mavi Marmara flotilla to Gaza that preparations are underway in full force for an even bigger one. “We have just one problem,” he said, “and that is the virus called Zionism.” The speech was reported by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC).The upcoming convoy, to be named Freedom Fleet II, was scheduled to take place around the anniversary of last year’s flotilla, near the end of May. However, Yaldrim said it will probably happen only around late June, partly because he is hoping to purchase an airplane to take part in the anti-Israel convoy campaign.Neither Israel nor the Oslo Accords sanction the landing of airplanes from abroad in Gaza.Israel's Blockade is Legal

According to international maritime law, Israel is within its rights in placing a maritime blockade upon an entity with which it is in a state of armed conflict, such as Hamas. When a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels are permitted to enter the blockaded area, and any vessel that violates or attempts to violate the maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked.”Hmmm....In the old days they would put a minefield to prevent ships from entering.....Sigh 'the good old days' Read the full story here.

• Grocery Chain Told to Rehire 'Violent' Arab Workers.A grocery store that fired 21 Arab workers at once must hire them all again, Justice Ravit Tzaddik of the Tel Aviv District Labor Court ruled Sunday. The store was accused of racial discrimination in the firings.Store managers at the Kimat Chinam branch in Modiin said the Arab workers in question created an atmosphere of violence and intimidation, threatened customers and fellow workers with physical violence, and were involved in sexual harassment in the workplace.Some of the workers even bragged that they were involved in the murder of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar, and did so in the presence of Jewish workers and customers, management said.They denied that the firings were motivated by the workers' ethnic background. Six Arab workers remain at the store in question, and almost 25% of workers at the Kimat Chinam network are Arab, they said, “So we cannot be considered a company that discriminates between its workers.”However, the workers told a different story. Workers said they were discriminated against by the manager, and had been fired with no warning, without a chance to tell their side of the story. All Arab workers at the Modiin branch were fired, they claimed, including some who had worked at the store prior to the appointment of the most recent manager, who had not had any complaints about them.The suit against the firings was brought by Attorney Ina David Sultanovich, on behalf of the Ministry of Trade and Labor's Equal Opportunities Commissioner. The Commissioner, Tziona Kenig-Yair, was formerly Director of the Women's Lobby, which is funded by the controversial New Israel Fund.The NIF is a left-wing umbrella group that distributes funds – suspected to be primarily from foreign donors – to Arab and far-left Jewish organizations in Israel.In representing the workers, Sultanovich responded to the claim that they had bragged about the murders in Itamar by saying that only a single worker, at most, had claimed to be involved in the slayings, and that managers had failed to provide first-hand testimony regarding the incident.Some criticized Kenig-Yair's behavior in the case as hypocritical. The Women's Lobby usually trumpets cases of sexual harassment brought against Jewish leaders, and often calls for those accused of harassment to be fired. However, in this case, Kenig-Yair supported Arab men accused of harassment, and the Women's Lobby and political left have remained silent.Minister of Trade and Labor Shalom Simchon praised the ruling. The ruling sends a clear message to employers that the government will not tolerate racism, he said.“We see absorbing Arab employees in the workplace as being of utmost importance,” he said. “We will continue to work to prevent discrimination against them.”Hmmmm.....So they murder Jews,but you can't fire Arabs bragging about it?Read the full story here.

• Former Leader of Ivory Coast Is Captured to End Standoff.ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — The Ivory Coast strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured on Monday after a week-long siege of his residence and placed under the control of his rival claimant to power, according to the French military and a senior American diplomat.Both French ground forces and troops loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast’s election last year, had pressed into the city toward the residence where Mr. Gbagbo has been holed up. “It is my pleasure to announce officially that the former president of Cote d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, has been arrested,” said Youssoufou Bamba, Mr. Ouattara’s representative to the United Nations. “He is alive and he will be brought to justice to respond to the crimes he committed. In this way, the Cote d’Ivoire reaches the end of its tragedy, of its nightmare.” “His era is over,” Mr. Bamba added, saying Mr. Gbagbo was now “under our custody.” Cmdr. Frederic Daguillon, a French military spokesman in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s main city, confirmed Mr. Gbagbo’s capture but denied reports that the French military had been involved in seizing him, saying Mr. Gbagbo had been taken solely by forces loyal to Mr. Ouattara. “I can affirm that categorically,” Commander Daguillon said. “There was not one single French soldier in the residence.”In Paris, Laurent Teisseire, a spokesman for the French Defense Ministry, said, “Mr. Gbagbo surrendered to Mr. Ouattara’s forces.” While French forces “patrolled” in Abidjan on Monday, he said, “they did not enter into the perimeter” of the Gbagbo residence and did not participate in his capture. For months, Mr. Gbagbo has refused to accept Mr. Ouattara’s victory, insisting that he is still the legitimate president of this West African nation. A senior American diplomat, who spoke in return for anonymity because of the fluidity of the situation, said Mr. Gbagbo was being held at Mr. Ouattara’s headquarters at the Golf Hôtel in Abidjan. “My understanding is that he is at the Golf Hôtel and is under the control of the Ouattara government,” the diplomat said. Mr. Teisseire, the ministry spokesman in Paris, also said that Mr. Gbagbo had been taken to the hotel.Hmmmm.......Another country became an Islamic bastion thanks to the Islamic United Nations.Read the full story here.

• HT:Elliott Abrams: Pressure Points.Russia + Syria + Hizballah = Hamas.On April 6, Hamas terrorists fired a Russian Kornet laser-guided missile at a school bus in southern Israel. How did Hamas get such a missile?It turns out that Russia does not license others to produce this missile; every single Kornet is manufactured in Russia at the KBP factory. The KBP web site helpfully touts all the wonderful qualities of this weapon.So how did Hamas get its hands on the Kornet it used to try to kill dozens of Israeli schoolchildren? Syria is the obvious guess, as Russia sells Kornets to Syria and Syria maintains close relations with Hamas and Hizballah. The United States has previously sanctioned the KBP plant for providing missiles to Syria that then reached Hizballah, as this Israeli news item notes. The only thing we don’t know is whether it was Hizballah or Syria who turned Kornets over to Hamas.The ultimate culprit remains Russia, which is selling Syria missiles that it has every reason to know will be given to terrorist groups. Russia is of course a member of the Middle East Quartet, whose goal is supposed to be peace—not arms supplies to terrorists. If the scheduled Quartet meeting takes place this Friday, April 15, Sec. Clinton should lead off by telling Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov that this must stop. A discussion of how Russian arms get to terrorists who murder Israelis would be a great deal more useful than hours of debate over what tactics to use in the United Nations.Meanwhile, the Asad regime’s cozy relations with terrorists groups provides yet another reason we should hope the people of Syria are successful in their efforts to rid themselves of the odious dictatorship under which they live.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Lebanese Daily: Syria Accusing Muslim Brotherhood Operating From Turkey Responsible For Unrest.In his column in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir, which is close to Syria, Talal Sleiman calls on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to immediately begin reforms as he promised, before the bloody events in the country get out of control, and even if it involves a high cost to the regime, which in any case has reached the time when it should be replaced. The Al-Akhbar daily reports, citing Syrian sources, that Syria sees the Muslim Brotherhood, primarily those operating from Turkey, as responsible for the demonstrations in Syria, and that this could worsen Turkey-Syria relations.Hmmmm.....Iran.....Turkey.....Obama's favorite 'ally'.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                Morning  Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Libya Live Blog - April 06. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And  here (BBC).

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

• Latest official Situation Update No. 76.On 06.04.2011 at 02:44 GMT+2.

Radioactive water has stopped leaking into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, Jiji Press reported, citing the operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). TEPCO had on Tuesday injected sodium silicate, a chemical agent known as "water glass", to solidify soil near a cracked pit, from where large volumes of highly radioactive water had been seeping through and running into the sea. Run-off from the plant has measured more than 1,000 millisieverts and is believed to be the source of radioactive iodine-131 readings in ocean waters more than 4,000 times the legal limit. The pit, which has a 20-centimetre crack in its wall, is linked to the plant's reactor No. 2, one of those which had its cooling systems put out of action by the quake and tsunami of March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis. Several unsuccessful attempts had been made to try to plug pipes that run to the pit, using a polymer and even newspapers and sawdust, and an effort to seal the crack with cement had also failed to stop the leak.Source .

• Will Obama Administration Hold Military Paychecks During Government Shutdown?As readers of Big Government know, an impasse over a few billion dollars in proposed spending cuts threatens to shutdown the federal government. (And, by a few billion dollars I mean, rounding error.) As regular readers should also know, I’ve come to embrace a shutdown, rather than fear it.As this recent Congressional Research Service report explains, if the government were to shutdown, an OMB Directive issued in the 1980s (along with a handful of legal opinions) guide what parts of government continue to function and what parts must close down. Short story, all of the important functions of government, i.e national security, the military, air traffic control, border security, Social Security payments, etc., will continue to function. The parts that have to shut down…well, lets just say they are candidates for permanent cuts. I mean, if the country functions for several weeks without a few hundred thousand ‘non-essential’ employees, couldn’t we probably function without them forever? I’m not saying every one of these jobs should necessarily be eliminated…but it isn’t a good place to start?

Sensing the potential PR nightmare from this, it seems the Obama Administration may have decided to raise the stakes on a shutdown. According to draft guidance from the Pentagon, the Obama Administration will require military personnel to report to work…but, will hold their paychecks until the impasse is resolved. As Government Executive explained in a March 15th article:

Military personnel and exempt Defense Department civilian employees are required to continue working without pay during a government shutdown, according to guidance from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

In a memo prepared earlier this month, Defense officials noted that service members and some civilian workers, including those involved in national security and the protection of life and property, still must report for duty but will not be paid until Congress appropriates funds to reimburse them for that period of service. All other employees will be furloughed, the memo stated.Military personnel are not subject to furlough.

This is new.During the last government shutdown, in 1995, troops continued to receive their paychecks. According to Federal Times:When the government was shut down in 1995, military personnel continued to report to work and were paid, but the planning guidance sent to the services and defense agencies says a shutdown this time will be different.

“All military personnel will continue in normal duty status regardless of their affiliation with exempt or non-exempt activities,” says the draft planning guidance that was prepared for the services and defense agencies. “Military personnel will serve without pay until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them for this period of service.”During the 1995 shutdown, the Clinton Administration followed the OMB guidance issued during the Reagan Administration. The Obama Administration, it seems, is tacking a different direction.

Let me be clear, the guidelines proposing to hold military paychecks are, according to the news reports, draft guidelines. It is possible the Obama Administration has abandoned these punitive guidelines. And, even if they implemented these guidelines, military personnel would most likely eventually receive their pay, once a budget agreement is reached. But, why even change the policy and subject our military to partisan political battles. The policy is certainly a change, but it doesn’t provide much hope.Hopefully, they will clear this up quickly.Hmmmm.....My guess :Yes Obama will withhold military paychecks even though he doesn't have to,but only because he hates the military and to set them up against the Republicans!Somehow i don't think the military love their current 'commander-in-chief'.Read the full story here.

• Harper protection 'bubble' becomes election issue.Prime Minister Stephen Harper is suddenly on the defensive for running a closed and "unCanadian" campaign after two university students were ejected from one of his rallies because they had posted a Facebook picture of themselves with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.The issue of how Harper is campaigning in a bubble, which has been brewing ever since the launch of the campaign, has now exploded and caused embarrassment to the Conservative leader.A spokesman for Harper apologized for the incident that occurred Sunday at a rally in London, Ont.At rallies Harper holds, local Conservative organizers sit at desks in front of the hall and have lists of names. People who attend are registered and have their name on the list. Conservatives have said that people can walk in off the street, but they must show identification to gain entry.That practice has now backfired for the Tories after what happened to Awish Aslam, a 19-year-old University of Western Ontario student.Aslam and a friend signed up for the rally in London on Sunday with the help of her friend's father, who is a Conservative.About 30 minutes after she arrived, she and her friend were approached by two officials and were asked to go outside the door, she told Postmedia News on Tuesday. Hmmm...28 March:"My name is Awish Aslam, I am a second year political science student at the University of Western Ontario. A friend and I had planned on seeing Ignatieff last Thursday, Harper onSunday, and Layton on Monday. Yesterday, while attending the Conservative rally inLondon, an RCMP officer approached us and told us he needed to speak to us while heescorted us out of the hall and into the back hallways where the staff typically work."Once there, she said one of the officials ripped the Conservative stickers that had been previously given to them from their clothing "and ripped them into pieces.""He said, 'You are no longer welcome here'," she said.Aslam and her friend were upset and wondered what had gone wrong. "He said, 'We know you have ties to the Liberal party through Facebook'."The Facebook photo of her standing next to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff had been taken the previous week when she attended a Liberal rally in London.Another attendee, Ali Aref Hamadi, said he was asked by an organizer to leave the same rally because of an NDP bumper sticker on his vehicle.The whole story started rolling by a tweet by her brother SAAD : Saad Aslam - WLUSU Vice President University Affairs - OUSA Vice President Finance.Ontario Undergraduate Student Organisation An organisation who seem to have a very political agenda when you look at their twitter account! http://twitter.com/ousa .The organisation has close ties to Liberal premier McGuinty."(Wink,wink)At the Premier's request, OUSA will be providing further input on a number of proposals related to system design that arose during the private meeting.
  "The post-secondary sector and the Province as a whole are facing many challenges," added Moulton. "Students are committed to collaborating with the Premier, his staff and the Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities to develop educated solutions that will build on the success of the government's historic Reaching Higher Plan."Hmmm.....Manipulation of the Immigrant voters?What if it would have been a teaparty member at an Obama event?I'm sure the teaparty member his genealogy tree would have been checked till the fifth generation before even attending the event ,but hey 'that is normal'?Read the full story here.

• Ouattara forces storm Gbagbo residence.Pro-Ouattara forces ordered not to kill Laurent Gbagbo, still in bunker after fierce assault on his presidential palace.Forces loyal to Cote d'Ivoire's internationally recognised leader Alassane Ouattara have stormed the residence where his rival and incumbent president is holed up, a spokesman has said."Yes they [Ouattara forces] are in the process of entering the residence to seize [Laurent] Gbagbo, they have not taken him yet, but they are in the process; they are in the building," Affousy Bamba told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.Patrick Achi, another spokesman for Ouattara's parallel government, said troops had been ordered not to kill Gbagbo."Alassane Ouattara has given formal instructions that Gbagbo is to be kept alive because we want to bring him to justice," he said.The news came hours after Edouard Guillaud, the French armed forces chief, said on Wednesday Gbagbo's departure would come in "a matter of hours".Earlier, Gbagbo said it was not his "aim to die" fighting Ouattara forces and called for direct talks with his rival."I'm not a kamikaze. I love life. My voice is not the voice of a martyr, no, no, no, I'm not looking for death. It's not my aim to die," Gbagbo, speaking from his residence on Tuesday, told the French TV channel LCI."For peace to return to Ivory Coast, I and Ouattara, the two of us, have to talk," he added.Read and see the full story here.

• Peres: Obama wants real peace progress.Two presidents meet in Washington, discuss Middle East turmoil, Iran nuclear program and spy Jonathan Pollard. Obama says peaceful solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflic 'more urgent than ever'. Peres said after the meeting that Obama was very eager to renew a real peace process, not a show followed by a deadlock. "With the winds of change blowing through the Arab world, it's more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution between Palestinians and Israelis," Obama later told reporters.He warned that anti-democratic extremists could exploit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict unless it is resolved.Peres invited Obama to take part in the Facing Tomorrow Presidential Conference to be held in Jerusalem in June. It was stated that Obama replied he will check his schedule but that the tone of his words was positive. During the meeting, the president asked for F-35 jets as well as US aid in purchasing Iron Dome batteries and maintaining Israel's competitive edge. Peres later said that Obama told him he was against the attempts to de-legitimize the State of Israel and that he is in favor of reigniting direct talks with the Palestinians. Obama stressed he was willing to embark on a peace process as long as it wouldn't be a one-off occasion. Peres told reporters his raised the Iranian issue during his meeting with Obama. He said Iran symbolizes the corruption of universal moral values. Peres noted that the US president reiterated his commitment to Israel's security which is at the top of the American administration's priorities. Obama told reporters the two had an extensive discussion about unrest sweeping the Middle East and share a belief that it represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Obama said it's "more urgent than ever that we try to seize the opportunity to create a peaceful solution" between the Palestinians and Israelis. Hmmmm.....Pure lies to get the Jewish votes,perhaps kiss a few Rabbis at the Kotel ,once he gets re-elected wipe Israel of the map with the UN help.Read the full comedy story here.

• Obama accused of 'rewarding terrorism' after dropping financial sanctions on Libyan Lockerbie 'mastermind' Musa Kusa.The Obama administration has been accused of ‘rewarding terrorism’ after dropping financial sanctions against the former Libyan foreign minister who defected to Britain.Relatives of those who died in the Lockerbie bombing said that it ‘sent out totally the wrong message’ to unfreeze bank accounts belonging to Musa Kusa.He will also be allowed to conduct business dealings with Americans and U.S. companies to ensure that he has access to any funds he has built up for himself.The White House claimed the measure would encourage other Libyan officials to defect and share their knowledge of the regime.But the Lockerbie relatives said they were deeply distressed by the decision and that it went against the interests of justice.The move also comes after Washington was extremely harsh in its criticism of the British and Scottish governments for agreeing to free bomber Abdelbasset al-Megrahi.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went so far as to say that his ongoing survival is ‘an affront to the victims’ families’.Frank Duggan, president of Pan Am 103 inc, which represents the families of those who lost loved ones, said: ‘I’m flabbergasted. Unlocking the sanctions sends out totally the wrong message.’Brian Flynn, who lost his 21-year-old brother John Patrick in the Lockerbie bombing, added he and other relatives were alarmed by the decision.‘It’s all logical in the diplomatic game they need to play,’ he said.‘We all want to see Gadaffi brought down but at what cost to justice if you are rewarding somebody who has been accused of terrorist attacks?’Kusa, who defected to Britain last week, has been described by Libyan experts as ‘the left arm and the right arm of the regime, its bloodhound’.Hmmm....what's next for the Obama regime...Give Al-Qaida office space in the White House?Read the full story here.

• Bernard Lewis Sounds Alarm on Turkey, Iran.Turkey could be the next Iran. Turkey, once a bulwark against Islamic radicalism with its secular, pro-Western orientation, is changing. The Journal says that Lewis is alarmed by developments there. "In Turkey, the movement is getting more and more toward re-Islamization. The government has that as its intention—and it has been taking over, very skillfully, one part after another of Turkish society. The economy, the business community, the academic community, the media. And now they're taking over the judiciary, which in the past has been the stronghold of the republican regime."

Mutually Assured Destruction won't work with nuclear-armed mullahs. If Iran did get nuclear warheads, don't count on them never using such weapons for fear of an American or Israeli counter-strike. "During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States had nuclear weapons but both knew that the other was very unlikely to use them. Because of what was known at the time as MAD —mutually assured destruction. MAD meant that each side knew that if it used a nuclear weapon the other would retaliate and both sides would be devastated. And that's why the whole time during the Cold War, even at the worst times, there was not much danger of anyone using a nuclear weapon." Lewis thinks the imams in Iran "are religious fanatics with an apocalyptic mindset. In Islam, as in Christianity and Judaism, there is an end-of-times scenario—and they think it's beginning or has already begun. . . . mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent—it's an inducement."Hmmmmm....I could not agree more!Read the full story here.

• HT:Aina."Uncontrollable" Muslim Violence: The Latest Excuse.By Joseph Klein.Frontpage Magazine.On March 31, 2011, Pakistan’s United Nations ambassador, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, spoke to reporters at UN headquarters on behalf of the 56 member state Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Ambassadorial Group, condemning the recent burning of a copy of the Koran by the pastors of a small Baptist Church in Gainesville, Florida. He highlighted the OIC’s "grave concern that the despicable act had severely hurt the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world” and warned reporters that it could lead to “incidents that are uncontrollable."

The very next day Ambassador Haroon’s warning turned into a tragic, self-fulfilling prophesy. A large mob of demonstrators in Afghanistan, angry at the Koran burning and apparently responding to calls for revenge by three mullahs who had addressed worshipers at Friday prayer in one of Afghanistan’s holiest mosques, stormed a United Nations compound in the northern region of the country and killed a number of innocent people, including at least seven UN staff members – two reportedly by beheading. It was one of the worst attacks on UN personnel in Afghanistan since the war there began in 2001. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told reporters, while in Nairobi, Kenya, that the attack was “outrageous and cowardly.”

Ambassador Haroon chose to turn up the heat on his Western audience and inflate the isolated act of a few extremists in one small church in Florida into a high profile global issue at the United Nations. He said that the international community needed to create the necessary conditions for ending such acts of bigotry and hatred. He also noted that the OIC had raised the Koran burning incident in Washington, D.C., and encouraged the United States Government to keep a close eye on such incidents "towards ensuring the exercise of restraint.” He added that “the present structure” of the OIC’s UN delegation has not yet proposed court action against the church or its pastors but said that could change.

Instead of doing the hard work of addressing his fellow Muslims in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and urging them to remain calm and peaceful, Ambassador Haroon unwittingly helped to sow the seeds of the violent acts against UN personnel by perpetrating the myth of a unique causal link between the Koran burning and “uncontrollable” reactions in the Muslim world, as if there were no killings of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. by Muslims for other manufactured reasons for many years before this incident.

Islamists don’t need an excuse to murder those they consider to be ‘infidels’ or ‘non-believers.’ It is in the DNA of Islamic ideology. In fact, Muslims also kill each other, as part of their own sectarian battles. When asked by a UN correspondent about the uptick in Sunni-Shiite violence, Ambassador Haroon said simply that "this is a very important point that should be raised and discussed."

The burning of the Koran by a couple of small time pastors, while certainly a crude and reprehensible act, was not the ultimate cause of the killing by Islamists of UN staff in Afghanistan or Christians praying in a church in Pakistan. Responsible Muslims, such as presumably Ambassador Haroon himself, have failed to lead efforts to reform their own religion and to marginalize the clerics and other Islamists who use the Koran and other Islamic teachings to incite hatred and violence against ‘non-believers.’

I also asked him whether the OIC was prepared to call for the allowance of Christian and Jewish Bibles or the holy texts of other religions in all Muslim countries as well as the building of public places of worship for religions other than Islam, which are prohibited today in Saudi Arabia. And I asked him whether he was prepared to condemn the anti-blasphemy law in Pakistan, which includes a death penalty for criticizing Islam or the Prophet Muhammad – the law under which a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, has been sentenced to death and is currently languishing in jail.

Ambassador Haroon responded that he could only speak for the situation in Pakistan. He said “There are Gideon Bibles in most hotels in Pakistan. They are not burned.”Ambassador Haroon is either ignorant of Bible burnings in Pakistan or is lying. Muslim fundamentalists have burnt Bibles in Pakistan for years before the unfortunate Koran burning in Florida. For example, in 2008 Muslim fundamentalists burned a Bible and other sacred texts in a Pakistani church, leaving a letter threatening Christians that they will “burn in the fire of hell” if they do not convert to Islam.

As bad as religious minorities have fared in Pakistan, at least churches are permitted there. In Saudi Arabia, the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Conference for which the Pakistani UN ambassador had purported to speak at the UN press conference, the Saudi government burns and desecrates hundreds of Bibles its security forces confiscate after raids on Christian expatriates worshiping privately or at border crossings. No comment was forthcoming from Ambassador Haroon, who limited himself to the situation in Pakistan in responding to my questions.

Ambassador Haroon noted that Pakistan’s anti- blasphemy law had been written originally by the British, only obliquely acknowledging that the death penalty had been added by Pakistan after it gained its independence. Two Pakistani government officials critical of the anti-blasphemy law and its death sentence – one of whom was a Christian – were murdered by Islamic fundamentalists. Ambassador Haroon said that his government was reviewing the anti-blasphemy law, including the death sentence imposed on Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who remains in jail. He said he would not “pre-judge the outcome of the ongoing discussions.”

Ambassador Haroon added that no one in Pakistan had yet received maximum punishment for blasphemy and, he said, many accused of blasphemy had been freed. The problem with his claim, according to Saroop Ijaz, a human rights attorney in Lahore, Pakistan, is that while no one has yet been executed by the government under Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law, "at least 32 people have been killed while awaiting trial or after they have been acquitted of blasphemy charges." Islamic mob justice does not depend on the outcome of a government trial.Hmmm....“Violence does not build up the kingdom of God, the kingdom of humanity. On the contrary, it is a favorite instrument of the Antichrist, however idealistic its religious motivation may be,” Pope Benedict XVI . Read the full story here.

• Peter King on Holder Ripping Congress For Forcing 9/11 Plotters Into Military Tribunals: “Maybe Eric Holder Wants to Live in a Dictatorship, We Don’t”.The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee suggested that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign after criticizing Congress for interfering with the trial venues for the detainees at Guantánamo.Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Holder should resign if he’s so against trying the suspects before a military commission.“Maybe Eric Holder wants to live in a dictatorship, we don’t,” King said in an interview with Fox News. “If he feels so strongly about it [...] and this is such an issue of conscious for him, then Eric Holder should resign. If he feels this strongly he should resign on principle. It would do him good, it would certainly do us good. It would do the country good.”.Holder announced Monday the Justice Department would try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and other suspects involved in the attacks before a military commission rather than in civilian court.During his announcement Holder blamed Congress for the reversal of Obama administration policy, saying the lawmakers weren’t as informed about the suspects as he is. Additionally, Holder said the policy reversal was a result of Congress blocking a transfer of Guantánamo Bay prisoners to a United States prison.Hmmmm.......Democracy versus dictatorship.Read the full story here.

• Bangladesh - When wives are set on fire for their dowry.At least 249 women were killed in 2010. Out of anger or vengeance, husbands throw kerosene on their wives and set them on fire. The problem is widespread despite the fact that Islamic law, which is in place in Bangladesh, requires would-be husbands to pay a price for their future wives.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) – At least 249 women were killed in 2010 for their dowry, this according to the Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of Human Rights (BSEHR). Whether out of anger or for vengeance, husbands often beat their wives or set them on fire with kerosene, sometimes with the complicity of their families. In some cases, women are strangled and then hanged to simulate a suicide. The figures are incomplete though because many cases are not reported. In fact, if in 2007, there were 145 recorded cases, dropping to 114 in 2008 and 109 in 2009, the numbers last year showed a marked reversal. At the same time, the BSEHR also reported that last year at least 122 women were tortured.

Under the existing dowry system, a bride’s family must pay her future groom a sum of money. The practice first appeared some 50 years ago. Before that, would-be husbands had to pay instead a ‘bride price’ to the woman’s family in accordance with Islamic law. The change appears to be the result of an imbalance in the country’s demography, as there were more women than men of marriageable age at that time. For example in 1950, the population of women of marriageable age was 10 per cent more than that of eligible men; by 1975, the percentage had risen to 43.However, men do not necessarily demand a dowry before marriage; in some cases, they do it afterwards to assert their authority over their wives when the latter do not obey. Violence can ensue in a number of situations in a society where tradition places the husband in a position of superiority. Not all families are willing or financially capable of paying a dowry for their daughters, a situation that some husbands see as an insult that calls for vengeance.This kind of tragedy occurs in both big cities and small villages, among upper middle classes as well as the poor. A few months ago for instance, a university professor was killed over her dowry.

In 1980, a law banning dowries was adopted. Since then, it has been changed two or three times. Nevertheless, it is in not enforced, partly because of police negligence, partly because of threats from grooms’ families. The law itself is also very vague and provides little guidance for enforcement. This ends up penalising the weakest party, i.e. women.Even so, Bangladesh has signed the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the 30-article United Nations treaty that defines discrimination against women and sets out ways to fight it. However, Bangladesh has not accepted Article 16, which requires measures to eliminate discrimination against women in matters relating to marriage and family, because it contradicts Islamic law. Religious institutions have a key role to play in all this. Unfortunately, it is well known that mosque leaders are not concerned by the practice even if it is contrary to the Qur‘an.There are some exceptions. Every year, a Muslim spiritual group organises a mass gathering that draws millions of people. During the event, hundreds of couples get married, publicly announcing their intention to renounce the dowry and wed in accordance to Islamic principles.This shows that at least one group is aware of the dire consequences of a problem too often ignored by most mosque leaders. More generally, conservative Muslims religious leaders have opposed changes to the law itself. Hmmm......."Welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.

• RUSSIA - Moscow Patriarchate calls on the faithful to hang the crucifix in schools and offices. Moscow (AsiaNews) – Fresh controversy has broken out in Russia between the Orthodox Church and human rights organizations. The head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for Relations between the Church and society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, has appealed to the community of believers to be more courageous in showing their faith. "We should have no qualms about making the sign of the cross wherever we like, or hanging an image of the crucifix, where we live and work," the priest wrote in an article published in the April issue of the Orthodox journal Sovereign Rus'. The idea of the crucifix in the workplace or in schools has angered human rights activists. "The problem in our society is not the number of crucifixes on the walls, but immorality," Lev Ponomarev, a noted leader of a human rights movement, told Interfax. "Concern yourselves more with prayers and sermons - he continued, addressing Chaplin – and not with pushing for official displays of Orthodox attributes”. He stressed that in Russia, church and state are separate and attacked the Patriarchate’s interference in civil society. "I think that religious symbols have no place in public offices, schools or in institutions - added Ponomarev – for example, if they were hung in schools, what would the many Muslims say? Would they start asking to hang the crescent? And why is it needed? All this will only contribute to dividing society. " Ponomarev has, however, admitted that if some people work in offices that are considered Orthodox, nobody has the right to prevent them from hanging a cross. " Bolstered by the decision of the European Court of Human Rights that has found display of crucifixes in classrooms not in violation of human rights, Chaplin continues to launch high-impact hypothesis on a society that is still recovering from 70 years of state atheism. In the case against Italy raised by a citizen of Finnish origin Sole Lautsi, the Moscow Patriarchate has always openly supported Italy.Hmmm.....The Russian Church survived Communisme it will survive the other plagues also!Read the full story here. 

• Mystery scars on Obama's head prompt another question from conspiracy theorists - has the President had brain surgery?He has been plagued with questions and doubts concerning his background throughout his first term as president.Questions like - is Barack Obama actually American? Is he a Muslim? Is he actually an alien from another planet? - have frequently been asked.The next question circulating on the internet - has President Obama had brain surgery?Internet blog sites, conspiracy theorists and forums are awash with rumours as to what those mystery scars on the president's head are from. In pictures, Obama appears to have a long scar which goes up the side of his head and over his crown.Some conspiracy theorists claim they are scars that you would see on someone who has had brain surgery.But without medical records (along with his school records and birth certificate) no one seems to be able to provide an answer as to cause of the mystery scars.Ben Hart, a blogger for Escape the Tyranny said: 'Obama's almost done with his first term, and we still know almost nothing about the background of the President of the United States. 'Whatever happened to create that scar, it was clearly something serious. Was it a brain operation? Has it affected his thinking?'No one is allowed to see his birth certificate. He is just one big mystery man, which adds intrigue to what that huge scar is all about.He also said that surgery might explain why the President gets lost speaking without a Teleprompter, and posted a video of Obama struggling through a speech, repeating his words and getting lost mid-sentence.Added to that are the fact his medical records have also been sealed.A spokeswoman from the White House said they were not willing to comment on such claims, saying they were 'ridiculous'.Countless neurosurgeons said it is 'not their place' to comment on whether or not distinctive scars on the President's head are as a result of brain surgery.Others offered explanations such as a bad haircut or even a birthmark though many did agree that the scars are similar to those a produced after major brain surgery.Without medical records or an admission from the White House, the public may never know the answer to the question, along with the contents of his birth certificate.Hmmmm.....Conjoined twins ?So did we get stuck with the 'evil' one?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Warns the US and Its Allies Not to Intervene Militarily in the Region: "Iran and the Other Countries Will Strike You with an Iron Fist" and "Will Dig Graves for Your Soldiers"Read and see the full story here.

• HT:FreedomMessenger.Iran secretly buries mutilated bodies of five executed political prisoners in desert.This report has come to us from Iran. Some of it has been omitted to keep the identity of the sender secret.This report was received at 4 am on Monday March 21.[Pictured on the right: Confidential letter to the Prosecutor General by a Shobeiri and Ahmad Vahid announcing their agreement with the execution of five political prisoners charged with espionage for Israel. The above mentioned officials request that these executions be secretly carried out stating that because they include a Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, the execution should be organized in a way to prevent media attention and suggest that they be hanged in the New Year holidayese executions be secretly carried out stating that because they include a Christian, Jewish and Baha’i, the execution should be organized in a way to prevent media attention and suggest that they be hanged in the New Year holiday.]Five people were hanged on charges of espionage for Israel and acting against national security. Two of these people had cards with old pictures from the 80’s. They were a husband and wife. The woman did not have a left ear as if it was completely cut off in the past. Their tongues were also cut off halfway in a way that they were unable to speak. A woman and two other men were also executed but did not have pictures on their cards. Their bodies were full of wounds and bruises. They (security forces) had brought their dossiers with them and buried these five people in the desert region in the Qom road. Hmmmm.....That should give them an extra seat at the UN human rights commission for women?Read the full story here.

• HT:RightSideNews.Israel’s Samson Option.If, while watching the disturbing events in the Middle East, you are not focusing your attention on Israel – then you are looking in the wrong place.Once, a very long time ago, I heard someone refer to Israel as the “world’s canary in the coal mine.” That is as apt a description of modern Israel as I have ever heard.As I watch events in the Muslim countries surrounding Israel deteriorate it looks, for all the world, as if we are racing toward Armageddon. The great armies, just now dipping their toes into the deepening unrest in that region, are unaware that they are playing out a story line written thousands of years ago.Those of us who have read that storyline know how the story ends and, too, we are aware of the events leading up to the true “Mother of all Battles.”

For the first time in its history, America is on the wrong side.Our President with his loyalty to the world and not to the country that trusted him with the sacred duty to be leader of America and Commander-in-Chief of the mightiest military force in all of history has gone over to the “Dark Side.” He has turned his back on the one nation, which occupies the most important piece of real estate on the globe. He has made it clear he favors the countries, which consider themselves Israel ’s most ardent enemies.Israel knows they, now, stand alone. Just this past weekend, Israel deployed their homegrown antimissile defense system “Iron Dome.” Another anti-missile defense system, a shorter-range system as we understand it, is in the pipeline and scheduled for deployment soon. Israel is getting ready for the coming conflagration when all the Muslim anger, boiling in the crucible of that region, boils over and pours onto their tiny country.Without America standing wit Israel , Israel stands a better than 50-50 chance of being over run and wiped out as a country. The Israelis have planned for that. The pan is referred to as: “The Samson Option.”The “Samson Option” is Israel ’s strategy of massive nuclear retaliation against “enemies” should its existence as a Jewish state be jeopardized through military attack. The term was inspired by the Biblical figure Samson, who destroyed a Philistine temple, killing himself, and thousands of Philistine enemies. The Samson option is a strategy of last resort retaliation - even if it means Israel ’s own annihilation.It has been estimated by so-called experts that Israel has at least 400 thermo-nuclear weapons. They can be launched from land, sea, and air. This means that Israel has a second strike option -- even if much of the country is destroyed.Hmmmm......And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it….Zech. 12:3.Read the full story here.

• HT:SheikJermani.From Ivory Coast to Ethiopia: Muslims are Making Slaughter in the Land.Thousands of refugees from the Ivory Coast in Liberia are reporting that the the pro-Quattara Muslim rebels are killing people and raping women. They are killing “everyone and anyone.” There are even rumors of cannibalism.Warning extremely graphic images!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iraqi Christians Demand An Autonomous Region, Yazidi Minority Objects.Iraqi Christians population is around 400,000 to 600,000, down from a 2003 prewar level of 1.4 million.Iraqi MPs representing Christians are demanding the formation of an autonomous area in the country’s northern province of Mosul.Iraqi lawmakers welcomed their demands, and said that an autonomous Christian region should be based upon "new administrative grounds that could be supported by external parties hosting Christian refugees."Iraqi MPs representing their Christian constituency see the demand as reasonable, after the continuous marginalization of their community who have been caught between Shiite-Sunni crossfire since the U.S. toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in 2003. However, representatives of other minorities, mainly the Yazidis, rejected the demands, saying that the Christian component is a minority in these regions and therefore not eligible to form an autonomous presence.Yazidis are Kurdish-speaking people whose religion traces back to the ancient Indo-Iranian roots with a mixture from the Islamic Sufi doctrine. Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iranian, Turkish Artillery Shells Iraqi Kurdistan.Iranian artillery yesterday shelled for hours the border area of Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan Regional Government. There were no casualties, but no estimate was made of the material damage. A member of al-Iraqiya declared that Iran plans to fill the vacuum that will be created upon the departure of the U.S. military from Iraq at the end of the calendar year.Similarly, Turkish artillery shelled villages in the Kurdish province of Duhouk. The Turkish military has been shelling the area periodically because of suspicions that it harbors elements of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.Hmmm...Turkey the so called 'NATO" ally working together with Iran.Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri."The Axes of Evil"becoming visible?Iranian, Turkish FMs: Withdraw Foreign Troops From Bahrain.Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu have called for the withdrawal of foreign [i.e. Saudi] troops from Bahrain, and for an immediate advancement of a peaceful solution to the crisis there. Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the Bahraini opposition group Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, called on Saudi Arabia to withdraw its troops from the country, and called for a dialogue that would lead to the establishment of an elected government.Hmmmm.....Seems like the Saudi King has to deal with more then one 'snake'.Get Turkey out of NATO before they nuke us with our own weapons!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Saudi Religious Police Undergo Training To Combat Black Magic.A total of 30 officials of Saudi Arabia's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, i.e. the religious police,have been trained on how to deal with cases of black magic.The three-day training program was held in the Eastern Province city of Al-Ahsa, Arab News reported.The commission has achieved remarkable success in combating black magic in various parts of the country. It has set up nine specialized centers in the main cities to deal with black magicians.The majority of people arrested for practicing black magic in the Kingdom are Africans and Indonesians.Hmmm....Dealing with Djinies will be taught in the next semester?Read the full story here.