MFS - The Other News

                       Afternoon  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 18. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 18. Here (Al-Jazeera).

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

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 113.Source : Here .

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

• Congressman Allen West’s on Obama’s two-stale solution in Israel.(JoeReport).“Today’s endorsement by President Barack Obama of the creation of a Hamas-led Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, signals the most egregious foreign policy decision his administration has made to date, and could be the beginning of the end as we know it for the Jewish state.“From the moment the modern day state of Israel declared statehood in 1948, to the end of the 1967 Six Day War, Jews were forbidden access to their holiest site, the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, controlled by Jordan’s Arab army.“The pre-1967 borders endorsed by President Obama would deny millions of the world’s Jews access to their holiest site and force Israel to return the strategically important Golan Heights to Syria, a known state-sponsor of terrorism.“Resorting to the pre-1967 borders would mean a full withdrawal by the Israelis from the West Bank and the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Make no mistake, there has always been a Nation of Israel and Jerusalem has been and must always be recognized as its rightful capital.“In short, the Hamas-run Palestinian state envisioned by President Obama would be devastating to Israel and the world’s 13.3 million Jews. It would be a Pavlovian style reward to a declared Islamic terrorist organization, and an unacceptable policy initiative.“America should never negotiate with the Palestinian Authority- which has aligned itself with Hamas. Palestine is a region, not a people or a modern state. Based upon Roman Emperor Hadrian’s declaration in 73 AD, the original Palestinian people are the Jewish people.“It’s time for the American people to stand by our strongest ally, the Jewish State of Israel, and reject this foreign policy blunder of epic proportions.“While the winds of democracy may blow strong in the Middle East, history has demonstrated that gaps in leadership can lead to despotic regimes. I have questions for President Obama: ‘Who will now lead in Egypt?’ and ‘Why should American taxpayers provide foreign aid to a nation where the next chapter in their history may be the emergence of another radical Islamic state?’“President Obama has not stood for Israel or the Jewish people and has made it clear where the United States will stand when Palestine attempts to gain recognition of statehood by the United Nations. The President should focus on the real obstacle to security- the Palestinian leadership and its ultimate goal to eliminate Israel and the Jewish people.”Hmmmm.....A 'President' who rewards terrorists and punishes patriots.Source.

• Netanyahu says 'No' to 1967 borders.(Ynet).PM expects Obama to reaffirm bush pledges, whereby settlement blocs will remain in Israel.Responding to President Barack Obama's major Mideast policy speech, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will not be withdrawing to the 1967 borders as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.The PM said that Israel appreciates the president's commitment to peace, but added that he expects Obama to reaffirm US commitments to Israel from 2004. According to the pledges made by then-President George W. Bush, the Jewish state will not be asked to retreat to the 1967 borders and large settlement blocs will remain in Israel's hands. "Israel believes that in order for peace to prevail, the establishment of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the State of Israel's existence," a statement issued by Netanyahu's office said. "The Palestinians, and not only the United States, must recognize Israel as the Jewish people's nation-state." The prime minister also stressed that President Bush's pledges were meant to reinforce Israel's Jewish character, by making it clear that Palestinian refugees will be taken in by Palestine and not by Israel. "Without a solution to the problem of refugees by settling them outside Israel's borders, no territorial concession would end the conflict," Netanyahu's statement said.Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni said that "ending the conflict by adopting the principle of two states for two people, while maintaining the security of Israel, is in Israel's utmost interest."  "The political stagnation endorsed by Netanyahu's government does not serve the interests of Israel," she said. "Hence, in his upcoming visit, and especially following Obama's speech, Netanyahu must demonstrate leadership and create the required conditions to resume negotiations."Livni added that the prime minister must act "with the understanding that only a genuine Israeli initiative, which can garner the support of the US and the international community, is the answer to the dangers and opportunities of the current times."Hmmmm....Israel can do nothing with an Islamist in the White House setting them up for a NATO/Arabworld confrontation,while pretending to be on Israel's side!Read the full story here.

• Israel's Reaction to "Cairo Speech II."Right wing MKs: Obama is the new Arafat.(JPost).Knesset members on the Right expressed outrage on Thursday night at US President Barack Obama's call for the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps in an exchange of territory for security.They called upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to reject Obama's plan when he meets with him on Friday in Washington."Barack Hussein Obama adopted the staged plan for Israel's destruction of Yasser Arafat, and he is trying to force it on our prime minister," said Likud MK Danny Danon. "All that was new in the speech was that he called for Israel to return to 1967 borders without solving the crisis. Netanyahu has only one option: To tell Obama forget about it." National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari also slammed Obama's speech, calling it "a landmine with pretty wrapping."Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who as a minister close to Netanyahu must be more diplomatic, complained on Channel 2 that according to Obama's approach, the Palestinians would receive their demands on borders before negotiations begin."Once they have everything from the start, they have no reason to make any concessions,"Erdan said.But opposition leader Tzipi Livni said Obama's plan was clearly in Israel's interests, while the diplomatic stalemate that she believes was brought on by Netanyahu is not."On his visit, Netanyahu must display the leadership necessary now to create the conditions necessary to restart negotiations with those who are ready to end the conflict," Livni said. "Only a real Israeli initiative with content that can receive American and international support can be an answer to the current dangers and opportunities." Her Kadima colleague, MK Yoel Hasson, warned that if Netanyahu did not take immediate action, he would bring Israel into deeper international isolation and borders forced on Israel unilaterally.Their Kadima counterpart MK Otniel Schneller turned the focus back on his own party, however, calling on the opposition’s leadership to take a strong stand behind the prime minister on issues of foreign policy in light of Obama’s speech.“Obama’s speech has placed before Israeli society and its representatives the challenge of unity and national agreement. The political disagreements and the motivation of the opposition parties should not overpower their responsibility for the future of the state,” Schneller asserted.“On the level of diplomatic policy, even Kadima believes in the same principles presented by the prime minister, which constitute the basis for a diplomatic program that the previous government under [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni tried to advance,” he added. “It would be appropriate if during the prime minister’s meeting with President Obama, everyone knew that the prime minister has no opposition when it comes to realizing his diplomatic initiative. We should expect mature leadership from the heads of all of the Zionist parties on the existential questions facing Israel and its strategic interests."MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al) criticized the speech, saying Obama offered "nothing new" in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Speaking to Channel 2 news, Tibi said that the speech was intended more for Arab audiences who have been participating in pro-democracy protests in the last number of months and claimed that "Obama is riding the tiger of Arab democracy."Referring to the US president's speech in Cairo two years ago, Tibi concluded by nicknaming this time's address: "Cairo Speech II."Hmmmm.....Obama is setting Israel up for what he always wanted a clash with the Arab world so they can send in NATO troops to occupy the land.Petraeus will be happy everything is still on course.Read the full story here.

• Dominique Strauss-Kahn: IMF head 'hired prostitutes from Manhattan madam'.(Telegraph).Kristin Davis said she provided young women for the IMF chief in 2006, as he ran for the French Socialists' presidential nomination, and that one complained about his "aggressive" behaviour."He was a client of my agency," she told The Daily Telegraph. "When men abuse women I'm no longer going to protect their identities".Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been charged with sexually attacking a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Manhattan Sofitel on Saturday. He denies the claims and is being held in Rikers Island prison.Miss Davis, 35, who claims to have a long list of celebrity clients, said Mr Strauss-Kahn called her directly on her mobile phone and paid $1,200 cash for two-hour sessions in hotel rooms."He wanted an 'All-American girl', with a fresh face, from the mid-West," she said. "A girl in January 2006 complained he was rough and angry, and said she didn't want to see him again".In September 2006, Mr Strauss-Kahn travelled to New York for a conference hosted by Bill Clinton. Miss Davis claims that month, she sent him a Brazilian-born prostitute who reported that "he was rough", said Miss Davis, adding: "She told me not to send any new girls to him."Miss Davis was jailed in 2008 for promoting prostitution. She named Mr Spitzer, who resigned that year over disclosures that he used prostitutes, as one of her clients.Mr Strauss-Kahn's lawyers declined to comment on the allegations. They came as the maid told a New York court of her ordeal and the IMF chief was alleged to have assaulted a maid in Mexico.The maid, a Guinean widow with a 15-year-old daughter, told a grand jury that the head of the IMF locked her in his suite, violently groped her and forced her to perform a sex act on him.Her lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, said beforehand that she would explain to the hearing, which took place in secret, that "there is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room"."This is nothing other than a physical, sexual assault by this man on this young woman," Mr Shapiro said.Attorneys for Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, say forensic evidence from the hotel, near Times Square, will "not be consistent with a forcible encounter", indicating that he will allege she agreed to sex.He faces seven charges, including attempted rape, unlawful imprisonment and an illegal sex act. His next court hearing is expected on Friday.A judge at Manhattan's criminal court will be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Mr Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.The married father of four could be freed on $1 million (£600,000) bail on Thursday, after he filed a request with New York's supreme court. He offered to waive extradition rights and remain under electronically-monitored home detention 24 hours a day.He is expected in court for the hearing. on Friday, a judge at Manhattan's criminal court is expected to be told whether or not the grand jury has decided there is sufficient evidence to indict Mr Strauss-Kahn for prosecution.Meanwhile press reports in Mexico claimed that Mr Strauss-Kahn may also have assaulted a maid in the country while making an official visit there in recent years.The claim originated in the 2010 French book 'DSK: Secrets of a presidential contender', by an author using the pseudonym Cassandre, who said she had close knowledge of Mr Strauss-Kahn.The alleged incident in Mexico was not described at any length. The author claimed that it had not reported to the local authorities, and would have gone unpunished.The book has been the source of several allegations of improper behaviour towards women by Mr Strauss-Kahn.It also emerged on Wednesday that the maid, who has not been named due to the nature of the alleged crimes, lives in a New York apartment that houses people with HIV or Aids. Mr Shapiro denied she was HIV-positive. Read the full story here.

• "You may consider a trade-in"?Senate rejects GOP bill to expand, speed up offshore drilling.(TheHill).The Senate on Wednesday rejected Republican-backed legislation intended to speed up and expand offshore oil and gas drilling. In a 42-57 vote, the Senate failed to move forward with the bill, which was opposed by the White House and most Senate Democrats. Republicans needed 60 votes for the measure to proceed. Every Senate Democrat voted against the motion to proceed along with five Republicans: Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Mike Lee (Utah), Richard Shelby (Ala.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and David Vitter (La.). The legislation – which is similar to bills the House approved in recent weeks – would set deadlines for several upcoming Gulf of Mexico lease sales.It also would require lease sales off the coasts of Alaska and Virginia that the Interior Department had canceled following last year's oil spill.In addition, it would require the Interior Department to approve or deny offshore drilling permit applications within 60 days of filing, or the permits would be automatically approved.Republicans characterized the bill as a step toward ending what they call undue White House limits on domestic energy development.The White House criticized the bill in a statement Tuesday evening but did not issue a veto threat.The statement alleged that the plan would “hastily” open areas in the Gulf, Alaska and Atlantic to leasing without adequate environmental analysis. It also noted that the Interior Department plans to hold the Gulf lease sales referenced in the bill by mid-2012 anyway. The White House slammed the permitting deadline in the GOP bill, arguing it would “constrain” Interior’s ability to ensure permits meet safety standards.Hmmmm....You really didn't believe he would change his idea of an electric car world did you?really?....You can't be that stupid?Just like Stalin "No matter what the cost i will get my way"Read the full story here.

• 5 things to watch in Barack Obama's Mideast speech.(Politico).As the democracy movement now known as the Arab Spring hurtled across the Mideast earlier this year, President Barack Obama often tiptoed alongside history. His public statements tended to be cautious, his oratorical flourishes minimal.Now, more than four months after that historic unrest, Obama is planning a sweeping address laying out his vision for America’s role in the region. He will offer support for fledgling democratic movements and demand political freedom in countries where autocrats cling to power. White House aides previewing the speech said Obama also will note Osama bin Laden’s death and his hopes that the Al Qaeda leader’s removal — and the potential for new freedoms across the region — can divert some Muslims from terrorism and usher in a new era of peace and stability.Hmmm....Aiding his 'Muslim Brothers' while America drowns in debt?Read the full story here.

• He had plenty to say about Israel.(IsraelMatzav).So at the end of the day, President Obama said that we have to go back to the 1967 lines 'with adjustments.' And he says that we have to leave the problems of the 'refugees' and Jerusalem for the future.In return for what?Israel Radio says (but changes its mind later - see below) that we're not talking about the 1967 lines, but the area (as in length x width) of 1967 in return for 'security arrangements.' That's a change from previous US policy which said that the borders had to be changed, period.He also talked about (and forgive me for missing some of it but I was on a business call) 'Palestine' being demilitarized (which probably cannot be). The 'Palestinians' will never agree to that.Israel Radio says that the Israeli government will be pleased with this.Now they're replaying the part about Israel and it turns out that it's exactly when I turned on the radio and that he did talk about borders and not area.He also talked about 'Palestine's borders with Jordan, which means no Israel staying in the Jordan Valley.Obama asked how Israel is to negotiate with an entity that includes Hamas and said that we are waiting for answers from the 'Palestinians' to that question.Obama also said 'Jewish state' which the 'Palestinians' won't like. But the 'Palestinians' will be pleased that the negotiations will be based on the 1967 borders and that 'Palestine' will have a border with Jordan. I wonder how King Abdullah feels about that.Hmmmm.....'Palestine' being demilitarized'With UN troops on the ground to enforce?What he says and what he does are two different things.Lets see what he does once re-elected.Anything for votes!Jordan-Muslim Brotherhood , Egypt - Muslim Brotherhood ,Palestine - Muslim Brotherhood all financialiy aided by the Obama regime and he will 'help' Israel?Read the full story here.

• Israel approved 1,500 apartments across the 1949 armistice lines while Obama was speaking.(IsraelMatzav).Israel Radio reports that 625 housing units in Pisgat Zev and about 900 in Har Homa - both in 'east' Jerusalem across the 1949 armistice lines - were approved (not clear to me what stage) while Obama was speaking.Hmmmmm....."Surprise"?Read the full story here.More here.

• Former Mufti of Egypt Sheik Nasr Farid Wassel: Bin Laden Is a Martyr, Who Was Killed by the American Enemy.(Memri).Hmmmm......Just keep the money flowing Barack HUSSEIN Obama!Read and see the full story here.

• Obama Nominates Second Former Planned Parenthood Official to Federal Judgeship.(LifeNews).Obama Nominates Second Former Planned Parenthood Official to Federal Judgeship.President Barack Obama named a current Alaska Supreme Court justice who is a former Planned Parenthood board member as a nominee to a federal appeals court, in what is his latest pro-abortion judicial selection.Yesterday, the White House announced Obama has named Justice Morgan Christen to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She has served as an Anchorage Superior Court Judge for seven years before pro-life former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin named her to the state Supreme Court — having to choose between two pro-abortion candidate given to her by a judicial selection panel.When she submitted her application to become a state Supreme Court justice, Christen made no mention of the fact that she is a former board member of Planned Parenthood and served the pro-abortion group in the mid 1990s. Knowing that information, Jim Minnery, the director of the Alaska Family Council, a pro-life group, opposed her nomination because she would become “another activist on the Court.”In his statement announcing Christen’s nomination, Obama said, “I am proud to nominate this outstanding candidate to serve on the United States Court of Appeals. I am confident Justice Morgan Christen will serve the American people with integrity and distinction.”Christen’s appointment will come before the U.S. Senate, where Republicans will likely oppose her nomination, but they will have to do so without the support of Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who told the Alaska Daily News that Obama’s selection of the abortion proponent is “an outstanding choice to fill Alaska’s sole seat on the 9th Circuit.”“Over the course of a decade on the bench she has a track record of impartial, intelligent and fair judgments that demonstrate respect for the rule of law and the role of the judiciary in our democratic system,” Murkowski said. “She is a valuable asset to the Alaska legal community and I will support her wholeheartedly through the confirmation process.”Earlier this month, the Senate approved another former Planned Parenthood director Obama nominated by approving John McConnell as a federal judge in Rhode Island.Hmmmm......Dictatorship or Democracy?Read the full story here.

• Bin Laden "Gutsy Call':49 % think it was a “no-brainer” decision any president would have made.(Fox).American voters are evenly divided over how tough a decision it was for President Barack Obama to order a Navy Seal raid on Usama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound this month.In fact, while 48 percent of voters think signing off on the raid was a “gutsy move” by Obama, some 49 percent think it was a “no-brainer” decision any president would have made under the circumstances.By two-to-one Democrats are more likely to think the decision to go after bin Laden was a gutsy move (65-33 percent). For Republicans it’s the reverse -- they are more than twice as likely to call it a no-brainer (69-28 percent).Independent voters are more likely to say it wasn’t such a big deal than to see it as a gutsy call (52-43 percent).These are just some of the findings from a Fox News poll released Wednesday.Hmmmm....The alternative was to bomb a ‘friendly’ allied nation without warning!NO - BRAINER!Read the full story here.

• Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Columnist: Iranian Leader Khamenei Will Transfer Weapons To Libyan Regime. (Memri).Houda Al-Husseini wrote in her column in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that in Iran, the Qods Forces, which are part of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), are advancing a plan drawn up by Iranian Majlis Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili to send weapons to the Libyan regime via Sudan. The weapons include 45 anti-aircraft missiles. The aim, she wrote, is to cause continued fighting in Libya and harm to the West. She added that the decision to send the weapons was made by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, without the involvement of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Hmmmm......How do you like this 'Gutsy Call' Mr President?Read the full story here.

• You can't fool all the people all the time!American Jewish Donors Warn Obama on Israel.(Yiddishnayes).Jewish donors and fund-raisers are warning the Obama re-election campaign that the president is at risk of losing financial support because of concerns about his handling of Israel.The complaints began early in President Barack Obama's term, centered on a perception that Mr. Obama has been too tough on Israel.Some Jewish donors say Mr. Obama has pushed Israeli leaders too hard to halt construction of housing settlements in disputed territory, a longstanding element of U.S. policy. Some also worry that Mr. Obama is putting more pressure on the Israelis than the Palestinians to enter peace negotiations, and say they are disappointed Mr. Obama has not visited Israel yet.One top Democratic fund-raiser, Miami developer Michael Adler, said he urged Obama campaign manager Jim Messina to be "extremely proactive" in countering the perception in the Jewish community that Mr. Obama is too critical of Israel.He said his conversations with Mr. Messina were aimed at addressing the problems up front. "This was going around finding out what our weaknesses are so we can run the best campaign," said Mr. Adler, who hosted a fund-raiser at his home for Mr. Obama earlier this year."Good friends tell you how you can improve. They don't tell you 'everything's great' and then you find out nobody buys the food in your restaurants," he said.It is difficult to assess how widespread the complaints are. Many Jews support Mr. Obama's approach to the Middle East, and his domestic agenda. But Jewish fund-raisers for Mr. Obama say they regularly hear discontent among some supporters.The Obama campaign has asked Penny Pritzker, Mr. Obama's 2008 national finance chairwoman, to talk with Jewish leaders about their concerns, Ms. Pritzker said. So far, she said, she's met with about a half dozen people. She said the campaign is in the process of assembling a larger team for similar outreach."I do think there's an education job to be done, because there's lots of myths that abound and misunderstandings of the administration's record," she said. "The campaign is aggressively getting the information out there."Robert Copeland, a Virginia Beach, Va., developer, who has given large donations to many Democrats, has already decided he won't vote for Mr. Obama in 2012. "I'm very disappointed with him," he said. "His administration has failed in Israel. They degraded the Israeli people."An Obama campaign spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Messina's conversations with donors, but said the campaign would reach out to Jewish donors and expected strong support. She also directed questions to Ken Solomon, an Obama fund-raiser and CEO of the Tennis Channel, who said any problems were minimal and that most Jewish voters were concerned about many issues, not just Israel.Malcolm I. Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he saw potential for the discontent to affect Mr. Obama's fund raising."It's that people hold back, people don't have the enthusiasm and are not rushing forward at fund-raisers to be supportive,'' he said. "Much more what you'll see is holding back now."Mr. Adler says he does not doubt Mr. Obama's commitment to Israel but thinks the White House needs to do a better job communicating its support.Three opportunities come in the next four days: On Thursday, Mr. Obama gives a speech about U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa, and on Friday he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Sunday, Mr. Obama addresses the largest pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.In his AIPAC speech, Mr. Obama is expected to argue that the U.S.-Israeli alliance is strong and cite his backing for initiatives such as the Iron Dome missile defense system, which is positioned near the Gaza border and has already intercepted incoming short-range rockets.Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D., Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said the speech on Sunday should help set the record straight. "There's nothing like hearing it straight from the president of the United States—his expression that he is strongly pro-Israel." Some say the appointment of Ms. Wasserman-Schultz, who is Jewish, to run the DNC, is helpful in itself.Some of Mr. Obama's Jewish supporters hope he will visit Israel as a symbolic show of support after having visited several Muslim nations. At a small listening session this year with Mr. Messina in Palm Beach, Fla., one donor asked if Mr. Obama would do so."It's definitely on the schedule tentatively out there," he responded, according to Nancy Gilbert, an Obama supporter who was at the session. She said the 30 or so people present were happy to hear that a trip was at least under consideration.In 2008, Jewish voters accounted for 2% of the electorate, according to exit polls. Some 78% of Jewish voters backed Mr. Obama, a better showing than the 74% who backed the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry.Some of the misgivings among Jewish supporters can be traced to specific incidents that resonated in the Jewish community. Last year, for example, Israeli media suggested Mr. Obama had snubbed Mr. Netanyahu and an Israeli delegation by leaving a White House meeting early.The White House and Israeli officials disputed that characterization. But the incident left a lasting impression. "It was a snub," said former New York Mayor Ed Koch, who campaigned for Mr. Obama in 2008. "My feeling was that the president was hostile to Israel."Mr. Koch, a Democrat, said he had been considering voting Republican in 2012, but then he saw the House proposal for privatizing Medicare for people under age 55, which he opposes. He now expects to support Mr. Obama again.Still, Republicans see an opening. In April, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition that Mr. Obama should have delivered criticism of Israel's settlement policy privately. And last year, a poll by McLaughlin & Associates, a Republican polling firm, found that 46% of American Jews said they would consider voting for someone other than Mr. Obama.WSJ.Hmmmm...Some people learned nothing from WWII Germany.Read the full story here.

• $8,300,000,000 C-Notes Printed in April.Source.

• Breaking story-Coptic church surrounded by armed Salafi Muslims.(VladTepes).(From Coptic group facebook page)A mob of extremists muslims have surrounded a church in the ains shams district of Cairo. Egyptian army so far to date has allowed the crowds to gather around the church was was recently re-opened.Breaking News – Hundreds of Salafies with Weapons have surrounded the Church of St Mary in Ein Shams waiting to attack – Priests and Deacons inside the Church – Army looking On!Hmmmm.....Obama giving them more money,to wipe out the Christians?Read the full story here.

• US warns Turkey against new flotilla to Gaza.(TodaysZaman).The United States has warned Turkey against a new flotilla to the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, saying it would not be helpful, a senior US administration official has said.The US has been very clear with the Turkish government that a new flotilla would in no way be helpful, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency to a hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs on Wednesday.Organizers of an international flotilla say they are planning to depart for Gaza in June to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in breach of an Israeli blockade of the coastal strip. On May 31 of last year, a similar flotilla was intercepted in international waters by Israeli commandos. Eight Turks and one Turkish-American were killed on one of the ships, the Mavi Marmara, owned by the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), a Turkish charity.Responding to a comment from a senator during the hearing that implicit or direct support from the Turkish government for a new flotilla would not help Turkish-US ties, Gordon told the senator that he agreed.Turkey has scaled back its relations with Israel since the May 31 tragedy and says Israel should apologize and pay compensation to families of the victims before any normalization of ties can take place.Commenting on recent poll findings that the US approval rate in Turkey stands at about 10 percent, he said: “It is indeed a very serious issue. We have a country of such strategic importance and historical partnership with the United States. It is disconcerting to hear that only one in 10 have a favorable opinion of the United States.”Replying to another question from senators on a Turkish vote last year at the UN Security Council against sanctions on Iran, Gordon said the US was “very disappointed” with the Turkish vote.He was, however, more positive about the Turkish role in Libya and Syria. “I would note on Libya, Turkey has been very helpful in standing with us and making clear that Mr. [Muammar] Gaddafi has to go, and as NATO ally is participating in the enforcement of the no-fly zone and arms embargo,” he said on Libya.“On Syria, we think Turkey is a critical neighbor of Syria, has been sending all the right messages about the need for reform and about the unacceptability of the crackdown. And I could give many other examples of how we’re very closely cooperating with Turkey as well.”Hmmmm....For example weekly calls between Obama and Erdogan?I wonder what they talk about?The dissaproval of America?That might be a joint feeling?Read the full story here.

• Russia: Expelled Israeli envoy held secret info.(Ynet).Colonel Vadim Leiderman's arrest rattles defense establishment, which declares polygraph, 4-day probe have exonerated him from espionage allegations.An Israeli miltary attache to Moscow who was expelled from the country was carrying secret information when he was detained, Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Vadim Leiderman was apprehended in Moscow on May 12, caught red-handed receiving classified information from a Russian citizen, the statement said. Leiderman was declared persona non grata and given 48 hours to leave the country, which he did, the statement said. Israel has rejected allegations reported in the Israeli media that Leiderman was a spy. The case was cleared for publication Wednesday. Military Attaché Colonel Vadim Leiderman was arrested at a coffee shop in Moscow, where he was meeting with a Russian army officer. He was then interrogated by one of Russia's intelligence agencies, apparently the FSB. He and his family were given 48 hours to leave the country.Leiderman has since been questioned by Israeli security officials. He maintains that the allegations are baseless and false, and that the entire incident stems from a misunderstanding. The attaché was interrogated by the Shin Bet and the Defense Ministry, both of which investigated the case for four days, and was even submitted to a lie detector test before it was announced that Russia's allegations had been found to be untrue. Officials say the government has never received any secret information from Leiderman. Yaakov Kedmi, who was the head of Nativ, a covert organization that maintained ties with Jews living in the former Soviet Union, speculated as to why Leiderman was expelled, and why now. Kedmi says local military industries may have demanded the move in order to express their ire with Israel, which has pressed the country in various ways to cease all weapons sales to hostile Arab countries that threaten the Jewish state. Kedmi, who is a specialist in Israeli-Russian relations, also has another theory; the diplomatic expulsion was a product of competition between two intelligence agencies – the GRU, which supervises the military, and the FSB, which supervises civilians and diplomats. The two agencies are in constant competition over resources. When the GRU found out a Russian officer was meeting with Leiderman it may have prompted the agency to act on a whim, without confirming its suspicions, in order to prove its efficiency. The FSB would then have had to go along with the arrest. This would also serve as a warning to Russian officers against meeting with diplomats without first receiving permission.Hmmmm.....Why now that the Bushehr nuclear power plant is operational? Read the full story here.

• Calls On Facebook For A Second Revolution In Egypt.(Memri)."May 27, 2011 – The Second Revolution of Egyptian Rage"; "We Don't Sense [Any] Change, [So] We'll Return To Al-Tahrir [Square]" In response to reports that the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces is considering pardoning Mubarak and his family in exchange for the transfer of all their property and fortune to the state, Facebook pages have been launched calling for a second Egyptian revolution, on May 27, to replace the Council with a civil presidential council. The pages also call for purging the state institutions of corruption and freeing those arrested during the revolution. One of the pages has 22,000 members, and the April 6 party expressed its support for it. In contrast, the Muslim Brotherhood has announced its support for the military, and its opposition to another revolution – a position expressed on other Facebook pages. The military council itself stated that it is not interfering at all in the question of the punishment for Mubarak or anyone else from the previous regime. Hmmmm........Next"Iranian Style"oppression of the opposition by the Obama regime backed Muslim Brotherhood ?Read the full story here.

• Assistant Surgeon General Urges Americans to Prepare for ‘Zombie Apocalypse’.(SHTF).In the preparedness and planning information sphere, the term “Zombie Apocalypse” usually refers to individuals who, after a collapse of the world as we know it, roam the streets in search of water, food, and resources.Utilizing prep-culture zombies as a starting point, Assistant Surgeon General Ali S. Khan, in his most recent Center for Disease Control preparedness blog post Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse (cached text version), takes a humorous approach in an attempt to convince Americans to prepare for emergencies and disasters.All kidding aside, the preparedness recommendations should be taken to heart and immediately implemented by those who have not yet taken the time to do any sort of emergency planning.One important preparedness consideration that the Assistant Surgeon General failed to mention is self defense – weapons, ammunition, barbed wire, defense perimeters, and communications. We assume this is because Mr. Kahn truly believes that the CDC, FEMA, DHS, emergency responders, et. al. will be available when millions of golden horde zombies start roaming the streets in search of food and payback. Realistically, this is not going to happen, so we recommend adding these necessary preparation supplies as soon as possible.For those of us who are well aware of the possibility of zombies roaming the streets, we suggest that any engagements with Zombies be dealt with extreme prejudice. For those who have seen the movie, we recommend implementing rule #2 of the 33 Rules of Zombieland, which recommends that all zombies be double-tapped – just to make sure. Additionally, you may be interested in reviewing The Zombie Apocalypse, a recently published primer on dealing with individuals and gangs roaming the streets in search of resources.Hmmmm......I Wonder Who came up with the name?Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• HT:WND.Rep. Allen West urges Hillary to tackle Savage ban.Popular talk-radio host still on Britain's enemies list along with terrorists.Freshman Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., who is already earning a reputation on Capitol Hill as a straight talker, has written a letter on behalf of Michael Savage urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to review Britain's ban of the popular talk-radio host. Pointing out Savage was put on the U.K.'s banned-entry list with "ruthless criminals," including a Hamas terrorist and Russian skinhead, West argued there is no basis for the action initiated by the government of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and affirmed by current Prime Minister David Cameron's administration. "For a nation who believes in freedom of speech and press, "West wrote, "I have a hard time understanding why such a high level, government department would release this statement when there has not been one incident recorded in the United States regarding Dr. Savage instigating violence, let alone serious criminal acts."Savage said that after "over one straight year of legal hell," he had hoped the new British government would remove his name "from their list of actual murderers and terrorists." The U.K.'s list includes Hamas terrorist leader Yunis Al-Astal, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard Stephen Donald Black, neo-Nazi Erich Gliebe and radical American pastor Fred Phelps, known for his virulent anti-gay protests at funerals. Savage has documented his battle over the ban in his book "Banned in Britain," which includes official correspondence, released under the U.K.'s freedom-of-information law, that reveals a decision was made at the highest level of government to use his name to provide "balance" to a "least wanted" list dominated by Muslim extremists.As WND reported in May 2009, then–British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced that Savage was on a list of 16 people banned from entry because the government believed their views might provoke violence.In a 2008 interview with WND, during his previous run for Congress, West said his 2003 ordeal with the Army should tell voters what kind of a lawmaker he would be, particularly when it comes to issues of defense."If you're a bad guy, and you try to get between me and the safety and lives of American citizens, you're going to lose," West said.Hmmmmm.....He would have brought tears to John Wayne's eyes.Read the full story here.

• HT:DirectorBlue.According to Karl Marx, the following ten elements were requisite conditions for "a transition from capitalism to communism."Now, given all of these parallels, can there be any doubt what Barack Obama meant when he twice proposed, "a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded" as our military?The Obama-Democrat Left has mounted the first successful counter-revolution -- against the American Revolution -- in our history. Using an incessant series of attacks by a fifth column, the intent of the counter-revolution is to eradicate the effects of the American Revolution.Of that there can be no doubt.Hmmmm........Lets hope the tea party stops this new 'Lenin".Read the full story here.

• HT:TheDailyCaller.Interior Secretary Salazar cracks under pressure and begins issuing Gulf of Mexico drilling permits.Ken Salazar can no longer avoid issuing deep-water drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico. Though the secretary of the interior recently said he would not bow to political pressure on lifting the de facto drilling moratorium in the gulf, rumors that he would crack under that pressure were confirmed Monday evening when the first deep-water permit since the BP oil spill was issued.Prior to the announcement that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) had approved a permit for Noble Energy’s oil well off the coast of Louisiana, rumors were circulating on Capitol Hill that the de facto moratorium would be lifted prior to Salazar’s appearance on the Hill later this week.Frank Maisano, a consultant at Bracewell & Giuliani, told The Daily Caller that a decision by Salazar to issue a permit this week was a “lock.”“[They wouldn’t] go up to the Hill without having a bird in hand,” said Maisano.Salazar’s scheduled Wednesday appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee promises to contain plenty of finger-pointing by congressmen and witnesses on the issue of deep-water drilling.“There’s a range of Interior issues that committee members will want to ask Salazar about,” Robert Dillion, a spokesman for the Senate committee, told The Daily Caller. “Offshore drilling will certainly be on top of the list.”Following the oil spill last April, the federal government banned deep-water drilling. While the ban was officially lifted in October, until Monday’s announcement, Salazar had refused to reissue permits to oil companies in the gulf, despite a bipartisan effort from lawmakers to do so.According to some observers, Salazar relented because a number of factors and political elements forced his hand on the issue.In a separate ruling two weeks later, Feldman gave President Obama and Secretary Salazar 30 days to act on five pending permit applications. “[T]he government is under a duty to act by either granting or denying a permit application within a reasonable time,” said Feldman. “Not acting at all is not a lawful option.”Hmmmm.....So i wouldn't call it 'bowing to pressure' but following the rule of law.Read the full story here.

• Grenade attack at women's college in Pakistan injures 17 students.Islamabad - At least 17 students were injured Tuesday when suspected Taliban militants hurled two grenades at a women's college in north-western Pakistan, a government official said. Two militants escaped after throwing the grenades at the students in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, said Muhammad Adil, civilian administrator of Mardan. Mardan, the district where the attack occurred, is located 50 kilometres north-east of provincial capital, Peshawar. 'So far, 17 female students have been confirmed injured in the attack,' Adil said. 'At least two of them are in critical condition.' The Taliban have destroyed more than 200 educational institutions in the country in hundreds of attacks. Taliban fighters usually target schools for girls and colleges for women because they believe that modern education is not allowed for women in Islam. Hmmmm......Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:InvestigativeProject.Bylaws Disappear from Muslim Brotherhood's English-language Site.The Muslim Brotherhood seems to be trying to preserve its recently burnished image as a moderate party dedicated to maintaining a modern, secular, and just Egypt.In keeping with this apparent internal strategy, the Brotherhood has removed its explicitly worded bylaws from its English-language website, the Investigative Project on Terrorism has learned (H/T to the Strategic Engagement Group). The bylaws are still available via an archived version of the webpage.The bylaws have long been a source of discussion and debate on the Internet because of the group's stated intention to create an Islamic state, uniting Muslims around the world, while "building a new basis of human civilization."It's not clear why the bylaws disappeared, but the timing is highly suspicious. In January 2010, it was reported that the Brotherhood was considering amending them. No change appears to have been made in the last year. But now, with a genuine opportunity to appear on an Egyptian ballot, they have vanished from public view within days of President Hosni Mubarak's ouster.On the group's Arabic-language site, however, the bylaws remain posted.Press reports of the Brotherhood's role during the uprising paint a picture of a group committed to presenting its most appealing side for the world to see. While the organization is not a monolith, its old guard remains entrenched in power. And those voices still advocate the Islamification of society.For example, in a sermon last September, General Guide Mohamed Badie said Muslims are duty-bound to make the Quran the law of Egypt.Likewise, another senior member, Kamal Helbawy, told an Iranian news agency on Sunday that the Islamic Republic deserved credit for fostering Islamic unity. Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a role model for Muslims, he said."He is the bravest man in the Muslim world," Helbawy said, "and we (in Egypt) need innocent, honest and brave leaders like him."Hmmmm.....Perhaps they're just 'cleaning up' for Obama's 1,57 Billion Dollar grant?Read and see the full story here.

• China's holdings of US debt larger than reported.WASHINGTON (AFP) – China's holdings of US bonds reached $1.16 trillion at the end of December, almost $270 billion more than previously estimated, new data showed Monday.Beijing, which has converted much of a huge trade surplus with the United States over the past two decades into buying up US treasuries and other securities, held 26.1 percent of the total of $4.44 trillion held by foreigners, the Treasury said.The figures came as the US government recalculated its data on foreign holdings of US securities from June 2010.Chinese-held Treasuries have fallen since hitting a high of $1.18 trillion in October, under the revised figures. Japan remained by far the second largest holder of US government debt, with $882 billion in December, around $1.3 billion less than original estimates.Britain was third at $272.1 billion.Hmmmm....Do you want California giftwrapped President  Hu Jintao ?Or you'll take it the way it is?Read the full story here.

• HT:UN Watch.Hall of Shame: UN Human Rights Council to adopt report praising Gaddafi regime. UN Watch, which heads the Global NGO Campaign to Remove Libya from the UN Human Rights Council, today called on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton and UN rights chief Navi Pillay to urge the council president to cancel a planned resolution praising Libya’s human rights record, scheduled to be adopted in the current session.Despite having just voted to suspend Libya from its ranks (to be finalized by the UNGA tomorrow), the UN Human Rights Council, according to the agenda of its current session, is planning to “consider and adopt the final outcome of the review of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.” According to the council’s timetable, the lengthy report hailing Libya’s human rights record will be presented on March 18, and then adopted by the council at the end of the month. The report, which the UN has published on the council website, is the outcome of a recent session that was meant to review Libya’s human rights record.“Although the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism is often described by council defenders as its saving grace, the vast majority of council members used it to falsely praise the Gaddafi regime for its alleged promotion of human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights monitoring organization. “The report is a fraud, an insult to Libya’s victims, and should be withdrawn immediately.”Libyan report to UN: We protect all rights and freedoms Here. Hmmmmm......This shows once again how worthless and bias this 'organization' is.Read the full story here.

• The Search is On: Name that Plane!The IDF announces that it is seeking the help of the public in finding – not a missing person, but a name for its newest plane.The IDF has recently purchased 20 F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighter jets from United States manufacturer Lockheed-Martin. Though delivery to Israel of the world’s most advanced attack aircraft is expected to begin only in 2015, the IDF is already looking for a Hebrew name for it.At first, Israel Air Force planes were named after birds of prey, such as Baz (falcon), Ayit (eagle), and Netz (Hawk). It later became fashionable to give names such as Sufah (storm), Barak (lightning), and Ra'am (thunder). The Hercules cargo plane took on the name of the legendary Greek’s real-life Jewish counterpart, Samson.The F-35 – priced at half-a-billon dollars each – is expected to be the last aircraft to be piloted by human beings; unmanned drones are now taking over the field.Negotiations for Israel’s purchase of the F-35 took several years, involving issues of Israel’s part in its manufacture, the integration of Israeli technologies, and price.Hmmmm.....How about "Armageddon"?Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• HT:crockettlives.Obama’s Coup D’état.Over the past year, it has become obvious that what leftists cannot win at the ballot box, they will accomplish via bureaucratic dictate. After the U.S. Senate in 2009 rejected the massive cap-and-tax scheme on carbon credits, the Obama administration rode to the rescue of global-warming fanatics.“Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool.” –Paul Begala, as quoted by the New York Times.Fast forward to 2011, and Barack Obama (a man who doesn’t merely list to port–he’s already as far to the left as you can get), is faced with a similar threat to his planned imposition of socialism upon these formerly capitalistic United States. A House populated by the increasingly flinty-eyed (well, except for an often leaky Speaker) representatives of a grass-roots uprising of fed-up Constitutionalists, and a Senate nearly evenly divided between Republican and Democrat is not likely to advance the President’s “progressive” agenda legislatively. Stalemate. Ergo, the coup d’état currently being undertaken by Obama’s bureaucratic minions. And make no mistake–that is exactly what we are witnessing.Hmmmmmm.....America finally waking up?Read the full story here.

• HT:HotAir.Russian Duma to link missile defense to START limitations.The Russian Duma delivered two embarrassing blows to the Obama administration over the holidays on the START treaty, one of which may end up scotching the deal altogether. First, the Russian legislature refused to do what Barack Obama insisted of the US Senate, which was a quick ratification. More importantly, however, the Duma will do what Senate Republicans wanted, which was to amend the treaty to clarify the relationship between START and missile defense. However, the Duma’s changes will link the two and recast START into a de facto anti-missile defense pact.The Duma might in fact reinvigorate START opposition in the Senate, and at the worst possible time. Any alteration to the treaty will force a new ratification vote, and clearly Obama would have lacked the signatures in the last session of Congress for missile-defense restrictions. With his 18-seat majority reduced to six seats, the new session of the Senate won’t approve it either, and it won’t even be close. If the Duma follows through on this threat, then Obama will suffer an embarrassing defeat on foreign policy, essentially conducting a rerun on more substantial grounds of the “reset button” embarrassment from two years ago.Even if the Duma doesn’t formally alter the treaty, though, Obama’s credibility will be shot. They will have been publicly caught arguing one thing to the Senate while apparently agreeing to its opposite with Russia. The next time Obama brings a treaty of any consequence and controversy to the Senate, don’t expect the Senate to just accept Obama’s word ….and don’t expect it to pass ratification, either.
  Hmmm......Obama ....Transparancy....Hahahahaha!Another Obamination.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aim.Times Helps Muslim Rep. Ellison Obstruct Terror Probe.In an editorial titled “Homeland Blather,” The New York Times said that it agrees with Rep. Keith Ellison that it is “very scary” that the incoming chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, wants to investigate the “radicalization of the American Muslim community.” The editorial, however, failed to note that Ellison, “the nation’s first Muslim elected to the House,” comes from a district that includes young Muslims recruited to go to Somalia to participate in plots to kill Americans.The problem of radicalization, as we pointed out in another column about Ellison’s resistance to the probe, has been examined by the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The topic was addressed by Andrew Liepman, Deputy Director of Intelligence of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC). “FBI Watching Somali Muslims In Minneapolis” was the headline over a CBS News story about the danger.Investigations into this continuing problem are clearly warranted, especially in relation to the Muslim problem in Minneapolis—Ellison’s district. But perhaps Ellison, the newly elected co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, fears being probed as well. After all, the radicalization of American Muslims is personified in his own transformation from radical leftist to advocate of Muslim causes.An Ellison speech on behalf of Olson, in which he called the terrorist a freedom fighter, has been eliminated from most websites, including one devoted to her legal defense, but a Minneapolis blogger who followed the case saved and posted it. One notices the lavish praise that Ellison bestows not only on Olson, also known as Katherine Soliah, but to Bernardine Dohrn, the former leader of the communist terrorist Weather Underground. Ellison also praised cop-killers Mumia Abu-Jamal, on death row in Pennsylvania, and Joanne Chesimard (aka Assata Shakur), who escaped the U.S. and is now living under the protection of the Castro dictatorship.In an article for The Weekly Standard, entitled, “Louis Farrakhan’s First Congressman,” Scott Johnson of PowerLine blog examined Ellison’s radical record, including his involvement with the Nation of Islam, and how the local paper, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, tried to keep this information from the voters.Now we know why Rep. Ellison wants to obstruct a probe into radical Islam. But why would The New York Times want to conceal this information?Hmmmm....As i said before you would think they have something to hide?Read the full story here.

• America needs a new national debate on the Constitution.It might seem unlikely that a lone law professor could spark a national discussion about the kind of government Americans want in the 21st century, but that's exactly what Georgetown Law School's Randy E. Barnett hopes to do with his modest proposal known as the Repeal Amendment. You can read Barnett's description of the plan and his response to critics of it like the New York Times here.Under the plan, measures approved by Washington could be repealed if both houses in two-thirds of the state legislatures vote to do so. Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is among the proposal's most significant supporters, which means it will receive serious attention during the 112th Congress convening this week. Whatever one's view of the propriety of amending the U.S. Constitution in the manner proposed by Barnett -- and for the record, we think the Repeal Amendment is a dandy way to restore the proper balance to our federal system -- the professor's idea could not be more appropriately timed.Comparing the words of the Constitution to the actions of our leaders in recent years will surely make clear the enduring wisdom of James Madison's warning that "there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." Talking seriously about this condition is the first step to remedying it, just as Madison and the rest of the Founders intended.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGoverment.Five Things We Should Worry about in 2011.The mid-term elections were a rejection of President Obama’s big-government agenda, but those results don’t necessarily mean better policy. We should not forget, after all, that Democrats rammed through Obamacare even after losing the special election to replace Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts (much to my dismay, my prediction from last January was correct).Similarly, GOP control of the House of Representatives does not automatically mean less government and more freedom. Heck, it doesn’t even guarantee that things won’t continue to move in the wrong direction. Here are five possible bad policies for 2011, most of which the Obama White House can implement by using executive power.Hmmmm.....Which all of them he will impliment by using executive power?Read the full story here.

• Darrell Issa reveals list of investigations.Rep. Darrell Issa is aiming to launch investigations on everything from WikiLeaks to Fannie Mae to corruption in Afghanistan in the first few months of what promises to be a high profile chairmanship of the top oversight committee in Congress. According to an outline of the committee’s hearing topics obtained by POLITICO, the House Oversight and Government Reform is also planning to investigate how regulation impacts job creation, the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the foreclosure crisis; recalls at the Food and Drug Administration and the failure of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to agree on the causes of the market meltdown.Hmmmm....."Barking dogs don't bite"?Lets meet again in a year and look back.Read the full "story" here.

• HT:Judicialwatch.New House Watchdog Lets Obama Slide On “Criminal Event”.During a public relations campaign touting upcoming probes of the Obama Administration, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the president won’t be investigated for a bribery scandal because his party is guilty of the same crime. This astounding example of bipartisan corruption was actually delivered on national television over the weekend. California Republican Darrell Issa, the federal lawmaker responsible for scrutinizing presidential misconduct, did the Sunday talk-show rounds to promote a wasteful spending inquiry of “one of the most corrupt administrations,” and assure Americans that his committee will identify $200 billion in waste. In the process, Issa confirmed that he’ll let President Obama slide on one of his most serious offenses so far.Issa didn’t buy it and over the weekend confirmed it “was a criminal event under the law” yet he won’t pursue it, though he’s obligated as the head of the congressional watchdog that investigates all matters with federal policy implications. The reason is because Republicans have in the past committed the same crime, according to Issa, who openly acknowledged the Sestak scandal “is in fact an example of misconduct.”Hmmmm......"His bark is worse then his bite"comes to mind.Read the full story here.

• Drilling Is Stalled Even After Ban Is Lifted .More than two months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well there. Experts now expect the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps into 2012.The administration says it is simply trying to enforce new safety rules adopted in the wake of the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Environmental groups say the administration is right to take its time because the Gulf disaster exposed the risks of offshore drilling.But the delay is hurting big oil companies such as Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC, which have billions of dollars in investments tied up in Gulf projects that are on hold and are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars a day for rigs that aren't allowed to drill. Smaller operators such as ATP Oil & Gas Corp., which have less flexibility to focus on projects in other regions, have been even harder hit.The impact of the delays goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region's fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13% this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6% in 2011. The difference: a loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day. Hmmmmm....Is the Obama administration restricting on purpose  the US oil companies?If so what's Obama's goal?Read the full story here.More here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.States Will Push Tough Immigration Laws In 2011.Fed up with the federal government’s perpetual failure to secure the southern border, state legislators across the country will begin the New Year with aggressive efforts to curb illegal immigration.Dozens of state lawmakers throughout the nation have already started drafting measures designed to contain the devastating impact of illegal immigration, according to several news reports. Local governments are so desperate for relief that the possibility of a costly legal challenge is not deterring them from their campaign to crack down on illegal immigration.Elected officials in at least six states have already confirmed plans to introduce bills similar to Arizona’s, which bans “sanctuary city” policies, makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. without proper documentation and requires police to check the immigration status of people stopped for questioning. Others have announced measures to limit access to public benefits for illegal aliens and to punish employers who hire them.Oklahoma may enact a measure that allows authorities to seize and keep the vehicle of anyone who harbors an illegal immigrant and Missouri, Mississippi and Nebraska are among states where legislators will offer bills similar to Arizona. In several other states, lawmakers plan to push for laws that require employers to verify the immigration status of their workers.Hmmmm.....The "Dream" is turning in to a "Nightmare" for illegals?Read the full story here.

• Egypt on high alert ahead of Coptic Christmas.Egypt was on high alert on Monday ahead of the Coptic Christmas holiday following a New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21 people as investigators raced to identify those behind the attack.Police cancelled leave for top officers and were tightening surveillance of airports and ports to prevent suspects from leaving the country, as new checkpoints were set up across the nation. Security was also to be beefed up at churches for Christmas which Copts celebrate on Jan. 7.The clampdown comes amid fears of new protests by Copts following overnight clashes at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral - headquarters of Coptic leader Pope Shenouda III - during which 45 policemen were wounded.The protesters pelted with rocks a minister who had come to visit the pope and heckled other government officials while other demonstrators blocked off four main streets in Cairo before police dispersed them.Coptic Christmas will fall on Friday - the weekly Muslim day of prayer and rest - and Shenouda said he intended to say mass as usual on Christmas Eve. "Not praying would mean that terrorism has deprived us of celebrating the birth of Christ," the official Al-Ahram newspaper quoted him as saying.Hmmmm.....Can't wait to hear Obama talk again about Muslim victims.Read the full story here.More here.

• Ex-Lebanon Leader: Christians Target of Genocide.Extremist groups are waging a "genocide" against Christians in the Middle East, a former Lebanese president said Monday, after a New Year's suicide bombing of a church in Egypt killed 21 people. Amin Gemayel, a Christian who served a six-year term as president in the 1980s, cited the attack in Egypt and recent violence in Iraq as he urged leaders to give Christian communities a larger political role. "Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians. It is only because they are Christians," said Gemayel, who leads Lebanon's right-wing Christian Phalange party. "What is happening to Christians is a genocide," he said.Egyptian newspapers warned on Sunday that "civil war" could break out unless Christians and Muslims close ranks.Hmmmmm.....And who would profit from this may i ask?Read the full story here.

• "The War on Christianity".Russia: Church set on fire in Caucasus.Unidentified attackers set a church ablaze with a grenade in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus late on Sunday, media reported, in the latest act of violence in a region where Moscow is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency.No one was hurt in the attack on the Russian Orthodox Church, state-run RIA news agency reported, which took place at 9.30 p.m. in the town of Ordzhonikidze, in the impoverished Ingushetia region which borders Chechnya.Though rare, vandalism of churches belonging to the small Christian communities in the North Caucasus has increased over the past year.Read the full story here.HT:IslamInEurope.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Ground Zero Mosque Update.From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:Mayor Bloomberg’s Office Spearheaded Drive for Ground Zero Mosque, New Docs ShowOn July 2010, Mayor Bloomberg outrageously told reporters it was “un-American” to investigate the individuals behind the Ground Zero Mosque. Now we know why he wanted no one to look into the controversy.Read the full story here.

• HT:StrategyPage.Did you know that Islam approves of men who dress in women's clothes? Sort of. Islamic scripture details several incidents where the prophet Mohammed protected men who preferred to dress as women. Thus it should be no surprise that, in Saudi Arabia, major clerics been conspicuous in not condemning the use of women’s clothing by terrorists. There have been several publicized (and many more unpublicized) incidents where terrorists were caught in drag.The Saudis regularly catch terrorist suspects using this kind of disguise in an attempt to get past police checkpoints. Most of these incidents end in an arrest, not gunfire.This type of disguise is frequently used by terrorists and criminals. While most Islamic clerics do not condemn such cross-dressing, the Koran comes right out and says this should not be done. Despite Mohammed's lenient attitudes in this area, he was not condoning such practices, but simply trying to help these men to mend their ways and dress right. Pro-terrorist clerics take the position that, while on a Mission From God, anything is permissible.Hmmmm......"The devil wears .....Burkas"?Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.30 Reasons Why 2011 Is Going To Be Another Crappy Year For America’s Middle Class.Do you think that 2011 will be a good year for America's middle class? Well, you might not be so optimistic after you read the 30 statistics posted below. The truth is that 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America's middle class, and there is not a whole lot that you or I can do about it. Sadly, what we are facing as a nation is not just a short-term economic downturn. Rather, there are some very serious long-term economic trends that are absolutely ripping apart the U.S. middle class. For example, did you know that even though our population has been growing at a brisk pace we have lost about ten percent of our middle class jobs over the past decade? The vast majority of jobs that have been created have been low paying service jobs. We now have hordes of highly educated young people that are waiting tables and that are welcoming customers to Wal-Mart. Without good paying jobs there is no middle class, but today American corporations are actually creating more jobs overseas than they are inside the United States. This has helped pad the profits of the big corporate fatcats, but it has been devastating for middle class communities across the United States. Every time a factory gets closed down in America and gets set up in some other country instead, it means that the U.S. middle class is shrinking just a little bit more. The new "global economy" has been good for the bottom line of the largest U.S. corporations, it has been great for countries like China and India, but it is absolutely wiping out the U.S. middle class.If you still have a good paying middle class job you should be very thankful. The total number of those jobs is rapidly decreasing. Millions of those that have lost their jobs over the last several years have been forced to take lower paying jobs or even part-time jobs in an attempt to fill the void. Millions of others have not been able to find a job at all.Meanwhile, the price of everything is going up. Have you been to the supermarket lately? The price of food is going up substantially. Many analysts are already talking about $5 a gallon gasoline in 2010. Utility bills are going through the roof. Health care premiums are soaring. Many state and local governments are seriously hiking up taxes and fees.The following are 30 reasons why 2011 is going to be another crappy year for America's middle class....Read the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.The Muslim Elephant in the Room of Tolerance.Headlines in New York papers are blaring once again that Islamophobia is up. Up and rising. Statistics released by the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services reveals that Islamophobic bias attacks are up by a whopping 15 percent.15 percent that does sound like a lot. And by a lot, I mean that they've gone up from 8 incidents in 2008 to 11 in 2009. That's right, that whopping "15 percent" is actually an increase of 3 incidents. To put this into context, in 2008 there were 219 attacks targeting Jews. And in 2009, that number went up to 251. And here's some more context. That same report shows that Anti-Multi-Religious Groups attacks went up from 3 to 11 incidents in that same year. That's a much steeper spike which brings us to the same number as the so-called Islamophobic attacks. And yet you don't see the media trumpeting those numbers. But when there are more bias attacks by people who can't figure out which religion they hate more, than anti-Muslim attacks, it's safe to say that there is no Islamophobia crisis.News reports typically misrepresent Muslim attacks on synagogues as hostility to Israel spilling over into Anti-Semitism. But in reality it was always Anti-Semitism. Muslim hostility to Israel springs out of a hatred for Jews. An attitude that goes back to the days of the Koran and the founding of Islam. If this was really about Israel, then why attack synagogues? Particularly synagogues that are often non-political. Sometimes downright liberal. So too Muslim violence against Americans is supremacism spilling out. It's not really about the War in Iraq, or any war, those are only excuses for Muslim violence against people they consider to be subhuman. There's over a thousand years of history for this sort of thing. And it isn't going away any time soon.Targeting synagogues and churches is a clear example of a religious war. A religious war has political components, but it is religious first and political second. Muslim violence is part of a religious war. It's not a mistake or a misunderstanding. There's no confusion on the subject. It's a religious war guided by the scriptural verses and tenets of the Koran. Yet while we frantically collect scraps of Islamophobic crimes, we have never defined the sheer body of hate crimes by Muslims.And our leaders take to the air to urge us to be more tolerant. Because while tolerance may not stop bombs or bullets, it does stop you from thinking. And to our leaders who promote Tolerance Uber Alles, thinking is a thousand times more dangerous than bombs or bullets. Bombs and bullets kill, but thoughts bring change.Read the full story here.

• Turkey asked US to take astronaut in return for Boeing sale.Turkey’s aspirations are not limited to its region, or even the globe, according to a recently released document that says the Turkish president sought to cut a deal to put a Turkish astronaut into outer space.President Abdullah Gül asked his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to let a Turkish astronaut participate in a NASA space flight in return for buying Boeing jets, said a U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by the New York Times from the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.Commenting on how the meeting went, Jeffrey said in the cable that assisting Turkey’s aviation and aerospace agencies could be mutually beneficial in and of itself and merits further study. “We probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit, but there are programs we could undertake to strengthen Turkey’s capacity in this area that would meet our own goals for improved aviation safety in the region,” he wrote. “In any case, we must show some response to the minister’s vague requests if we want to maximize chances for the sale.”Hmmmm.....One might think they heard of "NASA's outreach to Muslims"?Read the full story here.

• Demise of Iraqi water park illustrates limitations, abuse of U.S. funding program.BAGHDAD - In the spring of 2008, Gen. David H. Petraeus decided he had spent enough time gazing from his helicopter at an empty and desolate lake on the banks of the Tigris River. He ordered the lake refilled and turned into a water park for all of Baghdad to enjoy.The military doctrine behind the project holds that cash can be as effective as bullets. Under Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq at the time, that principle gained unprecedented emphasis, and it has become a cornerstone of the war effort in Afghanistan, now under Petraeus's command. But today the Baghdad park is nearly waterless, more than two years after a U.S. military inauguration ceremony that included a marching band and water-scooter rides. Much of the compound is in ruins, swing sets have become piles of twisted steel, and the personal watercraft's engines have been gutted for spare parts. The troubled history of the venture speaks to the limitations and mishandling of a program that has provided U.S. military commanders with $5 billion for projects in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past six years. The program has given officers enormous flexibility to address urgent needs with few bureaucratic hassles. But in many cases, such as that of the Jadriyah Lake park, the investments under the plan, known as the Commander's Emergency Response Program, have created no more than a temporary illusion of progress. They have also shown a lack of U.S. foresight and highlighted the shortcomings of an Iraqi government the Americans were trying to boost.Hmmmm.....Another "Obamination"?Read the full story here.

• French police probe Copt churches threat.French police are investigating threats made against Coptic churches in France in the wake of a deadly attack on one in Egypt, a security source said Monday.The Paris anti-terrorism squad launched a probe on terrorism-related charges after a church leader filed a complaint, the source said.A priest at the Coptic church of Saint Mary and Saint Mark in the Paris suburb of Chatenay-Malabry told AFP on Monday that he had made a complaint to police.The priest, Girguis Lucas, said a worshipper at his church had seen "threats made on the Internet by Islamic mujahedeens who announced other attacks in Europe and in France in particular, and who mention our church.""These threats are not a fantasy," said Lucas, who estimated there are 250,000 Coptic Christians in France. "Here people are free. We cannot accept these threats."Germany's Coptic Christians have also received threats of attack by radical Muslims and asked for protection, a bishop said in comments published by a newspaper on Sunday."The Internet is full of threats of this kind against us. The police have alerted us several times against attacks by radical Muslims," Coptic Bishop Anba Damian said in a report on the Bild's online edition.Hmmmm......"The War on Christianity" First they came for the Copts?Read the full story here.

• HT:DailyCaller.Obama to increase engagement with Africa in 2011.President Barack Obama is quietly but strategically stepping up his outreach to Africa, using this year to increase his engagement with a continent that is personally meaningful to him and important to U.S. interests.Expectations in Africa spiked after the election of an American president with a Kenyan father. But midway through his term, Obama’s agenda for Africa has taken a backseat to other foreign policy goals, such as winding down the Iraq war, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and resetting relations with Russia.Obama aides believe those issues are now on more solid footing, allowing the president to expand his international agenda. He will focus in Africa on good governance and supporting nations with strong democratic institutions.The White House says Obama will travel to Africa again and the political calendar means the trip will almost certainly happen this year, before Obama has to spend more time on his re-election bid. No decision has been made on which countries Obama will visit, but deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said stops will reflect positive democratic models.Rhodes said the White House understands that U.S. involvement in African politics can be viewed as meddling. But he said Obama can speak to African leaders with a unique level of candor, reflecting his personal connection to Africa and that his father and other family members have been affected by the corruption that plagues many countries there.Hmmmmm......Another trip and as soon he's there his first words will be "Islam is a great religion"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : British Salafi "Abu Mounisa": We Should Attack David Cameron, Attack the Law and Order, and Make the Entire System Bow Down to Allah.Hmmmm....."We do not want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Iraqi Christians in Karbala Report Looted Churches, Desecrated Graves.Reporting from Karbala, Iraq, journalist Fadhel Rashad says that Iraqi Christians are not only subject to killing and deportation, but that their churches, cemeteries, and historical artifacts are being targeted for desecration and looting by organized criminal gangs. In the province of Karbala, 108 km (67.5 miles) south of Baghdad, officials confirmed that the legacy and history of Christians have become a target for destruction. Karbala, Fadhel wrote, is not just a city for Shi'a Muslims; it was inhabited by people of various sects and religions throughout history, and there is a great deal of archeological evidence to indicate that Christians had built churches and performed religious rites in the city.In one church, he wrote, Aramaic writing on the walls suggests that the church was in existence in the fifth century CE. Read the full story here.

• United Arab Emirates, Etihad offering Canadians visas at under $70.Travellers can bypass embassy route where visa charges have been increased substantially.Canadians travelling through Dubai can obtain a short-term visa of four days for $61.5 (Dh225.9), provided they are travelling with Emirates airline.Similarly, Canadian citizens, holding a valid residency in the UAE and wanting to bring their parents and immediate relatives on a visit, can do so by booking tickets on Emirates airlines.The visa charges are now $74.5 (Dh273.6) for a 30-day visa extendable by another 30 days.A 90-day visa only for parents or in-laws travelling by Emirates is available for for Dh1155.The facility is only available to passengers of Emirates airline irrespective of the nationality,” said an Emirates official at the Dnata office on Sheikh Zayed Road."Canadian travellers can now apply for and purchase UAE visas online via www.emirates.com. All ticketed Emirates customers, regardless of whether their ticket was purchased via a travel agent, online via www.emirates.com, or directly from an Emirates call centre or retail shop, may log-in to ‘Manage a Booking’ on www.emirates.com and access the application tool. Both 96 hour and 30 day visas are available and these will be issued via email within 3-4 working days," said a statement isued by Emirates airline.Meanwhile, Etihad airways is offering visas for Canadian citizens at $68 (Dh249.7) for 96 hours, $83 (Dh304.7) for 30 days and $365 (dh1340) for 90 days.Passengers can also apply for a 14 days entry permit for $103 (Dh378.2) . However the passenger has to enter UAE within ten days of the issuance of the visa.Effective from 02nd January 2011, “Visa on arrival” facility has been withdrawn for Canadian Nationals and are thereby requested to apply for visa in advance.Hmmmm........Why do i get the feeling that landing rights have something to do with this?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different ! What's next to die in Arkansas? Now 100,000 dead FISH are found washed up... after 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky.Residents of Arkansas must be wondering what they are going to find next.More than 100,000 fish have been found washed up on the banks of the Arkansas River - as 1,000 blackbirds fell from the sky in the nearby town of Beebe.The bizarre incidents appear to be unrelated but many locals will be contemplating whether the piles of animal corpses provide an eerie omen for the New Year.Environmental experts believe disease killed the fish while the violent storms that swept that state over the weekend may account for the fallen birds.The dead drum fish were discovered by a tug boat operator on the river banks on a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River, near Ozark. on Thursday.David Price, who spotted the fish from his parents' Roseville house, located on the banks of the river, pointed and said: 'Over from down here at the bottom of the rocks, out maybe 40 or 50 feet, there were just thousands of fish along the shorebanks all the way around the river here. 'This is kind of amazing because the the fish were about a pound and a half a piece.'Travis Harmon of the Department of Environmental Quality said: 'Barges reported passing up river and churning up dead fish from the bottom of the river. 'A single species is killed, and we don't know the cause. If it was toxic, other species would be affected.'Hmmmm.....Flying....Swimming ....What's next in line?Note to secretary cancel that Arkansas trip !Read the full story here.More here with video.