MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• Egypt detains Christian protesters. Up to 156 Orthodox Coptic Christian protesters arrested following deadly clashes with police a day earlier.Egyptian authorities have arrested 156 protesters for involvement in Wednesday's bloody clashes between Christians and police over the government's refusal to grant them a permit to build a church.Those arrested have been accused of planning to kill policemen and the public prosecutor has ordered their detention for two weeks.A judicial source said on Thursday that the protesters were also accused of illegally demonstrating to prevent the authorities from doing their work.Protesters threw stone and petrol bombs as scores of police surrounded the area and fired tear gas to break up the demonstration. A security source said at least 93 protesters were detained after a scuffle with police.Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 79 million population and often complain about discrimination in the Muslim-majority country. Church permits are often a source of tension, as Christians say they are not given the same freedom to build places of worship as Muslims.Non-Muslims are required to obtain a presidential decree to construct new religious buildings and must satisfy numerous conditions before permission is granted.The Copts said they did have permission and were continuing to work without machinery, which was being blocked from entering the site, the reports said.Christian and Muslim religious leaders emphasise sectarian harmony, but communal tensions can erupt into criminality and violence, usually sparked by land disputes or cross-faith realationships. Hmmm....interfaith dialog at it's best?Read the full story here.More here.

• Obama’s greatest disappointment: Erdoğan.According to some authorities following relations between the Obama administration and Turkey, the president’s greatest disappointment was despite petitioning Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for 45 minutes, Erdoğan did not change his vote in respect to Iran and has given brisk speeches in respect to Israel.And according to one authority who knows about the content of the last meeting in Toronto, it was not like a dialogue between allies but like “two angry old friends settling their accounts.”Turkey is not very popular in the White House these days.The American authority reflected the atmosphere in the White House as follows:“You told us that the [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] PKK is your national problem and we supported you… Iran is a national issue for us, but you vetoed despite the U.S. president petitioning for 45 minutes not to veto. You left us alone. Where is the alliance? This relationship has gone sour.”A source who pointed out that Turkey stabbed him in the back during the bill event (bill on sending troops to Iraq) before the invasion of Iraq said, “The Pentagon knows what happened to the [Turkish Armed Forces] TSK. But if it interferes, reactions against the TSK would increase. That is why it keeps silent. But please notice that the Pentagon did not just recently cross you out. It happened during the bill event. It is impossible to go back to our previous relationship. From now on a cold and distanced relationship will prevail. And don’t keep your hopes high in respect to the PKK issue.”In short, at the moment Washington is for Ankara a capital with closed doors. Nobody wants to encounter Turks. Doors are kept tightly closed especially for Turkish authorities who might come looking for a favor.Hmmm...well they still have their new "Friend" Iran?Just get them out of NATO!Read the full story here.

• Canada boycotts Durban III, cites anti-Israel focus.Taking a stance: Canada will not attend UN conference on racism because of negative focus on Israel, immigration minister says; Ottawa has lost faith in Durban process, whose agenda promotes racism, he says.Canada will not attend Durban III, a United Nations conference on racism next September in South Africa because the event has negatively targeted Israel, the country's immigration minister said Thursday. Minister Jason Kenney said Canada has lost faith in the Durban process, a conference that began in 2001 to develop strategies to defeat racism. "Canada is clearly committed to the fight against racism, but the Durban process commemorates an agenda that actually promotes racism rather than combats it."But most offensive to Canada and several other countries were speeches laced with anti-Israeli rhetoric. Canada led a boycott of Durban II in Geneva last year, where Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad railed against the Jewish state. "We voted against this because we believe that the proposed meeting will only perpetuate the kind of ... divisive rhetoric that led Canada to boycott this process in the past," said Kenney.Read the full story here.

• North Korean leader and son visited artillery site: reports.North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his son and successor Jong-un visited the artillery base from where shells were fired at a South Korean island just hours before the attack, South Korean media reported on Thursday.North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island that killed two South Korean marines and two civilians on Tuesday was probably ordered by Kim Jong-il himself, the Joongang Daily quoted a well-informed government source as saying.Seoul government officials contacted by Reuters could not comment on the reports.The United States says it believes North Korea's actions were an isolated act tied to leadership changes in Pyongyang, and many experts say the North carried out the shelling to burnish the image of the inexperienced and little-known younger Kim.The ailing leader is desperate to give a lift to his youngest son, named as heir apparent to the family dynasty in September, but who has little clear support in the military.Read the full story here.

• U.S. warns Ottawa about fallout from pending WikiLeaks release.The U.S. government has notified Ottawa that the WikiLeaks website is preparing to release sensitive U.S. diplomatic files that could damage American relations with allies around the world. U.S. officials say the documents may contain accounts of compromising conversations with political dissidents and friendly politicians as well as activities that could result in the expulsion of U.S. diplomats from foreign postings. U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson phoned Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon to inform him of the matter, a foreign affairs spokeswoman said Wednesday. Melissa Lantsman said the Canadian embassy in Washington is “currently engaging” with the U.S. State Department on this matter. “We are not privy to the full contents of documents which may be leaked,” Ms. Lantsman said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press.Many of the cables are believed to date from the start of U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, meaning that the White House will not be able to distance itself from any disclosures.Read the full story here.

• Newark airport controversial scanners are barely used on busiest travel day.The choice between a "virtual strip search" and a "grope" was strictly academic Wednesday for most holiday travelers flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport. The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to.All in all, Thanksgiving eve was a non-event at Newark Liberty, reflecting the relative calm reported at airports around the country.An unusual abundance of the TSA’s blue-shirted screeners seemed to circulate throughout Newark’s terminals Wednesday.Still, some passengers had mixed feelings about the new screening procedures."I have concerns," said Ifeoma Anekwe, lawyer from Jersey City. "Who’s looking at my image? Will it go on the Internet or will they delete my image?" "I’ll go through the pat-down," Anekwe said. Even so, she added, "I don’t want my breast groped by a strange woman." Hmmm...for anyone interested here's the FlyerTalk Forum,with all the "Info"you might like to read!Read the full story here.

• Military Pegs Hourly Air Force One Cost at $181G, as Obama Sets Travel Record.The average American could buy a house for the amount of money it takes to run Air Force One every hour. The U.S. military has provided an updated estimate on that cost, first published by a taxpayer watchdog group and confirmed by FoxNews.com, and the number is staggering -- $181,757 per hour. That's the price tag for shuttling around President Obama, who, as it turns out, has spent more days abroad in his first two years than any other president. "It's astonishing. It's far higher than any other ... figure that's been reported on. It's very surprising, and of course it's just a fraction of the overall cost involved with presidential travel," said policy analyst Demian Brady, who wrote the study. Master Sgt. Jeff Capenos, with the 89th Airlift Wing, told FoxNews.com the figure reflects operating costs.ranging from fuel to engine and aircraft maintenance. Asked why other public estimates, which typically did not exceed $100,000, were so much lower, he said: "They were probably inaccurate." Brady also used his report in part to tackle rumors about the cost of Obama's 10-day post-election tour through Asia. One Indian newspaper report quoted an anonymous local official claiming it would cost U.S. taxpayers $200 million every day, a figure Brady dismissed as "wildly exaggerated." The Obama administration also shot down that figure, without detailing the actual cost. But the trip to India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan was by no means cheap. While a total by-the-day figure may be impossible to come by, Brady estimated that the 48 hours of flight time logged on the trip would cost at least $8.7 million for Air Force One alone. The president's latest visit to Lisbon, Portugal, for a NATO conference would add another $2.7 million, he figured. That Lisbon trip also set a record for Obama. By Brady's accounting, Obama has now logged 55 days overseas, surpassing former President George H.W. Bush's record of 54 days during his first two years. In total, Obama has visited 26 countries -- some of them more than once -- over the course of 15 trips.Hmmm....spend - Spend - Spend.Read the full story here.

• Female Turkish deputies unite to end violence against women.Women have no control over their own bodies in many parts of the world because gender inequality caused by a male-dominated societal system reduces women to second-class citizens, a bipartisan group of female parliamentary deputies said Thursday.The deputies’ joint statement was made to speak out on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. There were also many marches in cities around Turkey, including one hosted by the ruling party’s women’s branch in Istanbul.The group said 39 percent of Turkish women were subject to physical and emotional violence, but the problem could be remedied by educating women about their rights, thus empowering them to take control.“We do not want our leaders to say ‘every woman should have three children.’ We want them to say ‘educate yourselves, work and stand on your own two feet,’” said Canan Arıtman, speaking for the Republican People’s Party, or CHP.At the square, branch head Ayfer Yamam made a speech, saying governmental practices and regulations were not enough to end discrimination against women, but that a change of mentality is needed.Yaman also said the party was following the regulations protecting the rights of women with sensitivity.During the march, the female AKP members carried banners that read “No to Honor Killings” and “No to Domestic Violence.”“Every kind of violence is identical with illiteracy and has no place in our world,” Yaman said after the march. “We are here in peace and we have raised generations who will stand against all kinds of abuse and mistreatment.”Hmmmm...not the way Turkey is heading now?Read the full story here.

• In Kandahar, Girls Show Grit Behind Guarded Walls.Education is like gold — more precious than any other possession.That's according to an 11-year-old girl named Bilqis Ehsan. She lives in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She speaks nearly fluent English. And she wants to be a doctor.Education "shines your life," she says.Bilqis and other girls and young women are taking classes in English and computer technology at the Afghan-Canadian Community Center in Kandahar. But it's not just for the joy of learning. They want careers."I am learning English because it's an international language," says Nurzia, 14. "If we become a doctor, [a] doctor needs to write prescriptions for the patient by English — not Dari or Pashto."It would be fair to say that there is no world of girls more hidden than the world beneath the burqas of Afghanistan. The girls who risk going to school in the heartland of the Taliban could be harmed or killed.But it would be a mistake to presume that all the women and girls underneath their burqas are somehow pitiable or frightened or even meek.Within the walls of the school in Kandahar, protected by a tall iron gate and a guard with a gun, the burqas are gone. The girls laugh and chat — and forge the skills they'll need in future jobs.But in war, every girl — along with her family — must come to terms with the possibility that some harm may come to her."Some months ago, a girl was killed by someone," says Tahira Sadisaidi, 20. "She was our classmate.""We want to be brave," she says. "And we are coming to school."Read the full story here.

• U.S. government heads for row with big business after Obama sets aside land in Alaska for polar bear sanctuary.In a move that will anger oil and gas companies American president, Barack Obama, has agreed to save some 187,000 square miles in Alaska for the preservation of wildlife.The land will be set aside as a 'critical habitat' for polar bears, but will restrict future offshore drilling for oil and gas.The total, which includes large areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 square miles - or 8.3 million acres - less than in a preliminary plan released last year.Alaska Governor Sean Parnell and the state's oil and gas industry had complained that the preliminary plan released last year was too large and dramatically underestimated the potential economic impact. The designation could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity and tax revenue, they said.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said reductions included in the final rule were mostly due to corrections that more accurately reflect the U.S. border in the Arctic Ocean.The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which advocates for Alaska Native business interests, said in a statement that the decision disproportionately impacts Alaska Natives and called the designation the 'wrong tool' for conserving the polar bear because it does nothing to address climate change.'The burden of the impacts will be felt by the people of the Arctic Slope,' said Tara Sweeney, vice president of external affairs for ASRC, which is based in Barrow, Alaska. 'This is a quality of life issue for our people.'Hmmmm...how many land "Grabs" has Obama done so far in two years?Is it Four or five?Read the full story here.

• U.S. Military War Gaming for Large Scale Economic Breakdown and Civil Unrest. If we’ve “prevented economic collapse” and “avoided the depression many feared,” according to President Obama, inquiring minds are asking why the Pentagon and US Military are actively and aggressively engaged in planning responsive action to large scale economic breakdown and civil unrest scenarios.The Army, in a year-long war games series called Unified Quest 2011, is looking at a variety of possibilities and how to deal with them, including:

1.     The implications of “large scale economic breakdown” inside of the United States
2.     How to maintain “domestic order amid civil unrest”
3.     And ways to deal with fragmented global power and drastically lower budgets.

• Clearly, the U.S. government is making contingency plans to deal with a worst-case, all-out collapse scenario of not only the economy, but our social and political systems.If you haven’t yet, we recommend taking the advice of FEMA (pdf), who suggest that every family have emergency preparedness supplies on hand, including food and water, for at least a couple of weeks.For the hard core “preppers” amongst us, you may have already considered this possibility and the chance that the fallout from an economic collapse may lead to an inability to perform daily transactions with the U.S. dollar, food supply disruptions, violence and looting, and even a completely ‘down-grid’ where utilities are completely out of service. If you haven’t, what would you do if you awoke to news of a total meltdown in the US dollar - one that led to rejection of the US dollar as a currency for international settlement?Will you be the one facing off against highly trained U.S. military personnel holding a “Food Now” sign at an inner city riot?The U.S. government and many of their counterparts around the world are getting ready - just in case - maybe you should be too?Read the full story here.

• Turkey risks increasing tension with EU ahead of elections.Turkish-EU relations could be set for more tension with elections in the country approaching, analysts warn. EU diplomats, however, are expressing concerns about any escalation in rhetoric. ‘It would be a real shame if such an important issue for the future of over 70 million Turkish people was subordinated to short-term politics,’ says one diplomat.“I don’t believe the ties will reach a point of complete rupture. I don’t expect another Luxembourg crisis,” said Can Baydarol, an expert on Turkish-EU relations from Istanbul’s Bilgi University.“That would benefit neither Turkey nor the EU,” he said, adding that it is unlikely that relations would proceed in such a fashion. “It is necessary to turn a new, white page and the two sides should take symbolic steps.”The major stumbling bloc in Turkish-EU relations is the fate of the long-divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Brussels, the locus of the EU decision-making process, has criticized the Turkish government for not even partly meeting the requirements of the Ankara protocol under which Turkey is obliged to open its ports to shipping from Greek Cyprus.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Europe’s oldest zoo is in downtown Antwerp - Belgium.The Antwerp Zoo in Belgium is one of the oldest in Europe. In the mid-19th century it was fashionable to have a zoo garden in the outskirts of the city. Now all 10 hectares of the zoo are within the center of the city.Read and see the full story here.

The Day the Dollar Died

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:EmergingCorruption.Obama’s Labor Dept. To Create Gov’t Sponsored ‘Labor News’ Agency?What is it called when a government creates a state-sponsored “news” agency, again? Ah yes, it’s called government propaganda. And that is what the Obama administration seems interested in creating if the words of Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis’s senior advisor Carl Fillichio can be believed.The advisor to the Secretary of Labor told the audience that one of the things that vexed his department is that it was so hard to get their “news” reported by the media. “We battle every single day when we try to put something out,” Fillichio told the audience.“We cannot depend on those other people – the traditional media – to get that message out,” Fillichio said.Imagine what is being said here. A person of high position in the Department of Labor is proposing that he be the one to “report” labor news. He is proposing that the government itself become a media agency in an effort to get around “the traditional media.”Every totalitarian government has such government-controlled agencies, of course. Who can forget the U.S.S.R.’s famed Pravda and Izvestia news agencies?Lastly, think of this for just a minute. If Fillichio and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis don’t think that the left-wing, Old Media is fair enough to them, just imagine how biased and left-wing the “news” that this new ministry of Big Labor information would be disgorging! I mean if the leftists in the Old Media aren’t leftist enough to suit Obama’s Dept. of Labor, I shudder to think how far left these guys really are.Chalk this up as yet one more step toward authoritarianism evinced by this president and his administration.Hmmm....wanted people with experience in the 1940's "Volksaufklärung und Propaganda"?Read the full story here.

• Obama's granny 'prayed for him to become Muslim'.'I prayed for my grandson to convert,' Sarah Omar tells Saudi paper while on hajj pilgrimage.The Kenyan grandmother of US President Barack Obama said during her hajj pilgrimage to Mecca that she had prayed for the American leader to convert to Islam, a newspaper has revealed. "I prayed for my grandson Barack to convert to Islam," Sarah Omar, 88, told the Saudi daily Al-Watan in an interview held in Jeddah after she had performed the hajj. The paper said that Omar was in Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage along with her son, Obama's uncle Saeed Hussein Obama, and four of her grandchildren. Omar told the newspaper that she could only discuss hajj matters and would not comment on Obama's politics.The family was hosted by the Saudi government for the holiday. Saeed thanked King Abdullah for his "kind hospitality," the paper said.Hmmmm.......One bows to the king the other is his guest?Read the full story here.

• U.K. Girl, 15, arrested for 'burning Koran at school and posting footage on Facebook'.A teenage girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English language version of the Koran.The 15-year-old was questioned and bailed by detectives last Friday after the alleged incident in the West Midlands.She is also accused of posting video footage of the burning booklet on Facebook.A 14-year-old boy has also been arrested in connection with the alleged incident. He was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of making threats on Facebook. He was also released on bail.'West Midlands Police will investigate and monitor any crime reported by individuals who may have been targeted because of their disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender.'Read the full story here.More here.

• Canadian military families receive fake death calls.Canadian military police are investigating fake calls to families of soldiers in Afghanistan claiming their relative has died in combat, authorities have said.At least three families at a military base in Quebec have been targeted, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.One woman was reportedly told her husband had been killed by a bomb.Police say those responsible could face jail time if caught.Canadian Forces always deliver news of a soldier's death in person, National Defence spokeswoman Chantale Le Bouthillier told AFP news agency."Military personnel should not be needlessly worried about their families when they are fighting for our country in far away lands," said Defence Minister Peter MacKay, adding that the imposters responsible for the calls were "insensitive, amoral and disgusting".He added: "It is our hope that the perpetrators of this despicable action are brought to justice."A family centre at the Canadian Forces Base Valcartier in Quebec has offered counselling to those who have been targeted by the phoney calls.Hmmm....now who would be low enough to do this?Read the full story here.

• HT:TheStrata-Sphere.This Panicked Administration Has Turned Dictatorial, Not Democratic.The question at the core of the TSA security mess is what individual rights are We The People willing to give up for security. Are we willing to be groped and scanned, or should we use sophisticated profiling to detect evil human beings bent on mass murder?We face blood thirsty enemy in the form of Islamic Fascism – a deadly combination of religious fervor and soulless cruelty that makes the human holocausts of Nazi Germany and Communist Russia look pale in comparison. The Obama administration’s original plan to not speak of Islamo Fascism and their Terrorist-based war on the West was as naive as it was stupid. In return for Obama’s efforts to pretend Islam does not have a deadly cancer growing inside of it, we experienced more near-successful attacks on our country in 2 short years than in all the years since 9-11.But this latest TSA intrusion is too much and illegal. We don’t need mass molestation and invasion of privacy to stop terrorism. We need profiling. And before another liberal moron cries ‘racism’ I must note that looking at race or clothing is not profiling – it is another version of liberal ignorance. Profiling for terrorists has to look well beyond race, nationality and garb. It has to look at human behavior. It has to transcend the obvious, since the obvious can be faked or a facade or a home grown terrorist. Some of our most notorious enemies in AQAP are Americans turned traitor. The Times Square bomber was American, as was the Ft Hood murderer.Hmmm...hiding yourself in a locked room (Country) won't make the threat go away.Read the full story here.

• Turkey 'will not be silent' if Israel attacks.'Does Israel think it can enter Lebanon with most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, use cluster bombs to kill kids in Gaza, and expect us to remain silent?' asks Turkish prime minister on visit to Beirut.Turkey will not remain silent if Israel attacks Lebanon or Gaza, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in Beirut on Thursday, as ties between the longtime allies remained at an all-time low."Does (Israel) think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?" Erdogan said at a conference organised by the Union of Arab Banks. "Does it think it can use the most modern weapons, phosphorus munitions and cluster bombs to kill children in Gaza and then expect us to remain silent? "We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us."Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on a two day trip during which he met with officials and visited the north and south of the country.He was inaugurating a hospital in the southern port city of Sidon Thursday as hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital's Martyrs' Square.When demonstrators tore up a large poster of Erdogan and pelted troops with rocks, security responded by beating up a number of them.There were no reports of major injuries.Lebanon has 150,000 Armenians, or nearly 4 percent of its population, which harbors deep animosity toward Turks over the 1915 killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians.Hmmm...it's becoming clearer by the day that Turkey's hatred towards Israel and love for Iran has no place in NATO. Get Turkey out of NATO NOW ! Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Oaths and the Constitution.In a column titled "The danger of a government with unlimited power", George Will wrote this past summer that Woodrow Wilson "was the first president critical of the nation's founding." Wilson, "avatar of progressivism," rejected the notion that the purpose of the federal government was limited to protecting "the exercise of natural rights that pre-exist government, rights that human reason can ascertain in unchanging principles of conduct and that are essential to the pursuit of happiness." Will wrote that "the name ‘progressivism' implies criticism of the Founding," meaning, quite literally, progressing away from the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.Reflecting on the Congressional customs above and re-reading the oath and the Pledge, how can it possibly be that those who revere the Constitution are somehow "extreme"? The answer is, of course, we are not, but progressives and their sympathizers in the mainstream media are determined to cast us that way in their effort to "fundamentally transform America" in pursuit of some sort of post-Constitutional socialist utopia. We should expect and demand our elected representatives to uphold their solemn oaths. We should remind them of their sworn statements, their promises of loyalty, their pledge of fidelity to our founding doctrines and principles. Those who endeavor to dismantle or subvert our Constitution and undermine our liberty should be deemed what they are in the oaths: "enemies", be they "foreign or domestic."Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Does the Israeli Left finally get it?Even Leftist Gershon Baskin understands that the 'research report' issued by the 'Palestinian Authority' claiming that Jews have no connection to the Western Wall crosses a red line. Gershon Baskin, the joint CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, sent a letter to the Palestinian leadership in the wake of the Post article, calling the findings “a serious mistake” and “a stain on the Palestinian Authority.”“Any observer, even a non-professional archeologist, can discern that the stones used to construct the Western Wall (the Kotel) are from the era of Solomon’s Temple and the Temple rebuilt by King Herod which was hundreds of years before Islam appeared on the world stage.“The falsification of history, as done in the report by the Palestinian poet Al- Mutawakel Taha, a senior official with the Ministry of Information, is a serious stain on the Palestinian Authority.”Read the full story here.

• General Assembly votes to commemorate Durban conf. The US and Israel expressed dismay on Wednesday at a vote by the UN General Assembly to commemorate the Durban anti-racism conference of 2001 at next year’s GA meeting in New York.Late on Tuesday night, the motion passed 121 to 19, with 35 countries abstaining.Israeli officials voiced concern that next year’s conference would become a forum for anti-Israel bashing, just as the original one had.Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor responded to the vote by saying that it was “unfortunate there are those who want to deflect from the fight on racism for anti-Israeli propaganda purposes.”By so doing, they were “harming the real struggle” against racism, he said.Palmor noted that most of the world’s democratic countries had either voted against the resolution or abstained.Among those voting against the intended commemoration were Israel, the United States, Italy, Australia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania.The US, in a statement by Deputy Representative to the UN’s Economic and Social Council John Sammis, expressed its disapproval of the commemoration in an accompanying explanation of its vote.“Just days earlier, we will have honored the victims of 9/11, whose loved ones will be marking a solemn 10-year anniversary for them and the entire nation,” Sammis said.“It will be an especially sensitive time for the people of New York, and a repeat of the vitriol sadly experienced at past Durban-related events risks undermining the relationship we have worked hard to strengthen over the past few years between the United States and the UN.”“It means reviving manifestations of hate in which the swastika and the Star of David overlap and the hunting season on Jews is declared open, the result being an exponential growth in anti-Semitic incidents. This makes many people happy, very happy.”The Anti-Defamation League, meanwhile, called the UN resolution to commemorate the conference “outrageous and shameful.”Hmmm....another proof that the UN has outlived it's usefulness.Read the full "story' here.

• HT:BacktoBasics.Helen Thomas to be Honored by Arab Group Raided by FBI.A long-time White House correspondent, Thomas served as a columnist for Hearst newspapers before her anti-Israel views, termed anti-Semitic by many critics, became too controversial and she was forced to step down from her journalistic perch.Having received a “Courage in Journalism” award from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, former White House correspondent Helen Thomas is now scheduled to be honored by an Arab group whose executive director had his home raided by the FBI because of his alleged ties to terrorist groups.On December 12, the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) is featuring a speech by Thomas, who has been called the Arab American Dean of the White House Press Corps, as part of its 15th anniversary fundraising event.The Arab American National Museum, based in Dearborn, Michigan, is currently raising funds for a Helen Thomas Sculpture Project, in order to create a sculpture honoring Thomas. The Arab American National Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.But plans to honor Thomas—and questions about how she should be treated in the history of journalism in the U.S.—have become increasingly controversial because of the questions surrounding the AAAN and its executive director, Hatem Abudayyeh. His home was raided on September 24 as part of an FBI investigation into illegal support provided by U.S.-based groups to foreign terrorist organizations in the Middle East and Latin America.Incredibly, the raid followed a friendly visit to the White House by Abudayyeh earlier this year.Accuracy in Media had suggested that she quit journalism, which she subsequently has done, and become a full-time advocate for the Arab/Muslim cause.This appears to be what lies behind her scheduled appearance at the AAAN fundraiser.But the nature of the AAAN raises even more questions about Thomas’s judgment.It also raises some concerns for the Obama White House.The AAAN was founded by Barack Obama friend Rashid Khalidi, who once served as a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organization. Then-State Senator Obama was photographed at an AAAN dinner held on May 24, 1998 in Burbank, Illinois. The Woods Fund, where Obama served as a director from 1994 through 2001, approved a $40,000 grant to the AAAN for “community organizing.”When a controversy emerged during the 2008 presidential campaign over Obama’s ties to the AAAN, the liberal-oriented “PolitiFact” website called it a non-controversial group that focused on “local initiatives” and “has no foreign policy.”But one target of the FBI investigation is alleged support provided to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist group designated a “foreign terrorist organization” by the U.S. Secretary of State. U.S. law prohibits U.S.-based groups or individuals from providing support to foreign terrorist groups.Reporter Chuck Goudie said that while Obama did not attend the briefing, the AAAN was founded by an “Obama friend and fundraiser named Rashid Khalidi, who became a lightning rod during the presidential campaign for his views on Israel.”The AAAN now wants Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder to stop the FBI investigations and prevent a Grand Jury from bringing criminal charges against the “anti-war” and “peace” activists.Hmmm.....talk about the enemy within?Read the full story here.

• Muslim 'fanatic' exposed as a hypocrite as he's jailed after £2.6m drug factory raid.A Muslim who dressed as suicide bomber in protest over cartoons showing the Prophet Mohammed has been jailed for 13 years for a massive drug conspiracy.Omar Khayam, 27, was part of a gang who aimed to flood the Bedford area with £2.6million worth of heroin.And far from being devout, his part in the conspiracy exposes him as a hypocrite as drug dealing is expressly forbidden under Islamic law.In February 2006, Khayam, the son of a retired Urdu teacher, shocked the nation by dressing up as a suicide bomber - just months after the 7/7 bombings in London. He was involved in angry protests outside the Danish Embassy in London after cartoons showing Mohammed had been published in Denmark.Luton Crown Court was told two police officers stumbled across a heroin and cannabis factory in Ashburnam Road in Bedford on December 3 last year.They had gone to arrest a man for an unrelated offence. He was not there but they noticed powder on the floor and objects covered by large plastic bags.Hmmm...The Lord works in mysterious ways?Read the full story here.

• The ACN Report on religious freedom in the world is released.The 2010 Report on Religious Freedom in the World by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) was released yesterday in Rome. It shows that the situation is serious in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia. In the Near East, Iraq represents an especially bad case where anti-Christian violence is taking on the form of systematic persecution, as the latest episodes indicate. In Egypt, despite the fact that it is a major tourist destination, there have been many acts of violence against the Christian minority in 2009-2010. Lebanon shows how difficult it is for foreign religious staff to enter the country. The situation of Christians in Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is getting worse with episodes of explicit persecution.In Pakistan, the blasphemy law is used as weapon against religious minorities, especially Christians who are the victims of Muslim fundamentalism. In Afghanistan, the government is not able to ensure effective religious freedom. In Bangladesh, where Islam is also the state religion, several cases of discrimination and attacks against minorities have been recorded with security forces showing little interest in protecting them. Hmmmm....Islam the religion of peace.Read the full story here.

• Turkey tells Nobel laureate Naipaul not to come.A Trinidadian writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2001 has been told not to attend the upcoming meeting of the European Writers’ Parliament in İstanbul after conservative circles reacted to the author’s negative views of Islam. The possibility that Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul, commonly known as V.S. Naipaul, could deliver an opening speech as a guest of honor at this event caused controversy and heated debate when writer Hilmi Yavuz in an op-ed published in a Turkish daily asked his colleagues if they would really be comfortable sitting next to a man who has insulted Muslims. This was followed by an outcry from conservative circles that opposed him being the guest of honor.Reports yesterday said the organizers thought about canceling the event altogether but decided to exclude Naipaul only from the event at the last minute. The decision was made late Tuesday evening. Agency representatives reportedly called the author on the phone and explained him the situation in Turkey and the repercussions created by the prospect of him coming to town. Naipaul, who said he would not attend the event, has not yet released a statement.Although the organizers have yet to make a public statement, sources close to the Kült Refleks agency said it wanted to avoid causing a new polarization in Turkey because of the event and avoid protests and controversy during the meeting, as well as being concerned for the safety of the guest writer.However, some still have fresher memories of Naipaul who in 2001 compared the “calamitous effect” of Islam on the world with colonialism. He claimed that Islam had both enslaved and attempted to wipe out other cultures. “It has had a calamitous effect on converted peoples. To be converted you have to destroy your past, destroy your history. You have to stamp on it, you have to say ‘my ancestral culture does not exist, it doesn’t matter’.” For Naipaul, Pakistan was living proof of the damage Islam could wreak.Hmmmm....Doesn't Turkey sound every day more like Iran?Get Turkey out of NATO NOW ! Read the full story here.

• Turkey’s EU membership big error, says Former German Chancellor Schmidt.Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said Turkey’s possible European Union membership would be a big mistake, warning that Muslims may flock to Europe and asserting that they have difficulties adapting to German society. Schmidt’s remarks are likely to add fuel to a heated debate over immigration in Germany. “Of course, I know that many Muslims have really adapted to the society. But I cannot forecast a positive development if the European Union presents membership to Turkey,” the former German chancellor said in remarks published in Bild on Tuesday.Schmidt said if Turkey is accepted as an EU member, millions of Muslims will travel across Europe without restraint and fill European employment markets and social systems. “In this case, you could also add Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Syria to your future planning. We would bring disputes among Turks and Kurds to our European cities. This will be a big, wrong development,” Schmidt said in remarks translated by the Anatolia news agency.Hmmm...At least there are some sane politicians left.Read the full story here.

• Connecticut Roller Rink Defends Policy on Headscarves After Muslim Woman Complains.A roller skating rink in Connecticut is standing behind its decision to ask a Muslim woman to remove her headscarf because it could present a danger to skaters if it fell off.Marisol Rodriguez-Colon was set to attend her 4-year-old niece’s birthday party at Ron-A-Roll but apparently didn’t make it very far past the check-in counter before she was stopped by a rink employee, who offered her two options: remove her headscarf or wear a helmet over it.Rodriguez-Colon said she felt “mortified” when an employee at a rink asked her to wear a helmet on top of her religious headscarf, or hijab.But Jennifer Conde, the operations manager at the Ron-A-Roll, said the rink’s main priority is the safety of its patrons.“We are not insensitive to people’s religion,” she said. “We just focus on safety.”In a statement to FoxNews.com, Ron-A-Roll said it has a policy that prohibits headwear to be worn in the building. Safety helmets are offered to those that are unable to remove headwear for any reason, because they are secured with a chin strap.Janine Gallo, who organized the party, said she signed a contract that assured the club that the rules would be followed by her guests. The two women, according to Gallo, were not on the roster and created an unnecessary scene.“They were shouting that they were going to sue,” said Gallo.“The kids were having a great time, but they had to make it a racial thing,” Gallo told FoxNews.com. “It really shouldn’t be.”Hmmmmm......"You give me what i want or else....?Read the full bully story here.

• HT:NewZeal.Who Benefits? The Food Safety Bill Will Centralize and Regulate Food Production.“If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny.” - Thomas Jefferson.This Founding Father would be rolling in his grave if he knew of the draconian measures to restrict food production the Senate is seeking to bring in. Under the deceptive title of the "FDA Food Safety Modernization Act", the bill if passed into law will crack down not only on large corporations, but also on "small businesses and entities that sell directly to consumers", and will give authorities power to further regulate "growing, harvesting, sorting, packing, and storage operations, minimum standards related to soil amendments, hygiene, packaging, temperature controls, animal encroachment, and water".The Food Safety Bill (S. 510) is being heralded as more dangerous than even the Health Care Reform which passed earlier this year. Section 404 makes it clear that the bill seeks to conform to the requirements of the World Trade Organization and grants new authority to the Department of Homeland Security to oversee food production. Here's the key catchphrase from the proponents of this bill, responding to criticisms that the bill will cripple small-time farmers. This comment from Sandra Eskin of the Pew Charitable Trusts:"Rather than telling peo­ple they don't have to meet these basic safe­ty re­quire­ment that will be scale and size ap­pro­pri­ate, rather than ex­empt­ing them we think you should be giv­ing as­sis­tance in help­ing them meet the re­quire­ments of the law."Because that's what we want, isn't it. We want the Government to protect us with the likes of this highly regulative "food safety" bill, and then to very kindly help us to meet the requirements of the law. Eskin also applies the tired "progressive" argument that the law is too old.Read the full story here.

• UK-based Taliban spend months fighting Nato forces in Afghanistan.Taliban fighter reveals he lives for most of year in London and heads to Afghanistan for combat.British-based men of Afghan origin are spending months at a time in Afghanistan fighting Nato forces before returning to the UK, the Guardian has learned. They also send money to the Taliban.A Taliban fighter in Dhani-Ghorri in northern Afghanistan last month told the Guardian he lived most of the time in east London, but came to Afghanistan for three months of the year for combat."I work as a minicab driver," said the man, who has the rank of a mid-level Taliban commander. "I make good money there [in the UK], you know. But these people are my friends and my family and it's my duty to come to fight the jihad with them.""There are many people like me in London," he added. "We collect money for the jihad all year and come and fight if we can."His older brother, a senior cleric or mawlawi who also fought in Dhani-Ghorri, lives in London as well.Read the full story here.

• So who's next for financial meltdown?Spain, Portugal and Belgium set to follow Ireland into abyss as debt crisis threatens to destroy the euro.New fears have been raised about the future of the euro with the domino effect of faltering economies spreading today.The latest nation to get sucked into the crisis is Belgium after market traders pushed the cost of insuring the country's debt to record levels.The rising cost of Belgium's debt is now 100 per cent of annual national income. That is raising concerns the country could join Portugal, Spain and Italy on the growing list of countries that could be heading for a financial crisis along with stricken Ireland.Despite the growing unease over the success of the Irish bailout and fears that Portugal or Spain might need help soon, a senior official said today the crisis will not lead to the breakup of the eurozone.European Financial Stability Fund chief Klaus Regling said: 'There is zero danger. It's inconceivable that the euro would collapse.'Mr Regling, who has overseen the eurozone's 440billion euro bailout fund since it was created last spring, said Ireland was not suffering from rampant speculation, but rather from a lack of buyers for its bonds.'We're experiencing a buyer's strike, not wild speculation', Regling said. 'And there's some uncertainty around whether the crisis will spread to other countries.'Hmmm....which one will go first the Euro or the Dollar?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completelely different.Three teenagers, who survived on raw seagull and fish, found alive after FIFTY DAYS adrift in tiny dinghy in Pacific Ocean.Three teenagers given up for dead nearly two months ago after going missing in the Pacific Ocean in a small boat have been found alive.Rescue officials in New Zealand - which had sent a search aircraft into the vast ocean to look for the boys - had given up all hope of finding them.But today the trio, Filo Filo and Samuel Perez, both 15, and 14-year-old Edward Nasau, from the tiny Atafu atoll, are resting on a tuna fishing boat.Their frantic waving from their small aluminium dinghy was spotted by the crew.'It's an absolute miracle they were seen', said the first mate of the tuna boat, Tai Fredricsen.'They were drifting in an area where ships generally don't go.'For fifty days they had survived on raw fish they had managed to catch and had also eaten a raw seagull that had landed on their aluminium boat.A few rain squalls had provided some water but in the last three days before they were spotted they were so desperate for something to drink they had started to drink the sea water - 'the worst thing they could have done', said Mr Fredricsen.Read the full story here.

I'll be groped for Christmas