"Iranium"

HT:New Zeal.

MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• US Tax Chief Warns 21 Million Americans Facing Tax Increase of $3,900 for 2010.IRS chief urges Congress to act on tax breaks, AMT 'patch'.IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman warned lawmakers Wednesday that making retroactive changes to the tax code in early 2011 could create an "unprecedented and daunting operational challenge" that could lead to service disruptions and delayed refunds for millions of taxpayers.Several popular tax breaks expired at the end of 2009, including a deduction for educators' out-of-pocket classroom expenses and a property-tax deduction for homeowners who claim the standard deduction. Congress hasn't acted on legislation that would extend the incentives through 2010.Even more significantly, Congress hasn't enacted a stopgap measure that would limit the number of taxpayers subject to the alternative minimum tax. The AMT is a parallel tax system that eliminates many popular deductions and credits, resulting in a higher tax bill. It was originally intended to prevent wealthy taxpayers from using loopholes and deductions to avoid paying any taxes. But it was never indexed to inflation, and in recent years, Congress has enacted a "patch" to limit its growth. If Congress fails to act by year's end, more than 21 million taxpayers will face an average tax increase of $3,900 for tax year 2010.Read the full story here.

• Update 1.Israel - Northern disaster: Mass evacuation ordered as fire rages on.Thousands of northern residents evacuated from homes as massive fire rages on; at least 40 Prison Service cadets killed en route to evacuating area jail, driver of bus lost control, Internal Security Minister Aharonovitch says.More than 12,000 northern Israel residens were being evacuated from their homes as a massive fire that claimed the lives of at least 40 people continued to rage Thursday night. Israel's firefighting chief, Shimon Romach said he was not optimistic about the prospects of containing the fire at this time."I'm hoping that with our effort tonight and tomorrow we'd be able to contain the fire, yet the wind is making it difficult for us and it's expected to grow stronger by early morning. Hence, I cannot paint an optimistic picture at this time," he said. The Haifa Municipality said that all Hanukkah events scheduled for the weekend were canceled in light of the tragedy.Read the full story here , here and here.

• Update 2.Carmel fire: Haifa Police Chief critically injured.Minutes after being interviewed, Deputy Commander Ahuva Tomer drove behind the bus of prison guards that caught fire.Head of the Haifa Police Department, Deputy Commander Ahuva Tomer was critically injured on Thursday as a result of the huge brushfire in the Carmel region. Tomer was driving behind the bus full of prison guards that burned up in the flames. Two more police officers were declared missing on Thursday.Deputy Commander Tomer was taken to Carmel Hospital in Haifa, where a team of 20 doctors worked a great length to revive her, finally succeeding in restoring a pulse – "against all odds," in their words.Just before she was injured, Tomer spoke about the fire in an interview to Israel Radio. "We're talking about a large fire that spread because of strong winds. The winds are blowing in the direction of the sea, therefore we are not worried for the villages of Isfiya and Daliat al-Carmel." Deputy Commander Tomer is considered to be one of the best-known and highest-ranking officers in the northern region. She made history in 1997 when she was appointed police commander in Nahariya, and again in 2009 when she was appointed commander of the Haifa station, the largest in Israel.Read the full story here. More live updates here.Channel 2 reports that the fire simultaneously started this morning in 3 separate locations.Police investigation of causes of Carmel fire focusing on criminal motives.HT:Muqata.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Faith and Loyalty: Murdering innocent and love of country | Islam's perspective.Another attempted terrorist attack today by a misguided Muslim American. This time it was a Somali born, 19 year old, naturalized citizen of the United States. The trend again and again shows us a misguided individual who calls himself a Muslim, filled with hate, trying to kill innocent citizens without any regard of killing children or women.I, as an Ahmadi Muslim American, am disgusted by this attempt to kill my fellow citizens in Oregon. Killing of an innocent citizen irrespective of what religion they believe in is prohibited in Islam. We, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (www.alislam.org), believe in the true teachings of Islam which is to not be part of violent jihad, obey by the laws of the country you live in and most importantly loyalty to the country you live in.It is the duty of all Muslims living in the US to be loyal to the United States of America. Their should not be any bewilderment on choosing Islam and loyalty to one’s country. Misguided Muslim Americans only need to look at the example of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) who beautifully said loving one's country is part of the faith.Mosques in the US need to instill the Islamic values of loyalty to one's country among their members and most importantly the youth. Muslims are clearly told in Quran not to create disorder and it is the duty of every Muslim to follow the laws of the land they live in.It is time that all Muslims join the efforts of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to be activists of peace, follow the teachings of real Islam, and either love this great country of ours or leave it.Source.

• Prosecuting WikiLeaks For Publishing Documents Would Raise Serious Constitutional Concerns, Says ACLU. According to news reports, the government is looking into whether it could prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the Espionage Act for publishing classified government documents he obtained from a third party. WikiLeaks, along with multiple news outlets, published thousands of pages of U.S. diplomatic cables on Sunday. The American Civil Liberties Union said that prosecuting WikiLeaks would have serious First Amendment implications.“We’re deeply skeptical that prosecuting WikiLeaks would be constitutional, or a good idea. The courts have made clear that the First Amendment protects independent third parties who publish classified information. Prosecuting WikiLeaks would be no different from prosecuting the media outlets that also published classified documents. If newspapers could be held criminally liable for publishing leaked information about government practices, we might never have found out about the CIA’s secret prisons or the government spying on innocent Americans. Prosecuting publishers of classified information threatens investigative journalism that is necessary to an informed public debate about government conduct, and that is an unthinkable outcome.“The broader lesson of the WikiLeaks phenomenon is that President Obama should recommit to the ideals of transparency he invoked at the beginning of his presidency. The American public should not have to depend on leaks to the news media and on whistleblowers to know what the government is up to.”Read the full story here.

• HT:InvestigativeProject.US Ambassador Visits UK Mosque With Radical Ties.The U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom visited and praised a well-known extremist mosque in London Monday, and invited its youth to participate in an embassy-funded initiative to travel to the United States. The East London Mosque(ELM) hosted recent speeches by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula leader and now Specially Designated Global Terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, a prominent leader of extremist group Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, and a wide variety of other radical leaders. That's beside hate and terrorism promoted by the mosque's leaders and the Islamic Forum for Europe (IFE), a group headquartered in the mosque complex.U.S. ambassador Louis B. Susman went to ELM, which, in combination with the adjoined London Muslim Centre, holds more than 5,000 worshippers. During his visit, Susman said he had "great admiration" for the mosque and was "looking forward" to a dialogue with community members. He also invited young people from the community to enroll in the U.S. embassy's cultural and interfaith program, which coordinates trips for young leaders to the United States.On Thursday, State Department spokesman Andy Laine said Susman's visit to the ELM was among several mosque visits Susman made as "part of President Obama's call for a renewed dialogue with Muslim communities around the world." Susman toured the mosque and met privately with young members. Laine did not address the ELM's connections with radicals.Hmmmm.....Obama's "outreach to Muslims",the world is much safer now just ask the TSA and passengers.Read the full story here.

• On World AIDS Day, Larry Kramer, who first warned of epidemic, rips 'Do-nothing' Obama.On World AIDS Day, the man who first sounded the alarm about the AIDS epidemic and shamed the government into action for a decade, had some choice words for President Obama.In an interview with the New York Daily News about growing older with HIV, Kramer, now 75 and writing a novel about America and AIDS, offered up his views on the current president.“Mr. Do-Nothing Obama will say today ‘Lets think of all the poor dead people’- or ‘let’s honor all the dead’ instead of fighting for the living."He has been really useless in terms of both HIV and gay issues. An exceedingly large disappointment to me, how useless he has been."He is simply not a leader. He may be president, but he is not a leader.”Hmmmm.....but,but,but......i'm not playing golf as much as i used to?Read the full story here.

• Muslim imam who lectures on non-violence in Germany is arrested for beating up his wife.A Muslim imam who lectures on non-violence and advises the German government on interfaith issues has been arrested in Germany for beating up his wife.Sheikh Abu Adam, 40, is now on remand in Munich while his wife, 31, is being guarded by police.She was allegedly assaulted so badly that she suffered a broken nose and shoulder and numerous cuts and bruises.Media reports claimed the woman, who has borne one of his ten children, wanted to live a more 'western' lifestyle and was allegedly attacked after telling her husband.The police said they received a call from a lawyer hired by the victim.Adam is alleged to have shouted a verse from the Koran at his wife as he beat her.The line said: 'Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them.'As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them.'The imam is said to have refused to let police officers into his home, but they forced their way past him because they feared the woman's life was in danger.A week ago, he held a lecture at the city's Catholic University entitled 'An Islam which distances itself from violence'.Hmmm....yeah that's pretty obvious by now.Read the full story here.

• Wikileaks - SUBJECT: Violence in suburbs:comments of terrorism.

1.  During a conversation November 3 with terrorism investigating judge Jean-Francois Ricard, Poloff asked for his analysis of recent violence in the suburbs (ref A). Ricard began by saying that no one in the French government should be surprised by what has happened. Successive governments have tried and failed to integrate suburbs with high immigrant populations. For "the last twenty years," said Ricard, the GOF has known that the suburbs have become areas where respect for the state has dried up. As a result of this inattention, the suburbs with high immigrant populations have lost their French identity and have built up an identity based on the "cites," (similar to the "projects"). French symbols of authority, like the fireman and policeman, are considered to be "assassins" and worthy of being targeted. In addition, gangs and radical Islamic groups have an interest in keeping the cites free of GOF influence to maintain their freedom of operation. French intelligence can only do so much, said Ricard. The areas need a substantial GOF presence, i.e., police and gendarmerie.
2.  Ricard criticized many current French analyses as "tired leftist critiques" uttered by those who have no understanding of the world of the cites. He said they focused only on socio-economic problems, viewing the cites inhabitants as victims of precarious living situations -- young people who are unemployed and uneducated, with poor prospects for the future. When he had been an ordinary investigating judge in the northern suburb of Bobigny, Ricard said people were relatively well-off. They had cars and televisions and other material possessions. Other areas of France, such as the north near Belgium, were much poorer, said Ricard. The real problem was the GOF's failure to be present in these areas. Inhabitants developed a sense of being apart from French society, and over time, became proud of this. The combination of setting oneself apart, real and/or imagined grievances against the GOF, state inattention, and the interest of gangs and other groups, including Islamists, to accentuate this divide, has led to the current unrest, said Ricard.
3.  If the unrest dies out "very quickly," this would be bad news, said Ricard. It would mean that gangs and other groups in the cites exert a powerful control over those currently burning cars and assaulting police. These gangs have no interest in triggering a massive GOF response, because it would mean the long-term "occupation" of the cites. If the unrest goes on for much more than a week, Ricard said it would signify that the cites have become completely anarchic. He speculated that one reason for the riots might have been Sarkozy's announcement in late October of an increased GOF security presence in the cites [Ed: The riots continued for two more weeks]Source.HT:IslamInEurope.

• HT:IsraeliGirl.Anti Semitics target Jews at Indiana University.Several anti-Semitic crimes have occurred on and around the Indiana University campus in the past week. Jewish books have been vandalized and several Jewish centers have been damaged.Please watch and share to expose this despicable hate crime and raise awareness to anti Semitism.Read and see the full story here.

• Immigrant angler arrested after using SHOTGUN to blow fish out of river.It may not be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.But most anglers would still consider it cheating - and against the law.So when a group of Eastern European fishermen fired a shotgun into a river in the hope of landing a fresh pike, the catch of the day eventually belonged to the local police force.’Firing shotguns at fish used to be a thing gamekeepers used to do to get rid of pike in trout fisheries.’It is not very clever or effective thing to do now though. It makes a lot of noise and draws attention.’A local angler added: ‘Poaching is a very serious issue and there are major problems in that area with fish thefts.’Yesterday a spokesman for Cambridgeshire police said of the incident last month: ‘We had a report that a man had fired a shotgun into the river.’'The member of the public who called us had expressed concern about what was happening.’The arrested men was with some other men and the gun had been put in a car by the time we arrived.’Earlier this year migrant workers were accused of ‘raping and pillaging’ a river by preying illegally on fish and swans of the River Nene in Peterborough.Carp is also a delicacy for the Czechs, traditionally eaten on Christmas day. There are an estimated 25,000 living in the UK.Supermarket giant Tesco sells 240 tons of carp - equivalent to 30 double-decker buses - in December at its stores in the Czech Republic. Customers usually take the fish home live, writhing in plastic bags.Read the full story here.

• Iranian Cleric: Female Athletes Should Not Compete Abroad.An eminent Iranian cleric has said female athletes should not compete in sporting events abroad -- days after the Islamic Republic sent its biggest female contingent in recent years to the Asian Games.Grand Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani said on November 30 that sending Iranian female athletes to international events is a "disgrace" and should not be allowed.His comments come after Iran sent 88 sportswomen to China to take part in last month's 2010 Asian Games -- the biggest contingent since the 1979 Revolution. More than a dozen won medals, including Khadijeh Azadpour, who won a gold medal in the women's Wushu competition.Ayatollah Abbas Kabi, a member of the Society of Qom Seminary Teachers, criticized Iranian state television for showing women competing in the event. He said it was "deplorable" and "bizarre."Analyst Rostampour added that the authorities are worried that they will no longer be able to prevent female Iranian athletes from participating in international events: "They want to uproot this young plant before it grows."
  Hmmm....Iran and women rights ,like light and darkness?"Read the full story here.

• Scientists attach barcodes to mouse embryos – human ones coming soon.Fans of the film Blade Runner may remember a scene in which the maker of an artificial snake is identified by a microscopic serial number on one of its scales. Well, in a rare case of present-day technology actually surpassing that predicted in a movie, we’ve now gone one better – bar codes on embryos. Scientists from Spain’s Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), along with colleagues from the Spanish National Research Council, have successfully developed an identification system in which mouse embryos and oocytes (egg cells) are physically tagged with microscopic silicon bar code labels. They expect to try it out on human embryos and oocytes soon.Hmmmm......scan him/here or just old fashion name him?Read the full story here.

• Updated.Israel's deadliest fire leaves 40 dead.Blaze breaks out in Carmel, forcing authorities to evacuate Damon Prison, Beit Oren near Haifa. Bus carrying some 50 passengers catches fire. Magen David Adom says 40 prison guards killed. Deadliest fire known in Israel: Firefighters battled a large blaze Thursday in the Carmel Forest near Haifa, which left dozens dead and brought life to a halt for many communities. Prison guards who came to the rescue of the prisoners paid with their lives: 40 guards were making their way to Damon Prison were burned alive. MDA set up a first aid mobile unit but began its evacuation since no injured were left on scene.Magen David Adom said a bus carrying some 50 jailers which left the Damon Prison caught fire. It was further reported that 40 prison guards were killed. MDA reported that three others were severely wounded, another lightly injured and two more people's condition is unknown. MDA confirmed the death of 22 out of the 40 people. Some of the injured men and women were members of the rescue forces and firefighters who risked their lives fighting the flames. Four IDF helicopters and one Air Force helicopter arrived at the scene to assist with evacuation. The fire continues to burn in the Carmel area, including inside kibbutz Beit Oren.Read the full story here.

• Fifteen dead and airports closed as wild weather lashes Europe.HEAVY snowfalls forced some of Europe's busiest airports to close and wreaked havoc on roads and railways yesterday as a cold snap swept the continent, claiming at least 15 lives. Eight people died of exposure in Poland, three in the Czech Republic and two in Lithuania, officials said yesterday.And in the UK, two died in accidents blamed on the weather - one in a motorcycle crash and the other after falling into a freezing lake.In some parts of Germany temperatures dropped to as low as minus18C, while heavy rain in Italy triggered the collapse of two Roman walls in Pompeii and flooding in Venice.Albania proclaimed a state of natural disaster in the north with more than 200 people evacuated from one region as hundreds of homes were flooded.Transport chaos hit the whole of the continent, and Britain - shivering in the coldest December 1 on record in one of the earliest snowfalls - was one of the worst affected.Read the full story here.More on Europe in Winter here.

• Leaking Siberian ice raises a tricky climate issue.CHERSKY, Russia – The Russian scientist shuffles across the frozen lake, scuffing aside ankle-deep snow until he finds a cluster of bubbles trapped under the ice. With a cigarette lighter in one hand and a knife in the other, he lances the ice like a blister. Methane whooshes out and bursts into a thin blue flame.Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground has begun thawing more rapidly, accelerating the release of methane — a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide — at a perilous rate.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Jennifer Lopez trying to stop sex tapes showing deviant behaviour.THE legal battle over Jennifer Lopez's sex tapes continues, with revelations they allegedly show her displaying "deviant behaviour". J Lo, now 41, is trying to stop her ex-husband Ojai Noa's agent releasing the tapes publicly.Lopez is embroiled in a new sex tape scandal and has launched a legal battle to prevent the films being made public.Noa's agent Ed Meyer said the videos include the singer and actress exposing herself in public while riding a scooter, RadarOnline reported today, citing court documents.Meyer said among the 21 hours of home movies is footage of Lopez "exposing her genital area in public" and displaying other "deviant behavior.""JLo is riding a scooter in public in Cuba, while talking to the camera and numerous by-standers, with her privates in as plain view as Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan have in the past," Meyer said."This is among other nudity on her part in the now 21 hours of home movies, that we have so far recovered."Noa wants to include the tapes in a feature film being made with Mayer."However, Noa & Meyer have never ever intended to market this and the many other racy, damaging & expositive scenes from the Home Videos," a court document states."It must also be stated that in Noa's Home Videos, Lopez gives her full consent to Noa taping her".In November 2009, Lopez again sued Noa for breach of contract and invasion of privacy, citing a previous confidentiality agreement between the two of them to prevent Noa from releasing his planned film, How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The J-Lo and Ojani Noa Story and "previously unseen home video footage".But Meyer has argued in the court filing that he is not held to a prior settlement between the former couple because he did not benefit from it and didn't know Noa at the time.Hmmm....The truth ,nothing but the "Naked" truth?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Buy once a "Spicy" ornament for your Rolls-Royce.The Russian car tuner Dartz unveils a new stunt.Having previously changed automotive interiors in to some crafted from the leather of whale penises, he has now turned to the iconic Spirit of ornament of a Rolls-Royce . Literally and figuratively. The statue, which traditionally represents a woman who bends over with her arms stretched backwards, is now replaced by a couple making love "doggy style". Dartz calls his version of the mascot "Spirit of Xstasy. The racy frame is offered with a Rolls-Royce Phantom. The price was not disclosed.Hmmm....only one "Style"? Read and see the full story here.(Google Translate).

Austrian MP Ewald Stadler adresses Turkish Ambassador

MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Ht:IsraelMatzav.Christian Tomuschat, Head of the Goldstone Implementation Committee, Resigns. Christian Tomuschat, who was heading the committee appointed by the United Nations 'Human Rights Council' to implement the Goldstone Report, has resigned. This is a press release I received by email from Eye on the UN's Anne Bayefsky.Christian Tomuschat, who headed a UN committee charged with implementing the Goldstone Report, has reportedly resigned. He had been appointed by UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay. Tomuschat’s credentials were questioned earlier this year, in a July 14th, 2010 article by Anne Bayefsky.Tomuschat’s resignation is the second blow to the credibility of the UN’s efforts to implement the Goldstone report. Following Bayefsky’s July article, the UN secretariat official whom Pillay had assigned to coordinate the Tomuschat committee’s activities, Ahmed Motala, was removed from the case.Unfortunately, many other UN authority figures, selected precisely because of their history of anti-Israel and anti-Western bias, remain. For further information see EYEontheUN’s list of current UN authorities.Unfortunately, the continual discrediting of the 'Human Rights Council' doesn't stop it from acting and doesn't discredit it in the eyes of the majority of the 'international community.'Hmmm...an early Christmas present to the Jewish people.Read the full story here.

• BreakingNews.Israel.At least 40 prison wardens dead as bus engulfed in North. Fire-fighting crews, planes attempt to control fire in brush-covered Carmel area amidst heavy winds; over 6,000 dunams burned; Damon Prison, University of Haifa evacuated. The majority of the 40 people burned to death in a bus caught up in the Carmel forest fires were prison wardens en route to the Damon prison.The wardens were meant to assist in the evacuation of some 500 prisoners from the facility, situated near Kibbutz Beit Oren, when their vehicle became engulfed in fast moving flames which had spread to the narrow mountain road linking Atlit to Kibbutz Bet Oren.A firefighter spokesman said the fire had traveled 1500 meters in less than three minutes adding, "the bus had no chance. They tried to escape but were burned alive. It was a horrific scene."Read the full story here.

• US Federal agency proposes 'Do Not Track' option for Web users.The Federal Trade Commission advocated a plan on Wednesday that lets consumers on the Internet choose whether they want information about their browsing habits to be collected, an option known as "do not track."The FTC's proposal, a framework for commercial use of consumer data, would make consumer privacy the default position and would let Web users decide whether Internet sites and advertisers can build profiles of their browsing and buying habits as well as collect other personal information.The recommendations, in a report released by the commission that solicits public comment over the next two months, are based on the commission's belief that current practices regarding privacy protection have not kept pace with the rapid growth of technology and new business models.Industry self-regulation, the preferred model among advertising companies and many online retailers, has "failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection" for consumers, the report said.Now, the trade commission hopes to adopt an approach that it calls "privacy by design," where companies are required to build privacy protections into their everyday business practices. That approach would include retaining data on consumer preferences and online browsing activity only as long as needed and deleting data on a regular basis.Christopher Soghoian, a privacy and security researcher, said at the Consumer Watchdog conference that most consumers do not have privacy software and that the use of privacy options in most Internet browsers "doesn't do much."Hmmmm....sounds way tooo good to be true,what's the catch?Read the full story here.

• Mgr Franceschini: The Turkish Church "can not intervene" against falsehoods on Mgr. Padovese.The Archbishop of Izmir, Ruggero Franceschini, confirms to AsiaNews that a group of “professors and lawyers” have ruled that Murat Altun, who assassinated Mgr. Luigi Padovese is insane. This conclusion is in direct opposition to a report by several doctors who - before the murder - had found Murat Altun to be perfectly sane. The bishop of Izmir, who after the death of Mgr. Padovese, succeeded him as vicar of Anatolia, sadly comments that "Unfortunately I can not speak in court. The Vatican can, through the nuncio, the Italian ambassador can, because Padovese was an Italian citizen, and family members of Padovese, they may intervene. The bishops of the Latin Church may intervene, but no one is obliged to listen to them. "On 3 June last, Mgr. Luigi Padovese, 63, was stabbed to death in the garden of his home in Iskenderun, on the southern coast of the country. The killing, which took place according to a kind of Islamic ritual, was carried out by Altun, who had worked for years as the bishop’s driver. The same Altun, before the murder, had sought to be declared insane, visiting several doctors, who instead had ruled out any instability. Altun had also confessed to "sexual" motivations for the murder, seen by many as an attempt to manipulate public opinion. the Bishop says today. He adds: "I have not been questioned, no one has ever asked me anything. We don’t even have the possibility to shout or protest. We are even criticized by people who should not criticize us, people who instead should loves us".Hmmm....the truth ...but..nobody wants to hear the oposite side?Read the full story here.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Pakistan: Christian mother denied presidential pardon for 'insulting Islam'.Pakistan mother denied presidential pardon for 'insulting Islam'.Asia Bibi, a Christian, has been sentenced to death after falling foul of the country's blasphemy law.A Pakistani court has barred President Asif Ali Zardari from pardoning a Christian woman sentenced to death on charges of insulting Islam, in a case that has prompted criticism over the country's blasphemy law.Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of four, requested a pardon from the president after a lower court sentenced her to death on 8 November in a case stemming from a village dispute.The Lahore high court today barred Zardari from pardoning Bibi in a petition filed by Shahid Iqbal, a Pakistani citizen. Iqbal's lawyer Allah Bux Laghari told Reuters a pardon was illegal as the court was already hearing an appeal against her sentence."We believe it is the court's duty to evaluate the evidence against her, not individuals, and if she is found innocent, she should be freed," he said.Human rights groups have demanded the repeal of the law, which they say discriminates against religious minorities who make up roughly 4% of Pakistan's 170 million-strong population.Hmmmm....welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.

• Fatah: No to Israel as Jewish state, no land swaps.Israeli official asks: What sort of peace are you offering us; Revolutionary Council urges PA to foil J'lem-Golan Heights referendum law.The Fatah Revolutionary Council concluded its fifth convention in Ramallah over the weekend by declaring its refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.The council also urged the Palestinian Authority leadership to work toward foiling a new Israeli law requiring a referendum before any withdrawal from Jerusalem and the Golan Heights that has not been passed by two thirds of the Knesset.The Palestinians are opposed to any understandings between Israel and the US that could harm their interests, the council said.“The council affirms its rejection of the so-called Jewish state or any other formula that could achieve this goal,” said a statement issued by the council.“The council also renews its refusal for the establishment of any racist state based on religion in accordance with international law and human rights conventions.”Hmmm....it's just hopeless with these people,do they even realise what they are saying?I bet Stalin would have found a solution for Fatah,just round them all up and ship them to Iran let the Iranians deal with them?Read the full story here.

• House GOP scuttles nutrition bill at center of first lady's anti-obesity drive.House Republicans on Wednesday scuttled a Democratic bid to pass a child nutrition bill that’s at the center of first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity agenda.The $4.5 billion legislation, which has already been approved unanimously by the Senate, expands eligibility and funding for school lunch programs. Democrats had expected it to pass on Wednesday and be sent to President Obama for his signature, but Republicans used their last chance to amend the bill to offer a motion that would require criminal background checks for childcare workers and would have removed the federal mandate for paid meals in schools.When Democrats saw that the poison-pill amendment was headed for passage, they pulled the bill off the floor, a Democratic aide said.Before the vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hailed the anti-obesity legislation as a “moral issue” and a measure that would help U.S. competitiveness and military readiness. She cited statistics showing that more than one-quarter of young Americans are unable to serve in the military because they are overweight.Hmmm.....yeah...whatevah.Read the full story here.

• HT:EmergingCorruption.Oil Drilling Moratorium is an Act of Treason.If you had any doubt that Barack Obama’s agenda is to destroy the United States of America, but still want more proof, I offer you the announcement that his administration will not provide any offshore oil leases in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, or Atlantic coasts…for at least seven years!In October, a study by the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University concluded that the reduction of shallow water oil drilling permits that followed the BP oil spill would put as many as 40,000 jobs at risk and cost the region $4.3 billion in lost wages and revenues.At the same time, a consortium of foreign oil companies led by the Spanish firm, Repsol, working with India’s state-run Oil & Natural Gas Company and Norway’s StatoilHydro are exploring for oil off the coast of Cuba where drilling in its waters will proceed even while American and other oil companies will be denied access to vast reserves off the coasts of all of the Gulf States. From Alaska to Florida, offshore of California or any of the East Coast States, Obama is destroying America’s energy future in the same fashion his administration has done everything in its power to shut down the nation’s coal mining industry.Here are the statistics that demonstrate how dependent we are on fossil fuels: In total they provide 84.9% of the energy Americans use. Of that, coal provides 22.4% and oil represents 39.2%, while natural gas accounts for 23.2%. Other energy sources include nuclear power at 8.3%, hydroelectric at 2.4% and the least efficient and dependable, wind at 0.3% and solar at 0.08%. (Data source: the Institute for Energy Research)In March, Gov. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a Democrat, said, “President Obama has made his intentions to bankrupt the coal industry clear. EPA’s actions this week demonstrate that he will wage a war against the energy source that generates half of America’s electricity and is our nation’s most abundant, reliable, and affordable energy sources.”This agenda of economic destruction has been carried out since Obama took office in 2009. It is the reason Obamacare was inflicted on the nation, asserting control over one sixth of the nation’s economy. It is the reason the government took over General Motors and Chrysler. It is the reason Obama failed to come back from South Korea with a trade treaty and has stalled others in the pipeline. In countless ways, the engine of the federal government is being used to betray and impoverish Americans.Cry treason! For that is what it is.Hmmm.....Is he preparing the groundplan for the remake of the Russian Revolution?Read the full treason story here.

• HT:CNet.Twenty highest-radiation cell phones.We do a lot of top products lists here at CNET, and manufacturers are usually pretty excited to see their products on those lists. But this is one "top" list that manufacturers probably aren't too thrilled to find their products on. As we note in our intro to the list, for a phone to pass FCC certification and be sold in the United States, its maximum SAR level must be less than 1.6 watts per kilogram. In Europe, the level is capped at 2 watts per kilogram, whereas Canada allows a maximum of 1.6 watts per kilogram, just like we do. The SAR level listed in our charts represents the highest SAR level measured with the phone next to the ear as tested by the FCC. It's possible for the SAR level to vary among different transmission bands (the same phone can use multiple bands during a call), and different testing bodies can obtain different results.What a "Radiant" idea for the Christmas period? Read and see the full story here.

• HT:RightSideNews.Obama Socialist Regime Moves For Control of the Internet.It’s called “Net Neutrality.” Sounds fair, right? I mean -- that’s what the liberal-socialist democrats are all about, right? Fairness is their utmost priority, right? Why, they’d never do anything to limit the freedom of Americans … riiiiight?If you believe all that, then prepare yourself for a rude awakening.When a political movement intends to takeover a nation’s government, one of the very first things it absolutely MUST DO … is take control of that nation’s communications networks. It must be able to control access to communications if it expects its efforts to be successful.I began warning readers that the Obama Regime would make an effort to take over the Internet from the early days of the Obama reign. It was as plain as the nose on my face that to make the fundamental change in America that Obama swore he would make, then he would have to gain control of the nations communications. There have been very few successful revolutions in modern history in which the broadcasting stations, networks, and newspapers were not first compromised, or taken over completely by the revolutionaries -- or just shut down.The Internet is a “thorn in the flesh” of the liberal-socialists in the current American government. It gives them NIGHTMARES!
  Conservative bloggers have been the cause of great consternation in the White House and the West Wing and even to those liberal-socialist senators and congresspersons on The Hill. They have been seething with anger at the ability of conservatives to get disseminate their message of Obama’s shadow government and his sub-rosa strategy to convert America to a European style socialist state, not only to Americans, but around the globe -- at the click of a mouse.Their embarrassment when confronted by fellow socialist leaders in countries they favor, such as Venezuela and Cuba, is overwhelming. And they can bear it no longer!So, they have decided they must make the initial step to grab control of the Internet and bring it to heel as a servant of the socialist regime of Obama.Never mind that the courts have already told them the Federal Communications Commission has no authority to regulate the Internet. They are going to do it anyway. This is typical of the socialist Obama Regime. They have been ruling against the will of the American people since day one.Hmmmm....another step closer to dictatorship?Read the full story here.

• HT:Reason.You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country.Janet Napolitano said last month that we should expect to soon see tighter restrictions at bus, train, and marine transportation centers, too. Here's a report about TSA, Border Patrol, and local police setting up a checkpoint at a Greyhound station in Tampa. Note how quickly preventing a possible terrorist attack expands to include catching illegal immigrants, and preventing drug and what sounds like "cash smuggling." (It's hard to tell from the audio.) Note also the complete and utter reverence the local news report bestows on these government agencies, who after all are merely "teaming up to keep your family safe." It's not difficult to envision the day where anyone wishing to take mass transportation in this country will have to first submit to a government checkpoint, show ID, and answer questions about any excess cash, prescription medication, or any other items in his possession the government deems suspicious. If and when that happens, freedom of movement will essentially be dead. But it won't happen overnight. It'll happen incrementally. And each increment will, when taken in isolation, appear to some to be perfectly reasonable.Hmmmm......dictatorship coming to a neighbourhood near you?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.In Lebanon, Coordination Meeting With Opposition In Advance Of Release Of Al-Hariri Assassination Indictment.The London daily Al-Hayat reports that opposition elements in Lebanon held two coordination meetings in the country for preparations for dealing with the ramifications of the indictment in the Al-Hariri assassination case soon to be released by the international tribunal. One meeting was in Tripoli, where there is a Sunni majority, and the second was in the Shouf region, which is Druze and Christian. Hizbullah, Amal, and Free Patriotic representatives attended the second meeting; they decided not to take specific measures before the contacts between Syria and Saudi Arabia on the matter have played out. Source.

• HT:Memri.Video : Egyptian TV Host Tamer Amin: I Support Iran and Egypt Obtaining Nuclear Weapons Because "There Must Be Some Scarecrow to Frighten" Israel.Read and see the full story here.

• First Round of Voting Ousts Islamists From Egypt’s Parliament.CAIRO — As the results of Egypt’s parliamentary elections trickled in Tuesday, no one was surprised that the governing party of President Hosni Mubarak won a huge victory. Nor were they surprised that the candidates of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s only sizable opposition, took a beating. What did surprise some was the Brotherhood’s share of seats in the new Parliament: zero. The Brotherhood, an Islamist movement with 88 seats in the current body and a vast following among Egypt’s 83 million people, was reduced to political nonexistence, at least for the first round of voting. The handful of other opposition parties won only a sprinkling of seats. “At least get creative in how you rig the elections,” said Hisham Kassem, a newspaper publisher and human rights advocate. “I was expecting a few more seats for the opposition.”He added: “Nothing can stun me now.”Read the full story here.

• 'We let in some crazies'... David Cameron claimed Labour went soft on radical Muslims.David Cameron told the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan that the Labour government 'let in some crazies', leaked diplomatic documents have revealed.The Conservative leader said that the government had got it wrong on immigration and let in the wrong sort of people before realising what was going wrong.Richard Holbrooke reported to Washington: 'On the radicalisation of British Pakistanis, Cameron said the UK had "gotten it wrong domestically"... he argued that PM Brown's policy had been too willing to engage with radicalised but non-violent Muslim groups... "We let in some crazies," Cameron said, "and didn't wake up soon enough. Hmmm.....no ...really,what made you think so?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Leading Saudi Cleric: Woman May Drive, Work, And Reveal Their Faces.Mecca religious police director-general Dr. Ahmad Al-Ghamadi said at a conference of women yesterday in Jeddah that woman are permitted to drive, to work, and to reveal their faces, and attacked the positions of those opposed to women working. He said that women's participation in national development had been grounded in shari'a for hundreds of years, and that there is no shame in going out to work for a living.Read the full story here.

• Stolen menorah lights up student fundraising drive.Jewish students at the University of Ottawa have rallied to build a new menorah after one was stolen from the university grounds on the weekend. A three-metre menorah set up last week outside the UniCentre went missing on Saturday just days before the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, which is today. The menorah was later found in front of the Father & Sons restaurant on Osgoode Street, near the university campus. The metal and wire religious structure was too badly damaged and could not be returned. "It's all smashed up, it was part of a student prank," said Rabbi Chaim Boyarsky, the university's rabbi.Hmmmmm? Two unidentified individuals were captured on security cameras carting away the religious symbol.He said the eight-branched candelabra is normally shipped from Brooklyn, New York and Jewish students at the university volunteer to assemble it. But there was no time to get a new one from the U.S. prior to the Jewish holiday, he said. "The students are building a new one, it will be two feet bigger than the other menorah," said Boyarsky, adding the students purchased the building materials. "The irony of this is that students came out in big numbers to help and some of them were not even involved before."Hmmmm....The darkness of racism can not survive in the light.Read the full  story here.

• City to Deploy Ambulances to Save Organs.Some 911 calls in Manhattan will now bring out two ambulances, one hurrying to the scene and one lagging slightly behind. The first one will try to save the patient’s life. The second one will try to save the patient’s kidneys, in case the first ambulance fails. After months of grappling with the ethical and legal implications, New York City medical officials are beginning to test a system that they hope will one day greatly increase the number of organs collected for transplant. For five months starting Wednesday, the city will deploy a specially trained team that will monitor 911 calls for people who may be in danger of dying, like those having a heart attack. If efforts to resuscitate the patient fail, the team will quickly move in and try to save the kidneys; normally, patients who die outside hospitals cannot be donors because if too much time passes after the heart stops beating, the organs are unusable. Dr. Goldfrank said that he hoped there would be at least one case during the December-to-May trial period that would end with a transplant. But he and other officials said that even if no organs were transplanted, what they really wanted to test was the protocol, which required a delicate balance of treatment and consent.Hmmmm.....Obama Care.."I'll make you an offer you can't refuse?"Read the full story here

• Former Defense IG Raises Concerns About Military Chaplain Vetting.A former inspector general for the Defense Department is calling on Congress to investigate and oversee the vetting process for Muslim clerics who are nominated to serve as U.S. military chaplains.In a letter sent earlier this month to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, former Inspector General Joseph Schmitz outlined what he believes is the potential risk to national security posed by the military’s current chaplain vetting system. “The main concern is that the body consulted by the U.S. government to select the chaplains is made of NGOs linked to the Jihadists or to Islamist movements. This alone compromises national security,” he said.“It would be placing — without knowledge — religious advisers to military personnel who promote Islamist ideologies and doctrines. This would be the single most dangerous penetration self inflicted by the bureaucracy.”Hmmmm....talk about "the enenemy within"?Read the full VC operation story here.

• HT:WeaselZippers.Top Sunni Cleric Yusuf al-Qardawi: No Relations Between Christian and Muslim World.During a recent Friday sermon, Sheikh Yusef al-Qaradawi, arguably the world’s leading scholar of Sunni Islam, uttered a few words that drew little notice internationally but could have big implications for future relations between Christians and Muslims.“I was for the possibility of bridging the gap between the east and the west but recently I have changed my mind on this issue, especially since the west wants to impose its values and traditions on us,” Mr Qaradawi told his congregation at Doha’s Omar bin Al Khattab Mosque in a televised sermon in October. “West is west and east is east. They do not recognise or follow our traditions and customs, so we should not follow theirs,” Mr Qaradawi said, echoing Rudyard Kipling, the British author.“He has never been one to build bridges with the west but this marks a great change,” says Bettina Gräf, author of Global Mufti, a 2009 book on Mr Qaradawi. “It is highly significant ... because it makes a difference if a very popular figure calls for divisions between Islam and the west and therefore manifests a dichotomy which is not there in reality. He considers himself a moderate in the many different meanings of the word, but being moderate would – in my opinion – include not to call for such divisions these days.”Yet if Qaradawi repeated his “west is west” statements on his weekly Al Jazeera show they would reach up to 40m people. Many millions more would get the message by word-of-mouth, online video and other means. Ms Gräf says Mr Qaradawi’s new perspective could have a significant impact on young Muslims in Europe. “The majority would be more reflective,” she says. “But, of course, there is a minority that may become more radical."Hmmm...to put it bluntly ...this is war!Read the full story here.

• Larry king lost for words at Putin’s question.Vladimir Putin has perplexed CNN’s Larry King, who announced last summer this would be the last season for his show. It was Putin’s second interview with King, recorded Tuesday and posted on the CNN website Wednesday.Read and see the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Oldest salt mine known to date located in Azerbaijan.French archeologists have recently provided proof that the Duzdagi salt deposits, situated in the Araz Valley in Azerbaijan, were already being exploited from the second half of the 5th millennium BC.Another remarkable fact is that the abundance of artifacts dating from the early Bronze Age suggests that the Duzdagi mine was intensively exploited from as early as the 4th millennium BC. Hundreds of stone picks and hammers have in fact been found near the entrances of collapsed tunnels. The frequent presence nearby of ceramic pottery fragments specific to the culture known as “Kuro-Araz” has made it possible to date these archeological artifacts. This work raises a lot of questions. Who and what was the salt intended for in the 5th and 4th millennia BC. How were the communities that exploited these deposits organized? What were the political and economic links between the different regional sites (villages, workshops and mines), etc.Read the full story here.

• HT:Israel21c.And now for something completely different.Diagnose heart disease with a fingertip test [video].Israel's Itamar Medical has developed a breakthrough device to diagnose sleep apnea, and a test for early onset of arteriosclerosis and heart disease.Read and see the full story here.