Overnight Music Video - Michel Sardou - les lacs du Connemara

Let Me Rise

A 30 minute Documentary featuring Juan Williams and produced by The Heritage Foundation highlighting the fight for school choice in our nation’s capital.Read the full story here.

“180″ Movie – A Must See

The sins of Adolf Hitler are unforgivable. Even more unforgivable are the many people who have never heard of the evil dictator.
As far as those who support the acts of this monster, their ignorance is amazing.
Hmmm......"Only the educated are free".Epictetus -(Greek-born) slave and Stoic philosopher (55 AD - 135 AD).

HT: PumaByDesign.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Fiji 5.6 , The U.S. 5.2 and Vanuatu 5.1 ! More info here.

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

• Man Who Asked Question ”Would you please raise my taxes?”.An Ex-Google Employee, Has Given $300K To Dems Since 2000.(WZ).(Beltway Confidential) — ”Would you please raise my taxes?”Oh, liberals gushed when a rich audience member asked Obama that question today. It seems relevant to point out that this rich liberal is Doug Edwards from the Obama-friendly and regulation-friendly Google.Edwards has given $300,000 to politicians since 2000 — every single dime to Democrats. He specifically said he wanted his higher taxes to cover Pell Grants.Hmmmm.......New job "Actor'?Following the script of Relection 101?Read and see the full story here.

• CIA, Pentagon fight to keep Osama bin Laden death photos secret.(Politico).Photos and videos of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden after he was killed in May in a U.S. military/Central Intelligence Agency raid in Pakistan should not be released publicly because they would reveal military and intelligence secrets and could lead to violence against U.S. personnel, the Obama administration argued in papers filed in federal court in Washington late Monday night.The new filings from the Justice Department provide scant details about the imagery, but CIA National Clandestine Service Director John Bennett wrote that the CIA has "52 unique....photographs and/or videorecordings" depicting bin Laden during or after the May operation. Bennett did not break down the tally further, but said all the imagery is classified "TOP SECRET," meaning that disclosure of the material could lead to "exceptionally grave damage" to U.S. national security."All of the responsive records are the product of a highly sensitive, overseas operation that was conducted under the direction of the CIA," Bennett wrote, arguing that disclosure of the information would reveal "intelligence activities and/or methods." He called the photos "gruesome," and said they depict the gunshot wound to bin Laden's head. It is unclear whether his descriptions referred to all the images and videos, or just some of them.The motion for summary judgment and supporting declarations ask U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg to rule for the government in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought in May by Judicial Watch. The conservative watchdog group sued the Defense Department after it failed to comply with the group's request for the bin Laden imagery. The suit was broadened in June to name the CIA as a defendant.While the Justice Department's motion is backed by declarations from high ranking officials at the Pentagon and CIA, the government lawyers make clear that their marching orders come from the top. Near its outset, the brief quotes President Barack Obama's comments on the issue during a "60 Minutes" interview in May."It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence. As a propaganda tool. You know, that’s not who we are. You know, we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama said. "We don’t need to spike the football."The brief includes Obama's claim that then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and intelligence officials "all" agreed that releasing the images would "create some national security risk." The legal papers do not mention that before Obama made the decision to keep the images secret, then-CIA director Leon Panetta said there was no "question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public." (Panetta has since become defense secretary.)Hmmmm...."Just before the Election?"Read the full story here.

• "You Got To Be Kidding!"Homeland Security Cant Find a Terror Operative They Released Who Illegally Crossed Border.(PajamasMedia).By Patrick Poole.Two Bangladeshis who were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the border in June 2010 admitted under questioning that they were members of a designated terrorist organization that signed on to a fatwa by Osama bin Laden pledging to wage war against Americans.But amazingly, after one of the men requested asylum, he was released on bond. Now one Homeland Security official tells me, concerning the released terror operative, “We don’t have the slightest idea where he is now.”The two men, Muhammad Nazmul Hasan and Mirza Muhammad Saifuddin, were intercepted near Naco, Arizona, not long after they had crossed the border on June 25, 2010. During their interrogation, one of the men admitted that they were members of Harakat-ul-Jihad-i-Islami Bangladesh (HuJI-B), which was designated a terrorist organization by the United States in February 2008. Earlier this month the group claimed responsibility for a bombing a courthouse in New Delhi. That attack killed 11 and wounded at least 45 others.A 2006 State Department report described HuJI-B’s goals and connections to other terrorist groups, including al-Qaeda:

The goal of HUJI-B is to establish Islamic rule in Bangladesh. The group’s core membership consists primarily of Bangladeshi veterans of fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. The Bangladeshi Government arrested a senior HUJI-B leader, Mufti Abdul Hannan, in October. HUJI-B has connections to the Pakistani militant groups Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami (HUJI) and Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM), which advocate similar objectives in Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir. The leaders of HUJI-B and HUM both signed the February 1998 fatwa sponsored by Usama bin Ladin that declared American civilians to be legitimate targets for attack.

Capturing two terrorist operatives illegally crossing the border would appear to be a big win for the Border Patrol. But in a stunning move, one of the men was released on bond after claiming asylum.A Homeland Security official I met with last week in Washington, D.C., who was familiar with the case says that no government agency is tasked with monitoring those that are released pending asylum hearings, and that the terror operative’s whereabouts now are unknown.That this guy was allowed out on bond is criminal. We don’t have the slightest idea where he is now. If he sets off a car bomb in Tucson or Phoenix, or shoots up a shopping mall or elementary school somewhere, there will be a lot of finger-pointing. But nobody seems that concerned about it now. And this is not the first time something like this has happened.Back in March I reported Two Bangladeshis who were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the border in June 2010 admitted under questioning that they were members of a designated terrorist organization that signed on to a fatwa by Osama bin Laden pledging to wage war against Americans.But amazingly, after one of the men requested asylum, he was released on bond. And now one Homeland Security official tells me, concerning the released terror operative, “We don’t have the slightest idea where he is now.”.Back in March I reported here exclusively at PJMedia on a Department of Justice memo submitted in a court case of Ahmed Muhammed Dhakane, who ran a human smuggling ring out of Brazil on behalf of the Somali Al-Shabaab terrorist organization. Dhakane was nearly granted asylum, but was eventually charged with lying about his terrorist associations based on his conversations with a jailhouse informant. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.Dhakane’s case was representative of the surging wave of Somalis who have been intercepted crossing the border over the past two years. And now some officials are worried that the case of Hasan and Saifuddin might be the tip of the iceberg of extremist Bangladeshis who are leaving their country under pressure from authorities there cracking down on HuJI-B and setting up terror-support operations in the United States. And the preferred transit route into the U.S. appears to be illegally entering over the southern border — the route taken by the two Bangladeshi terror operatives.Hmmm......The Good news is the Department knows where all the Grannies are in the US.....well most of them.Read the full story here.

• A ‘Soviet-Style Power-Grab,’ to Squelch Bad Press for ObamaCare.(Cato).By Michael F. Cannon. The Department of Health and Human Services has released new guidelines on communications between department employees and the media. The guidelines evidently require all communications to be approved by the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. Also: no off-the-record communications.

The media are not happy. The editor of FDA Webview & FDA Review writes (via Poynter; more here):

The new formal HHS Guidelines on the Provision of Information to the News Media represent, to this 36-year veteran of reporting FDA news, a Soviet-style power-grab. By requiring all HHS employees to arrange their information-sharing with news media through their agency press office, HHS has formalized a creeping information-control mechanism that informally began during the Clinton Administration and was accelerated by the Bush and Obama administrations. The U.S. now takes a large step toward joining other information-controlling countries like my native Australia, where government employees who talk with the news media without permission commit a federal crime. I came to the U.S. in 1974 to escape this oppression.

The HHS guidelines once again show that the purpose of a public information office is not to disseminate information to the public but to withhold information from the public.Since this came on the heels of an HHS official announcing that the agency is scuttling ObamaCare‘s long-term care entitlement, a.k.a. the “CLASS Act,” one wonders if there is a connection. Or maybe HHS is just motivated by a general fear that the more the public learns about ObamaCare, the less we will like it.Read the full story here.

• Toronto Muslims Ask For Sick Room to be Converted to Prayer Room at Attorney Generals Offices.(TorontoSun).A bid to convert a sick room into a Muslim pray area at a downtown office of the province’s top lawmakers has been nixed by some senior Ontario government officials.A proposal by a Muslim employee to turn the room used by Ministry of Attorney General employees on the 12th floor of 655 Bay St. as an Islamic prayer room was rejected earlier this year, according to concerned workers who feared dismissal if their identities were revealed.The bid was turned down last June at an “employee engagement meeting” attended by about seven staffers, including department heads, union officials and other workers, staffers said.“We were taken back by the proposal,” one ministry veteran said. “The room is used by anyone on staff who is not feeling well.”Officials of the Attorney General said they were looking into the issue on Monday.The request for an Islamic prayer room in a public office has angered members of the Canadian Hindu Advocacy who claim religion should not be tolerated in the workplace.“A sick room is there for a reason,” said Advocacy director Ron Banerjee. “Religion should not be playing a part in government.”The group, with the Jewish Defense League and others, have been protesting against Muslims students being allowed to pray under the guidance of an imam at Valley Park Middle School, on Overlea Blvd., on certain Fridays.“I think this is a bad precedent,” Banerjee said. “Other religious groups will soon be demanding a place to pray in other government offices.”The Ontario government last July sent a memo to employees telling them to be “sensitive” to their Muslim co-workers during the month of Ramadan, which was last month, because they would be fasting and praying from dusk to dawn.Managers were told to provide Muslims with a safe place to pray and that they will be using the bathroom more because they have to clean themselves before they worship.The Ontario Public Service, which has about 120,000 unionized employees, was selected one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers 2011 by an Internet job-search website. With the formation of a diversity office in 2008, it has increased employee training and created a “quiet room” to help meet employees’ religious and spiritual needs. Tory Leader Tim Hudak downplayed concerns raised by some employees over what they consider preferential treatment.Hudak doesn’t think its unfair workplace treatment.“One of the values we hold dear as Ontarians is equal treatment for all,” Hudak said, drawing a link to the Liberals’ lightning-rod pledge to offer what he called an “affirmative action tax credit.”“I think people are respectful (as long as) you get (your) work done,” he said. “It’s not my job to tell them what kind of meals to serve or what time of day (to do it).”Hmmmm....."One of the values we hold dear as Ontarians is equal treatment for all"..Hear,hear.Read the full story here.

• Did i Just wakeup in an other dimension?The Sheikh of Al-Azhar in an Exceptionally Tolerant Article: Christianity, Judaism Share Basic Tenets of Islam; Relationship between Muslims and Non-Muslims Must Be Based on 'Mutual Recognition'.(Memri).Al-Azhar, based in Cairo, is the most important center of learning and the supreme religious authority in the Sunni Muslim world. In an article published June 23, 2011 in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram, its head, Al-Azhar Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb, expressed remarkably tolerant views towards non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews. He wrote: "A Muslim cannot imagine all of mankind sharing a single creed or turning to a single religion – even if this religion is Islam. As long as this remains the case, the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims [must be] one of mutual recognition. The Islamic world has absorbed all the religions of the known world. In its western regions it encountered the Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity, and in its eastern region it encountered Hinduism and Buddhism." In the article, Al-Tayeb distinguishes between the fundamentals of the faith on the one hand and religious laws (shari'a) on the other. He states that the three Abrahamic religions – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity – share the fundamentals of faith, ritual, and morality, and differ only in their specific shari'a laws. He adds that since shari'a depends on circumstances of time and place, the existence of different shari'as is only natural. In saying this, he not only legitimizes Judaism and Christianity, but also implicitly sanctions the differences in shari'a between the Sunna and Shi'a, and among the various Sunni religious schools. An examination of Al-Tayeb's writing reveals that this trend of tolerance towards Christianity and Judaism goes back to his days as president of Al-Azhar University (2004-2010), though this recent article is the most far-reaching expression of this trend to date.Al-Tayeb emphasized that the dialogue must focus on the commonalities between the monotheistic faiths: belief in God, in His oneness, and in the monotheistic holy scriptures.In this article, and on other occasions, he stressed that a plurality of faiths is desirable according to Islam, and that he does not wish to bring all of humanity under one faith. He added: "As a Muslim, I am not required to carry a sword to convert members of other faiths in this generation. I am required to know other peoples and to maintain ties with them that are beneficial to both sides..."It should be noted that despite the tolerance towards Judaism reflected in some of his articles, Al-Tayeb refuses to conduct dialogue with Jewish rabbis or participate in conferences they attend. In one case, he said: "The Children of Israel only expect the dialogue to drag the Arabs toward normalization, without granting the Palestinians anything real. The Prophet maintained with the Jews relations [characterized by] a high degree of friendship and respect – to the extent that if a Muslim desired to marry a Jewish woman, he asked him not to require her to convert, and to take her to synagogue to pray. However, despite this, few Jews are inclined toward justice. The Arabs and Palestinians must know that Israel will not grant them their rights on a silver, copper, or paper platter... The Palestinians must unite in order to protect their legitimate rights and exercise their legitimate right to resist occupation, with everything this entails..."Hmmmm......."A snake that swims did not transform in an eel."Read the full story here.

• Al Jazeera journalist admits to being Hamas operative.(JPost).Samer Allawi, Al Jazeera’s former Afghanistan bureau chief, reached a deal with the Israel State state prosecutors office on Sunday under which he will receive a suspended sentence of three years after he confessed to conspiring in Hamas operations.Allawi, a Palestinian, was arrested in August on the border between the West Bank and Jordan at The Allenby Crossing.During an investigation with The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Allawi said he was recruited to Hamas in 1993 and he served there until 2004 in a senior committee that oversees Hamas operations abroad and is responsible for fundraising.In 2001 and 2003 he traveled to Syria where he reported on his activities to Mousa Aba Marzook, deputy to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in Damascus. Aba Marzook offered Allawi to become an official Hamas representative in Iran, but he rejected the offer.During the interrogation with The Shin Bet, Allawi said he attended a meeting in 2000 in Saudi Arabia in which he said he would be part of a terror operation on behalf of Hamas. He also offered to use his position as a reporter to promote Hamas interests. In 2006, Allawi traveled to Qatar and met with additional Al Jazeera reporters, who The Shin Bet said were Hamas operatives, and discussed the possibility of using their position to advance Hamas by critizing the US military in Afghanistan. During his interrogation, The Shin Bet said he also discussed his activities as a member of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan from 1988 till 1992 during which he said that he participated in a rebel raid on an Afghan military base and participated in guerrilla operations against Soviet forces.  Hmmmm......Flashback: Hillary Clinton praises Al Jazeera as a “real news” outlet.Read the full story here.

• Cain calls Obama’s plan Bullshit.(IOW).yahoo. After a few caffeine-heavy refills at our corner table, I asked him about President Obama’s new effort to raise taxes on the wealthy, and Cain just about blew a blood vessel–especially when I mentioned the part where Obama says it’s about “math” not “class warfare.”“Can I be blunt? That’s a lie,” Cain said, before the sound of his voice began to rise noticeably higher. “You’re not supposed to call the president a liar. Well if you’re not supposed to call the president a liar, he shouldn’t tell a lie. If it’s not class warfare, it’s highway robbery. He wants us to believe it’s not class warfare, oh okay, it’s not class warfare. Pick my pockets, because that’s what he’s doing!”Cain paused, took a breath and looked at me.“I’m not mad at you, I just get passionate about this stuff,” he said. “I have to tell people because I get so worked up . . . . I’m listening to all this bullshit that he’s talking about, ‘fairness’ and ‘balanced approach’ to get this economy going.”As anyone who watched the past couple of debates knows by now, Cain has his own plan that he says would steer the country out of its economic downturn. He calls it the “9-9-9 Plan,” and it would replace the current tax code with three flat, nine-percent federal taxes on income, consumption and business.“With 9-9-9 guess what? How many loopholes?” he said, tapping his fingers on the table like a drumroll. “None. Everybody gets treated the same. What a novel idea.”As the straw poll and his recent fundraising numbers suggest, Cain’s message is resonating with the conservative movement’s influential base of tea-party activists; for these supporters his status as a non-career politician with an extensive background in the private sector is nearly as strong a draw as his ideas and policy proposals. But despite his recent surge in support, few expect Cain’s momentum to carry him on to victory at the Republican National Convention in 2012.Read the full story here.

• Obama Fundraising Suffers Huge Drop-off.(WHD).By Keith Koffler.President Obama will raise substantially less in the second quarter of his campaign than the first, according to the New York Times.The paper writes that Obama campaign manager Jim Messina has told Democratic officials that the president will raise about $55 million in the quarter that ends Sept. 30, about $30 million less than he raised the first quarter of his campaign – which was the second quarter of the year, ending June 30.No doubt, $55 million is a lot of money. But something’s not right.The campaign attributes part of the decline to the need for Obama to stay in Washington address budget battles with Republicans. That is – sorry for the inconvenience – the need to be president.But a separate Times article Saturday that said many small donors are hesitant to start giving to Obama again. And it’s no secret that even for Democrats, the thrill is gone.This helps explain the vitriol Obama has been dumping out on the campaign trail. He needs to get people motivated to send him their money, and if he can get the hating thing going – hate Republicans, hate the rich, hate EVERYONE – maybe they’ll part with some cash.Hmmmm....Gone are the days of 'Hope and Change', now the days of 'Hate and Wrath' have arrived?Read the full story here.

• IRS Tightens its Grip in CAIR Probe.(WND).The IRS has forwarded a congressional complaint lodged against the Council on American-Islamic Relations to its investigations unit for further review. The FBI also has been alerted to evidence the prominent Muslim group has solicited funds from state sponsors of terrorism.The 8-page complaint originally was submitted by U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, the co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, after the IRS stripped Washington-based CAIR of its nonprofit status for failure to file annual tax reports as required by federal law.Wolf cited a 2009 letter in which CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad solicited funds from Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi. Referring to the brutal tyrant as “Your Excellency,” Awad asked for donations toward a $15 million fundraising drive. He thanked Gadhafi for his “generous support.”According to a diplomatic cable, CAIR Chairman Larry Shaw, a black convert to Islam, followed up by praising Gadhafi’s “leadership.”“We have felt for years pride and glory in your leadership,” Shaw, a longtime North Carolina state senator, told the terrorist leader in 2009. “We want to assure you that Muslims in America are your brothers and supporters. They share with you your interests and aspirations.”Wolf noted that Gadhafi’s “deplorable” human-rights record was well known to CAIR, long before he slaughtered his own people during the recent civil unrest. He also has a long history of supporting international terrorist attacks, including the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Gadhafi personally ordered the attack, which killed 270.CAIR’s Awad also personally solicited funds from Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, an internationally indicted war criminal, Wolf said in his June 24 letter to the IRS director.“I request that the IRS investigate whether Awad and CAIR may have violated U.S. law in soliciting or accepting money from foreign governments or agents during the period that CAIR failed to file” its tax records, he said.CAIR repeatedly failed to file its annual disclosure report, IRS Form 990. CAIR blames a clerical error for the delinquency, and claims to have completed the forms. However, several news organizations, including Politico.com, have asked CAIR for the 2007-2010 documents, and CAIR has not been able to produce them.“Compliance with this law is the only assurance the public has that an organization claiming tax-exempt status is not abusing this privilege,” Wolf wrote. “Given CAIR’s status as an un-indicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror-financing case, this failure to comply with federal disclosure laws is all the more troubling.”In a July 14 letter obtained by WND, IRS official Lois G. Lerner, director of exempt organizations, wrote that information raising questions about the legality of a tax-exempt organization’s activities is automatically forwarded to the IRS’ Dallas office “to determine if it warrants an examination or other action.”Wolf, in turn, sent the IRS letter and several pages of evidence to FBI Director Robert Mueller for criminal investigation. The FBI in 2007 cut off all formal ties to CAIR after evidence emerged from the Holy Land trial that the group was fronting for Hamas, a federally designated terrorist group.At a recent appearance in Florida, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said he would pursue an aggressive criminal investigation of CAIR if elected to the White House. “Absolutely,” Gingrich stated, when asked about it by a concerned citizen.Critics say CAIR should, at a minimum, be subjected to disclosure requirements under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The law requires foreign agents to report funding from foreign governments and all lobbying activities on their behalf.According to the bestseller, “Muslim Mafia,” which cites sensitive embassy cables and bank wire transfers, CAIR has solicited millions of dollars in funds from the Saudi Arabian and UAE governments, while publicly denying it takes foreign cash.The book uncovered evidence of direct payments of more than $100,000 into CAIR’s Citbank account from members of the Saudi royal family. It also noted the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank in 2007 opened an account for “CAIR Trust,” involving a $1 million grant for a religious endowment to be used “for the construction of a multi-purpose Waqf complex for CAIR in the U.S.”In addition, the book learned that redacted pre-2007 tax statements filed by CAIR reveal that Saudi businessman Adnan Bogary has contributed a whopping $600,000 a year to the group’s coffers.CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad, a leader of the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America, once bragged: “We can have as many organizations as we want” in America, no questions asked. The only thing the Brothers have to worry about, he advised, is covering up “orders” from abroad, as well as the “financial connections,” so that the organizations appear independent.“If you cover those bases, you will find that you, as an American organization, can do whatever you want,” the FBI recorded Ahmad saying during a secret Hamas meeting in Philadelphia, according to “Muslim Mafia”. Hamas is a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood.All told, CAIR has received more than $6.6 million in cash and loans, and more than $54 million in pledges from foreign principals based in Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Kuwait and other countries hostile to U.S. interests. At one point after 9/11, according to the book “Infiltration,” CAIR’s national headquarters were deeded over to the ruler of Dubai, a known sponsor of Hamas suicide bombers and their families. Dubai was the transit point for many of the hijackers as they entered the U.S. Funds for the 9/11 plot, moreover, were transferred through the city.Yet CAIR has failed to report these payments, while using such funds to target U.S. politicians, organizations and businesses for foreign-influence operations – potentially in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, contends Center for Security Policy President Frank J. Gaffney.“The evidence showing that CAIR should register as a foreign agent is conclusive,” said Gaffney, a former Reagan Pentagon official. “Hundreds of Americans, including elected officials, community groups, corporations and private citizens, have been – and continue to be – targeted by CAIR.”He says CAIR has a subversive agenda to support jihad and to Islamize America.“CAIR attempts to silence anyone opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood’s insinuation of Shariah – the totalitarian doctrine of authoritative Islamic law – into the United States, with a relentless program of accusations of bias, racism and ‘Islamophobia,’” Gaffney said.He notes that CAIR has met and coordinated with foreign principals on at least 30 occasions. And he says CAIR has engaged in at least 50 political-influence operations on behalf of foreign principals in the U.S.According to “Muslim Mafia,” CAIR has a stated strategy of placing staffers and operatives in key congressional committees dealing with homeland security to try to undermine efforts to crack down on Islamic terrorism. In one year alone, the book says, CAIR officials made more than 70 trips to the U.S. Capitol to lobby against the Patriot Act, for one example.CAIR is acting as a foreign agent, Gaffney asserts. Yet since its founding in 1994, it has failed to properly identify itself as such to the Justice Department and to the American public. Justice enforces the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.Gaffney urges American citizens to oppose CAIR’s political influence operations funded by hostile foreign governments by writing the Justice Department and requesting an investigation of CAIR under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.Read the full story here.

• "From Russia With A Vengeance?"Russia Hunts Down Chechen Terrorists Abroad.(Spiegel).On orders from the Kremlin, Russian agents have been liquidating Chechen terrorists abroad. Turkish investigators suspect that a Russian was also behind the latest killings, the recent murder of three Chechens in Istanbul. Some believe the operations are being planned from Berlin.The memorial service high above the Bosporus went far beyond what is usual at the funeral of terror suspects. Several thousand people turned up at the mosque, built by Sultan Mehmet, the conqueror of Constantinople, to mourn the deaths of three Chechens. A man wielding a pistol had shot the men from Russia's rebellious northern Caucasus region on Sept. 16 as they left a house in the European part of Istanbul. The killer fled in a black rental car. Last week, he managed to evade Turkish investigators who had tracked him down to his hotel, but he was in such a hurry that he left behind his pistol, a night-vision device and passports. The Turks are now looking for a 55-year-old Russian who entered Turkey in early September under the name Alexander Shirkov.So far, the government in Ankara has not commented on the murders. It is reluctant to jeopardize relations with its old geopolitical rival Russia, which had finally been improving recently. However, representatives of Islamist organizations sharply criticized what they called Moscow's "insidious state-sponsored terrorism" after the funeral service.The bloody deed is a sign of a larger conflict: the struggle between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and those in the Islamic world who sympathize with the radical Chechen underground fighters, provide them funding and grant them refuge. Putin is determined to prevent the region from breaking away from Russia at all costs.Russian intelligence agents appear to be systematically working off a hit list. When he came into power, Putin, who was president at the time, apparently decided to expand the death zone. "We will pursue the terrorists wherever they go. If we find them in the toilet, we'll kill them in the outhouse," the president vowed, and set his agents loose on Chechen rebels and terrorists abroad. In February 2004, Russian agents with diplomatic passports blew up an SUV carrying Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, a Chechen rebel commander, in Qatar, where he had been a guest of that country's emir. Interpol was searching for him, and his name was on a United Nations list of known terrorists, but Qatar refused to extradite Yandarbiyev to Moscow.When the murderers, officially members of the Russian diplomatic corps, were captured and arrested, Putin himself reached for the phone to secure their release in Qatar. In 2006, Putin got a law passed that legalized his approach, just as his counterpart, then-US President George W. Bush, had done a few years earlier. Now, Russian intelligence agencies and special forces are permitted to kill terrorists abroad. The order to liquidate suspects has to be issued by the president.The attacks were carried out in Arab countries, Azerbaidjan in the southern Caucasus and, in particular, Turkey. In September 2008, the Chechen militant Gaji Edilsultanov was murdered in Istanbul in broad daylight. Three months later, his fellow militant Islam Zhanibekov was killed in an execution-style shooting in front of his wife and children. Russian special-forces units had targeted the Chechen because of his involvement in several terrorist attacks.Musa Atayev, a Chechen field commander who was in Turkey under a false name, was killed in Istanbul in February 2009. Neighbors found him lying dead in a pool of blood. Atayev was believed to be the Istanbul representative of terrorist leader Doku Umarov, who has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, including the bombing of the Moscow Metro in March 2010, which killed 40 people, and the attack on the city's Domodedovo International Airport in January 2011. The airport bombing claimed 37 lives. Because of his involvement in these attacks, Umarov is often referred to as the "bin Laden of the Caucasus."According to Turkish police, Alexander Shirkov, who is now suspected of having organized and committed the recent triple murder, was in Istanbul when Atayev died in February 2009.Late last week, there was speculation on Chechen underground websites, as well as in the Russian and Turkish media, that a so-called "Berlin group" may have been involved in the killings. Russian undercover operations have allegedly been directed from the German capital, of all places.Officially, German authorities have no solid evidence that this is the case. However, they did not fail to notice that more than 1,200 Chechen exiles and Russian intelligence agents are now stalking each other in Berlin. The Germans have also noticed that Umarov's following is growing. They report dubious flows of cash -- including from young men who are leaving Germany to join the holy war in the Caucasus.Hmmmm.....No more Visa duty between Turkey and Russia, as i warned in the past terrorists will be traveling between both countries.Sochi will likely be the scene of the next Russian Islamic extremists bloodbath.Lets hope"The Motherland Gets it's men"before it's too late?Read the full story here.

• Eleven children among 16 killed by Afghan roadside bomb.(TheNewAge).Sixteen people including 11 children were killed when a bus hit a roadside bomb in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, a local government official said."At around 1:00 pm (0830 GMT) today a passenger bus returning from a wedding party hit a roadside bomb in Shindand district, killing 16 people," said Mohayedin Noori, spokesman for the Herat provincial government.He added that 11 children, four women and one man were among the dead.Herat police spokesman Noor Khan Neikzad blamed the attack on the Taliban, the leaders of a decade-long insurgency in Afghanistan."The area in which the incident has happened is restive, the Taliban are active there," he said. "We believe they are responsible for killing the civilians." The Taliban were not immediately reachable for comment.Roadside bombs are a major cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, killing hundreds of people every year.Read the full story here.

• Erdogan's WorldWarIII push - Cyprus Drilling: Tension High as “Piri Reis” Enters Block 12.(KTG).Tension is high around the drilling off shore of Cyprus as the Turkish research vessel Piri Reis has allegedly entered Block 12. Greek newspaper Proto Thema claims that Piri Reis entered the area of Block 12 where US company “Noble Energy” carries out natural gas research. The Piri Reis entered the area in the early morning hours on Tuesday and is accompanied by two warships, the frigate “Giresun” and the corvette “Bartin. The Turkish vessel sailed approximately 25 nautical miles northwest form the platform “Homer Ferrington” from where the drilling is carried out.Should Piri Reis start research in the Block 12 is an action that violates the sovereignty of the Cyprus marine Exclusive Economic Zone, an EEZ that Nicosia set together with Israel and other neighbouring states.At the same time, Cyprus is performing a Search and Rescue exercise in the area with helicopters and ships. Odd enough Great Britain joined the exercise with one helicopter!NOTAM

Cyprus + British S.A.R exercise on the way to Turkish Piri Peis ship today. Read NOTAM A0717/11 – SEARCH AND RESCUE EXERCISE WILL TAKE PLACE IN AREA BOUNDED BY: 344000N0330530E 343800N0331400E 342800N0331200E 342100N0325800E 342000N0325000E 343000N0325000E 343030N0330300E 343230N0330500E IN THE INTEREST OF FLIGHT SAFETY UNITS OTHER THAN THE PARTICIPATING HELICOPTERS ARE STRICTLY ADVISED NOT TO ENTER THE ABOVE AREA WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE NICOSIA ATC. SFC – 3000FT AMSL, 27 SEP 08:00 2011 UNTIL 27 SEP 12:00 2011. CREATED: 26 SEP 13:58 2011 (source: Greek journalist Ioanna Iliadi)

Of course, there is the question of what GB is doing down there right now. Maybe to press Nicosia AND Ankara for a drilling share in times where Cyprus, a former British colony, is dancing with USA and Israel? Diplomacy is a hard school…Hmmmm....Why is Obama supporting Erdogan?Read the full story here.

• Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman Rips Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan As “Radical Islamic Extremist”.(JPost).(Video).Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman fiercely attacked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an Israel Beiteinu pre-Rosh Hashana toast on Monday, calling his administration “a radical Islamic extremist leadership that supports and develops terror.”Lieberman said the Israeli government would stand by the Israeli soldiers who were named in a Turkish newspaper on Monday as bearing responsibility for the IDF’s response to the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in which nine Turkish militants were killed.He mocked Erdogan’s accusations against Israel in media interviews during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.“I saw Erdogan on CNN, and I think [his performance] was great for us,” Lieberman said. “If I wanted to improve Israeli hasbara [advocacy], I would buy media outlets around the world and have Erdogan talk from morning until night.”Lieberman also lashed out at MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al), who flew to New York with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and applauded during his speech.“Representatives of terrorist organizations in the Knesset came to New York as part of the Palestinian delegation and spewed fire,” Lieberman said. “I find it interesting that I never hear Arab MKs complaining about mass murder in Syria.”“There is no diplomatic tsunami or even rain on a cloudy day," Lieberman said. “I remember all the predictions of doom and all the people who said there would be a catastrophe. They should read the statements of the US State Department, Obama's speech and the document of the Quartet. I have reservations about the Quartet's decision, but the fact that it calls for negotiations without preconditions is a great achievement for Israel.”Lieberman rejected Palestinian demands to change the Paris protocol on economic relations with the Palestinians, saying that he could guarantee that Israel would not “change even a comma” in the agreement.Read and see the full story here.

• Terrorists blow up Sinai gas pipeline to Israel.(DocsTalk).REUTERS AND JPOST.COM STAFF.Witnesses say 3 men open fire on pipeline near El-Arish; man admitted to local hospital with burns from the blast; fire brigades bringing flames under control after gas supply cut off; sixth such attack this year.ISMAILIYA, Egypt - Unknown assailants blew up an Egyptian pipeline in Sinai on Tuesday that supplies Israel and Jordan with gas, security sources and witnesses said.A witness told investigators he saw three men jump out of a small truck at a pumping station in an area known as al-Maidan, southwest of the city of el-Arish, and open fire on the pipeline, the security sources said. This was followed by a large explosion heard across the city and witnesses said 15-meter high flames could be seen shooting up from the pipeline.A local hospital said one man was admitted with burns from the blast, which also set olive groves and shacks in the area on fire. Fire brigades were bringing the flames under control after the company operating the pipeline cut off the gas supply.The incident marked the sixth such attack on the pipeline since former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.The last attack occurred in July when men with machine guns in a small truck forced guards at a station out and blew it up.The extent of the damage caused by Tuesday's blast and the effect on gas supplies to Israel and Jordan was not immediately clear.Egypt has been trying to charge Israel and Jordan more for its gas after complaining that prices fixed during Mubarak's rule were below market rates.The pipeline is run by Gasco, Egypt's gas transport company which is a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS.The Egyptian armed forces launched a security operation in Sinai in August to root out hundreds of suspected militants believed to be behind some of the attacks on the pipeline and police compounds in the peninsula.Security sources said then that they had captured a group of four Islamist militants as they prepared to blow up the gas pipeline in el-Arish.Read the full story here.

• Discriminative Discourse in History Textbooks Upsets Assyrians in Turkey.(Aina).High school history textbooks for 2011-2012 prepared by the Turkish Ministry of Education include anti-Assyrian statements, resulting in disappointed Assyrians at a time when Turkey has been renewing relations with its minorities by eliminating unfair treatment in all sectors of social and economic life.According to a report in the Radikal daily on Monday, the textbook presents Assyrians as traitors to the country not just in a given historical period but also today. "The Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire" is a very problematic part of the textbook in that sense.It frames World War I as a breaking point in which Assyrians betrayed and stabbed the country in the back by cooperating with the great powers like Russia. Moreover, it also focuses on recent sociological aspects of the community's relations with the state. The migration of Assyrians to Europe increased for economic reasons. But this fact is presented in the text from a negative standpoint in which Assyrians are instrumental elements for European political goals, manipulating them for Western interests in their relation with Turkey.Due to the Lausanne Treaty, Assyrians became citizens of the newborn Republic of Turkey in 1923. The text also touches on the issue of Assyrian genocide, labeling the speculations senseless and politically motivated to damage the Turkish position. "There was no genocide carried out against Assyrians in 1915 as has been claimed," the text stated. Assyrian writer Markuz Ürek criticized various aspects of the book. The first objection was that the history of Assyrian people must be rewritten with the assistance of Assyrian scholars and by taking their opinions into account. According to Ürek, the Assyrian people want to live peacefully in this country rather than troubling Turkish society as claimed in the book. Ürek stated that the textbook would have been ideal if it had been written objectively rather than taking a one-sided and subjective standpoint."This textbook must serve the cause of uniting society rather than using a discriminative discourse that can only serve to further fragment society as some segments of society have felt excluded," Ürek told Radikal. According to Ürek, in contrast to the narrative in the book, there was no Assyrian revolt against the Ottoman state during World War I but rather self-defensive moves to protect against aggressive and hostile acts of Kurdish tribes in the Southeast. Assyrians are a minority who belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church and predominantly live in southeast Anatolia. Due to political pressure, Assyrians, like other minorities, faced serious problems during the Republican era. Only 15,000 are left in Turkey, after many migrated to Europe.Read the full story here.

• Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos: Turkey Destroys Religious Heritage in Occupied Cyprus.(Aina).Archbishop of Cyprus Chrysostomos II has indicted Turkey for the destruction of holy sites in the northern Turkish occupied areas of the island, calling on the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Georgia, Elias, to assist in any way possible and to exert pressure on the matter in the international arena.The Archbishop, who paid an official visit to the Orthodox Church of Georgia, at the invitation of Patriarch Elias, was speaking at a concelebrating ceremony on Sunday in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi.He said that more than 500 Orthodox churches and monasteries in the occupied areas are in a miserable condition."Some of these churches and monasteries have been destroyed, others have been transformed into mosques, night clubs, army camps even stables. Our holy icons and other religious items have been sold to Europe and America", he noted.He said that the Church of Cyprus has been long demanding a permit from the illegal Turkish Cypriot regime in order to repair these churches and monasteries, however there has been no response so far.The Archbishop also referred to the Cyprus problem, noting that Turkey illegally invaded Cyprus in 1974, occupying 37% of the country, adding that it wants to take over the occupied areas and the rest of Cyprus.Turkey, he pointed out, is implementing "ethnic cleansing" tactics in Cyprus, by driving away all Christian Orthodox from their homeland and bringing Muslim settlers from Anatolia, changing the demographics of the whole of Cyprus.Read the full story here.

• Two more women murdered last weekend in Turkey.(TodaysZaman).Two women were killed in instances of domestic violence last weekend in Turkey, where violence against women continues to afflict the country.One woman was killed by her family on Saturday in the eastern province of Elazığ because she gave birth outside of wedlock, the Taraf daily reported on Monday. The family gave her baby to the police, saying they had found it in a field.An individual who knew the family spoke with Taraf correspondents about the tragic murder, stating, “I cannot bear the shame.”Ayşe Konar (30) hid her pregnancy from her family, claiming she had a tumor in her stomach. After she gave birth to the child outside of wedlock, the elders in Konar's family threatened and beat her. One family member tried to strangle her so that she would reveal who the father of the child was, but Konar refused to answer.The family took Konar to the hospital, where she subsequently died from serious injuries. Her brother told police that he had killed her, and her aunt gave them the baby, claiming to have found it alone in a field.In the northwestern province of Yalova, a man allegedly stabbed his ex-wife to death during an argument.Mustafa Görmez (54) and Meve Yayla (33) divorced two months ago following three years of marriage. Görmez went to Yayla's home in Yalova's Çınarcık district to supposedly make peace, but an argument soon broke out. The quarrel escalated when Görmez reportedly took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed his ex-wife eight times in the eye and back.Yayla died at the scene of the incident. Görmez was taken into custody and referred to court for the alleged murder of his ex-wife. According to police reports, Görmez had been detained for many knife and gun-related crimes in the past.A report on violence against women by the İstanbul branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD) found that a total of 4,190 women have been killed by men across Turkey in the last seven years. The study also confirmed that honor killings and family councils still operate in eastern Turkey. Family councils describe a sort of traditional justice system in the more rural and eastern parts of Turkey in which family elders meet to discuss and make decisions on personal and community matters.Hmmmm.....Keep Turkey out of the European Union!Read the full story here.

• Pakistani Clerics' Fatwa Says Jihad Mandatory On All Pakistanis In Case Of U.S. Attack On Pakistani Soil.(Memri).Dozens of Islamic clerics in Pakistan have jointly issued a fatwa, declaring that jihad will be mandatory on the entire Pakistani nation in the case of a possible U.S. attack on the Pakistani soil, according to an Urdu-language daily.The fatwa came after the U.S. accused Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting the Taliban's Haqqani Network to carry out the recent terror attack on the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul.About 50 muftis (Islamic scholars qualified to declare fatwas) issued the decree at a meeting of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) in Lahore. The Sunni Ittehad Council is an organization of Barelvi Sunni clerics in Pakistan. Leaders of about fifty religious organizations participated in the meeting, according to a report in the Urdu-language Roznama Ummat.At the SIC's emergency meeting chaired by Sahibzada Fazal Karim, the Barelvi clerics - who are opposed to the Deobandi-supported Taliban, also asked the Pakistani government to formally start preaching Jihad Fi Sabeel Allah (Jihad only in the way of Allah) in accordance with the rules of Islamic Shariah and take all necessary measures to defend the country's sovereignty.According to the report, the fatwa declared that calling America a super power is Kufr (sinful, being an infidel), as Allah Almighty alone is the super power. It said that the "anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam designs of the U.S. have came into limelight; therefore, the government should forthwith part ways with America as a frontline ally in the war against terrorism and make efforts for a joint front with China, Turkey, Afghanistan and Iran."

"A Muslim is not scared of anyone except Allah and considers martyrdom an honor," the fatwa said, adding, "It will be a real jihad and mandatory for each Pakistani to participate in it according to his capacity to defend the county's frontiers."The fatwa also urged the political and military leadership of Pakistan to start the preparation for war in accordance with Islamic Sharia which requires the Islamic governments of the time to prepare their "horses" to combat enemy forces. According to the report, the clerics also appealed to all political forces to shun their differences and gather on one platform under the banner of Islam to defend the country's independence and sovereignty and to convey a message to the U.S. that the religious, political and military leaderships of Pakistan are united against any foreign aggression.The fatwa also proposed that all politicians, bureaucrats and military leaders should bring back their assets from foreign banks to Pakistan. It called upon the Pakistani nation to promote a culture of austerity to the overcome economic crisis faced by Pakistan. The fatwa also appreciated the bold stand of Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani against the U.S. allegations.Hmmmm.....Exactly how many $ Billion Dollar did the Obama Administration Give them?Read the full story here.

• Pope Spoke of 'Slow Suicide of Europe Through "Muslim immigration".(TheDailyBeast).By Andrew Roberts.An upcoming autobiography from press baron Conrad Black reveals that Pope Benedict lamented the 'slow suicide of Europe' because of Muslim immigration. Buried away on page 48 of the former press proprietor Conrad Black’s superb, soon-to-be-published autobiography, A Matter of Principle, is the answer to a burning question that very many people have been asking for several years: What does the pope really think about Islamic immigration into Europe?

... Lord Black’s authoritative and highly readable new memoir (full disclosure: I’m a dedicatee) reveals that at a small dinner party given at the home of Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter, the then–cardinal archbishop of Toronto, in 1990, the then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—now Pope Benedict—"lamented 'the slow suicide of Europe:' its population was aging and shrinking, and the unborn were being partly replaced by unassimilable immigrants. He thought that Europe would awake from its torpor, but that there were difficult days head."... thanks to Lord Black’s fascinating book we now know what the pope really thinks, and indeed thought back in 1990, even before the last two decades of mass immigration into Europe from African and Middle Eastern Muslim countries. For the phrase "unassimilable immigrants" cannot refer to anyone else, because there was no large-scale immigration into Europe at that time from any other peoples who fit that description. The largely unassimilated Muslim populations of Germany, France, Holland, Italy, and Britain were undoubtedly what His Holiness was discussing, and in his (correct) view they represent "the slow suicide of Europe," or at least the Christian Europe for which he should be the prime spokesman. It was Arnold Toynbee who wrote in his multicivilizational work The Study of History that "Civilizations die from suicide, not murder." Now we know that the pope agrees with him, but only in private, not in public, just in case the reaction is too unpleasant.Hmmmm.......Read the full story here.