Sunday, March 11, 2012
Obama attempting to undermine the legality of an Israeli strike?
Obama attempting to undermine the legality of an Israeli strike?(PIM).Ht : IsraelMatzav.Over the course of a week in which the president spoke frequently on the subject of Iran, one message stood out. By vociferously arguing that his administration’s brand of diplomacy is realistically capable of ending Iran’s efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, and that views to the contrary are irresponsible war-mongering, Obama is attempting to undermine the legality of an Israeli strike.In fact, self-defense in international law depends on the assessment that the threat posed to one’s civilian population is real and sufficiently imminent as to justify the use of force to prevent the impending harm. Given the catastrophic nature of the danger, it is not necessary for Israel — or America — to wait until the genocidal Iranian mullahs and President Ahmadinejad have their hands on the nuclear trigger.
But President Obama is painting a different picture. If Israel can be cast as pre-empting or foregoing the reasonable possibility of diplomatic success with a “rational actor” — as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey recently described Iran — then it would not be engaged in justifiable self-defense. Labeling discussion of the necessity of using force to stymie Iran’s aggressive behavior as “loose talk of war” or “beating the drums of war” — in the president’s words — is also to deny that such a move would be legitimate self-defense.
This explains why in Sunday’s speech to the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, the president lunged the knife into Israel’s back and twisted it: “I firmly believe that an opportunity still remains for diplomacy. … Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make the right decision. … Israel…[has] an interest in seeing this challenge resolved diplomatically.” The insulting innuendo was that without his wise admonition Israeli mothers and fathers would be hankering to send their children into battle.Almost three years later, the president is still spinning his wheels. On March 6, 2012, after the administration announced a new round of talks with Iran, the president told a news conference in eerily similar terms: “To resolve this issue will require Iran to come to the table and discuss in a clear and forthright way how to prove to the international community that the intentions of their nuclear program are peaceful. … They know how to do it, and the question is going to be whether in these discussions they show themselves moving clearly in that direction.”
So let’s recap. The leading state sponsor of terrorism is poised to acquire the world’s most dangerous weapon. The president of the United States is still pretending that Iran could prove that its intentions are peaceful and is wondering where the Iranians are headed. And to forestall the possibility that Israel will give up on America’s commander-in-chief having his own country’s back, let alone theirs, President Obama is busy sabotaging the Jewish state’s right of self-defense.Twenty-four centuries later and Purim is as relevant as ever.Hmmmm..............Restrictions on Foreign Use of U.S. Weapons Systems.....................but obama would never use this...............would he?He's guarding your back.read the full story here.
MFS -The Other News - What the main papers don't say.
Morning Posting.
- Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity situation Vanuatu 5.1 !More info here.
- This is not a Purim story: UN to condemn Israel for its treatment of women! (IsraelMatzav).You can't make this stuff up. The country that currently has three parties in the Knesset headed by women (Kadima, Labor and Meretz) is going to be the only country condemned by the UN for its treatment of women. However, the panel is expected to also an eight-clause resolution, determining that the "Israeli occupation" in territories, including East Jerusalem, is the main obstacle for the advancement of the Palestinian woman.The panel, which includes representatives from 45 countries, including Israel, is considered to be one of the UN's most active and respected bodies.Responding to the decision to condemn Israel, Israeli envoy to the UN Ron Prosor told Haaretz that the "council's bring levels of absurdity and cynicism to new heights.""The thousands of Syrian women butchered, tortured, raped and trampled under Assad's iron boot don't even get a passing mention in the panel's decisions," Prosor added. Nor do the Saudis, whose women need a male guardian to venture outdoors, nor do the 'Palestinians' who regularly murder women over 'family honor, nor do the Egyptians, whose women are regularly sexually harassed, nor do the Iranians or any of the Arab countries. Only the Jooos, who happen to treat women better than any other country within 1,000 miles of here.Hmmmmm.......United Nutcases?Read the full story here.
- Iranian women get naked to protest their role as second-class citizens.......Where's the U.N. outrage? (BNI).A group of Iranian women living abroad have recorded a video message in which they defend women’s rights – while posing topless. The women speak straight to the camera, explaining their reasons for posing nude: “My nudity is a ‘no’ to stoning to death,” “For those who want to but can’t…”, and even: “Why not?”“The Islamic laws Iranian women are subjected to are what’s pornographic, since they define women as sexual objects”8 March 2012 International Women’s Day – the Nude Photo Revolutionaries Calendar is being launched in homage to Egyptian atheist, student and blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy who posted a nude photo of herself, announcing the post on Twitter under the hashtag, #NudePhotoRevolutionary.The calendar is the idea of campaigner Maryam Namazie to support Aliaa Magda Elmahdy and join her ‘screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy’.Namazie says: ‘What with Islamism and the religious right being obsessed with women’s bodies and demanding that we be veiled, bound, and gagged, nudity breaks taboos and is an important form of resistance.’The calendar is designed by SlutWalk Co-founder Toronto, Sonya JF Barnett who says: ‘I felt that women needed to stand in solidarity with Aliaa. It takes a lot of guts to do what she did, and the backlash is always expected and can quite hurtful. She needed to know that there are others like her, willing to push the envelope to express outrage.’Read the full story here.
- Obama allowing Turkey to reverse engineer US weaponry.(IsraelMatzav).President Obama loves Turkey and its Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan so much that he's decided to let the Turks reverse engineer American weaponry (Hat Tip: Joshua I). Turkey makes no secret of its desire to bolster its domestic armament industry. And yet President Obama has provided Prime Minister Erdogan with the exact same technology which Turkey now seeks to manufacture. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that Turkey now brags it has reaped billions of dollars during the past few years selling advanced weaponry. It should come as no surprise that Saudi Arabia is Turkey’s best customer.Hmmmm.........Both carry the same 'love' for Israel.Read the full story here.
- Berlin Funeral for Dead Muslim Thug Looks Like Something Out of the Gaza Strip.(IVE).Yesterday I posted about how Muslim thugs in Berlin were promising revenge after a German man they were attacking stabbed one of them to death. These are pictures from the dead Muslim's funeral procession. There were shouts of "Allahu Akbhar!" As PI noted, these photographs could have come from the Gaza Strip.On police advice, the German man who killed the Muslim in self-defence has moved out of the area with his family to stay with relatives.See chilling video of it here.Read the full story here.More here.
- Muslim persecution of Copts In Egypt.(AEB).First of all I’d like to say that the problem with the Muslim persecution of Copts in Egypt is that it’s indirect, for instance: the state allows building 10 or 20 Churches to show how they are tolerant with building Churches while banning 300 churches and allow 5 or 6 Copts for high posts to show they are tolerant toward the Coptic people while disallowing 7000. Muslim people smile in your face and stab you in the back. Muslims are not just are persecuting Copts but also frightened of taking the consequences of such shameful act which is the real problem: this is why the Muslim persecution of Copts is a Kind of Stealth persecution enough to make even some Copts believe there is no persecution..The Persecution is practiced by the entire Muslim Egyptian nation not just by the Muslim people or just the regime as the well known Muslim writer Alaa’ Alaswani used to say, the regime persecute Coptic people to avoid wrath of the Muslim people because if they are fair to Copts ,the Muslim people will go mad, the regime never forget that Muslims assassinated Sadat for the peace treaty with “Jews”, the regime reads history and never forget that Muslim people in 735AD assassinated the Muslim governor Waleed Bin Refa’ah when he allowed Coptic people to build a church …The persecution by the state is....Read the full story here.
Hmmm....."Tweets will not be shown in certain countries" #IsraelUnderFire from Gaza plays out on Twitter.
Hmmm....."Tweets will not be shown in certain countries" #IsraelUnderFire from Gaza plays out on Twitter.(JPost).As rockets continued to hit communities in southern Israel on Sunday, the battle for promoting information in real time about what was unfolding on the ground in Gaza and in the Israeli communities nearby was heating up online too.Almost as the first barrage of rockets fired into Israel were reported Friday night, a new stream, #Israelunderfire, opened up on the social media networking site Twitter, with local residents and Israeli government officials using the hashtag to tell their version of the events. Tweeps (users posting on Twitter) in Gaza and pro-Palestinian bloggers worldwide used different hashtags to tell their version of events too.
On the Israeli side, a curious mix of citizens journalism, with eyewitnesses in Beersheva, Ashkelon and elsewhere, reported on rockets as they fell, life in a shelter and pinpointed unfair media coverage of the escalation in violence.
Meanwhile, IDF and government spokespeople also tried to provide clearer information on the injured and play down some of the harsher accusations lauded by pro-Palestinian groups online.
On Friday, as the news broke of increased rocket fire, the official @IDFSpokesperson twitter account announced: “1 million Israelis live every day with 15 seconds to run for their life in case of a rocket attack.”
That comment was retweeted around the world and translated into many different languages as supporters of Israel woke up to the news of the escalation in attacks on Saturday morning.
Pro-Israel supporters promoted the #Israelunderfire stream and worked on other platforms around the web to make sure that Israel’s side of the story was also being told.
IDF Spokesperson to the international press Avital Leibovich continued tweeting on through Sunday, updating her account after each incident.Hmmmm..............Twitter to selectively 'censor' tweets by country.Now to disclose which tweets are seen in which country would be nice.Talk about 'manipulating' newsevents.Read the full story here.
Iran Accuses Hamas of Relinquishing the Path of Resistance, might also share Arafat's fate.
Iran-Hamas Crisis: Iran Accuses Hamas of Relinquishing the Path of Resistance.(Memri).By: A. Savyon and Y. Mansharof.Hamas Political Bureau head Khaled Mash'al's signing of a February 6, 2012 agreement in Doha to form a national unity government with Fatah, headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas, prompted Tehran to warn the Hamas leadership against abandoning the path of "resistance" and adopting Yasser Arafat's way. Likewise, the Iranian regime's dailies attacked Mash'al for signing the agreement.
Statements by the head of the Hamas administration in Gaza, Isma'il Haniya, on February 24, in support of the anti-Assad rebels in Syria elicited no public reaction from the Iranian leadership. However, lower-level regime figures, most of them columnists, expressed Tehran's fury over Haniya's statements and over his and Hamas's "ingratitude" towards Iran and the Assad regime. Their statements reflected Tehran's fear that Hamas's rapprochement with the Arab monarchies would deal a sore blow to the "resistance axis." Reflecting Tehran's dismay, they explained the change in Hamas's position as the result of pressures exerted on its leadership by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and accused these countries of using their "petrodollars" to persuade Hamas to shift its loyalty and abandon Tehran and the resistance axis in favor of their own camp.
It seems that Iran, Hamas's patron, fears that the "Tehran-Damascus resistance axis" might crumble as a result of the grave situation of the Assad regime and the loss of Tehran's influence over its proxies, especially the Arab-Sunni Hamas, whose leadership has already moved out of Damascus. Tehran is therefore following the strategic decisions of Hamas's leadership with considerable trepidation. Specifically, it seems to fear that under the influence of the rich Arab countries – namely Qatar and Saudi Arabia – the Hamas leadership will accept Fatah's authority and even join it in signing an agreement with Israel.
This report analyzes Tehran's reaction to Hamas's moves.Tehran's Reaction to the Doha Agreement: Khamenei Tells Haniya to "Learn a Lesson from Arafat's Fate"
At a February 12, 2012 meeting with Haniya, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly warned Hamas to purge from the movement all those willing to compromise on the issue of resistance, hinting at Mash'al's rapprochement with Fatah. Khamenei warned that Hamas leaders who would emulate Arafat, who had abandoned the path of resistance, might also share Arafat's fate. He added: "Care must always be taken not to let the resistance organizations be infiltrated by appeasers, because this will lead to a gradual death."
Several days later, the conservative daily Jomhouri-ye Eslami, which is close to the religious seminaries of Qom, published a verbatim account of Khamenei's remark about Arafat. He said to Haniya: "One must take a lesson from the fate of Yasser Arafat, who was ostracized by the nations of the region for abandoning the path of resistance, after meriting acclaim for years for his steadfastness. Everyone must know that resistance and steadfastness are what earn [leaders] the support of the people, and that they are the greatest asset, which must be preserved."
Khamenei promised Haniya that Tehran would always stand by the Palestinians in their resistance, because "the Palestinian cause is an Iranian and Islamic cause."
He urged the Palestinians to fulfill their duty of upholding the resistance: "We do not doubt your steadfastness or that of many [other] brothers [in Hamas]. The public expects nothing from the Palestinian resistance but steadfastness."
In a February 25, 2012 article titled "Hamas's Historic Mistake," Iranian political columnist Hassan Hanizadeh, a regime loyalist and a member of the editorial board of the conservative news agency Mehr, complained that Hamas was showing Iran ingratitude at a difficult time. The article, on the conservative website Asr-e Iran, personally and sharply criticized Isma'il Haniya, enumerated the historic mistakes made by the Palestinian leadership, both Fatah and Hamas, and claimed that Saudi Arabia and Qatar are working against Palestinian interests. The following are the main points of his article:
"It is already known that throughout the 64 years that have passed since the establishment of the Zionist regime, the political leaders of Palestine have not learned their lesson from history, and are repeating their previous mistakes. The first historic mistake of the leaders of Palestine was that they believed the ruse of the past leaders of the Arab world, and [in 1948,] convinced the Palestinian people to leave occupied Palestine while promising them that they would quickly return to it. Thinking that their exile would be brief, the Palestinian people emigrated to Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq – but did not get to return [to Palestine]...
"Hamas, which began its struggle in 1987 with the 'intifada of the stones,' managed to gain high status among the Muslim masses and in Palestine. Hamas fighters were successful in tipping the domestic, regional, and international balance towards the Palestinian people – but Hamas's leaders made another historic mistake.
"The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan asked Hamas to abandon the phase of military belligerence and to enter the political phase of forming the [Palestinian] government. In 2005, Hamas ran in the [Gaza] parliamentary elections, believing that the establishment of a revolutionary government would push Israel into further concessions. But while Hamas successfully formed a government after it won most of the parliamentary seats, not one of the heads of the Arab regimes was willing to officially recognize the Hamas government, despite their previous assurances.
Iranian Political Columnist: Haniya and Hamas Are Ingrates.
"Today, again, Hamas is making another strategic mistake – intending to sacrifice the gains of its struggle for the vain, mendacious promises of the Saudi, Bahraini, Qatari, and UAE leaders. "If Haniya thinks that the Arab Spring is a time to sing like a drunk and forget his old friends, he is making yet another historic mistake – because the heads of the Arab regimes never have been and never will be faithful to the Palestinian people.
"The chameleon leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE will not solve the Palestinian issue, which is a complex issue with nebulous political, international, and security aspects, which exceed their understanding and their intellect. "Haniya and his Hamas comrades must know that the Iranian nation has never stopped supporting the Palestinian nation, even in the worst possible conditions of economic and international blockade, and that there is no room for ingratitude in the political and social lexicon of the Iranian nation.
"During the 2009 Qods Day [i.e., Jerusalem Day] ceremonies, the great and loyal nation of Iran silenced those few known individuals who shouted, 'Neither Gaza nor Lebanon' [a reference to supporters of the protest movement in Iran] – and expected that Haniya would likewise silence those who shouted the slogan 'Neither Iran nor Hizbullah.'"
Iranian Websites: Haniya Supports the Syrian Demonstrators Because of Saudi-Qatari Pressure.
Jomhouri-ye Eslami: Palestinian Unity Must Not Come at the Cost of Reconciliation with Israel
On February 9, 2012, Jomhouri-ye Eslami wrote: "This unexpected development [i.e., the signing of the Doha agreement] came as a surprise. Neither the Palestinian people nor public opinion in the region expected such a move from Hamas, considering the reputation of its [armed] struggle and its anti-Zionist policy – and they awaited clarifications from Hamas officials.
"Among regional public opinion, the question arises as to why Hamas officials agreed to relinquish the initiative for action to the Palestinian conciliatory movement [i.e., Fatah], which has an unwelcome stance vis-Ã -vis the Palestinian ideals.
"In the recent elections, Hamas managed to win most of the votes of the Palestinian people because of its anti-Zionist slogans and its opposition to reconciliation [with Israel]. But its new positions run contrary to its early slogans. "Unity among the Palestinian factions is desirable... but it cannot justify handing the destiny of the Palestinian nation over to those who would reconcile [with Israel].
"There are unverified reports that the wealthy Arab rulers, headed by the government of Qatar, used dollars from oil [revenues] to lure several of the Palestinian leaders and encourage them to accept these new terms. Clarifications from the Palestinian officials would help clear up this matter."
Kayhan: Mash'al, Who Was Absent During the Gaza War, Has Been Seduced by Qatar, Saudi Arabia
The daily Kayhan, which is close to Khamenei, also criticized Mash'al, whom they described as enjoying a comfortable life outside Palestine, for his willingness to openly reconcile with Fatah. In a February 15, 2012 article titled "Talks between the Wolf and the Sheep – 'Abbas and Mash'al," the daily criticized Mash'al for becoming a "diplomat," in contrast to Haniya, who has adhered to the path of resistance, and slammed him for allowing himself to be seduced by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, like other Palestinian leaders before him, such as Muhammad Dahlan.
The article stated: "Those corrupt Arab leaders [of Qatar and Saudi Arabia], who have turned the PLO and the PA into rubbish using economic levers, and who have sacrificed the Palestinians' prestige to the Zionist hangmen, have recently begun chasing after Hamas, [Islamic] Jihad, and the jihad groups that belong to them [i.e., the Resistance Committees] – with the aim of applying the 'Arafat model' to the leaders of these forces. Some jihad leaders who have been far from the battlefields [of Gaza], and who are diplomats more [than warriors], were seduced by the Arab leaders and their attempts to influence [them].
"This is no secret. And if we compare the tone of the statements by [Hamas] leaders in Gaza with [the tone of the statements by Hamas] leaders living in neighboring countries, we will notice the difference... It is no coincidence that Isma'il Haniya, who experienced the bitterness of the oppressive five-year siege on Gaza at first hand, has said explicitly... that he regards the liberation of Palestine, from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] sea, as a tangible strategy, whereas others, who were absent from the battlefield [i.e., Mash'al], exhibit fatigue."
In another article, Kayhan stated that the U.S. and Qatar have a secret understanding whereby the latter will increase its anti-Iranian activity in the region, and that, as part of this understanding, the U.S. has charged the Qatari Emir of reaching out to Hamas, Hizbullah, and Islamic Jihad in attempt to distance them from Iran's influence.Hmmmmm......"May you live in onteresting times..........it seems we are".Hmmmm........Quatar where the 'Obama Admin' just 'installed' the new Taliban office.Read the full story here.
Iranian Lawmaker: Europe Should Take Lesson from Embarrassing Return to Iran
Iranian Lawmaker: Europe Should Take Lesson from Embarrassing Return to Iran.(Fars).TEHRAN (FNA)- The European countries are seriously in need of Iran and its assistance for solving their problems and that's why they have returned their ambassadors to Tehran, a senior Iranian legislator said, and cautioned the EU capitals to take a lesson from the embarrassing return of their envoys to Iran."The western ambassadors returned to Iran with embarrassment and they should take a lesson for their future," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Fatemeh Alia told FNA on Sunday.
She stressed Iran's important and influential role on the scene of international relations and in the Middle-East, and said, "They (the European ambassadors) returned to Iran with much shame since they need our country."
In relevant remarks today, another member of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission reiterated that the return of the European ambassadors to Tehran after several months shows Iran's influential role and power in the world. "The return of the western envoys to Tehran indicates the clout and influence of the powerful Iran," Javad Jahangirzadeh told FNA, welcoming the European countries' decision to resume their relations with Iran at ambassadorial level.
"It seems that we should welcome the return of the western ambassadors to Tehran which was a deserving punch on the jaws of the US and the Zionist regime and we should describe it as a wise move," he added.
The Western states have recently returned their ambassadors to Tehran after they left the country following a move by thousands of angry university students who raided and occupied the British embassy in Tehran late in November in protest at London's hostile policies against Iran. The parliament approval came a week after the US and Britain targeted Iranian financial sectors with new punitive measures, including sanctions on Iran's Central Bank and petrochemical industry.
The sanction against CBI and Iran's petrochemical industry was adopted in a unilateral move by the US, Canada and Britain outside the UN Security Council as other council members, specially Russia and China, had earlier warned against any fresh punitive measure, including sanctions, against Iran.
The British government has also embarked on delisting the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from its list of terrorist groups.Read the full 'story' here.
Afghan Governor: US (Obama)-Taliban Talks non-transparent and secretive, Lack Transparency.
Afghan Governor: US (Obama)-Taliban Talks non-transparent and secretive, Lack Transparency.(Fars).Tehran - A senior Afghan provincial official criticized the mechanism adopted by the US for the so-called peace negotiations with the Taliban, and dismissed the talks as "secretive and non-transparent"."This trend which is pushed ahead in a non-transparent and secretive manner now is not defendable and will hit a heavy blow at Afghanistan's national unity and constitution," Governor-General of Afghanistan's Northern province of Balkh General Atta Mohammad Noor said on Sunday.
He said that people of Afghanistan will support the so-called peace talks only if the deal doesn't sacrifice the achievements of the last 10 years and the country's constitution for the sake of a political deal with the Taliban.
Meantime, he called on all Afghan political parties to hammer out and boost national unity in their war-torn country, and cautioned about the outbreak of another civil war in Afghanistan in the wake of a weak national unity. Most politicians and political analysts are skeptical of the prospects for meaningful peace negotiations with the Taliban.
Former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah told FNA last month that said that the US is seeking to legitimize the Taliban through holding negotiations with the belligerent group, but meantime underlined that the US has failed to attain its goal.
"… No doubt the Taliban is eager to negotiate with the US since the group sees the talks a positive step towards its legitimacy," Abdullah Abdullah stated.
He said that some foreign countries have taken advantage and get involved in Afghan peace talks after the Afghan government failed to encourage the Taliban to hold talks with the central government within the geographical borders of Afghanistan.Hmmmm.........."Trust me".Read the full story here.
U.S. Army 'Surrenders" Bagram Prison to Afghan Authority.
U.S. Army 'Surrenders" Bagram Prison to Afghan Authority.(Fars).Tehran - Washington was forced to hand over the Bagram detention center to the Afghan government and halt military night raids as two main prerequisites demanded by Kabul for signing a strategic security pact with the US.
Addressing a ceremony to mark the International Women's Day in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on March 11, 2012, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said that in line with an agreement inked with the US a couple of days ago in Kabul, Washington agreed to hand over the Bagram detention center to the Afghan government, and that the process would be completed within six months as a pre-condition for inking the strategic agreement. Karzai said in his speech that the US military night raids, another precondition for signing the agreement, would also be halted.
Karzai said about the proposed strategic partnership with the US that the Afghan government would sign the agreement with the US, but that it would act very carefully to ensure its national interests and safeguard its national sovereignty.
However, he stated that the agreement would not include the US military bases in Afghanistan, saying, "After one year, having military bases and the modality of the use of military bases in Afghanistan would be discussed and would be inked later. We are going carefully to ensure Afghanistan national interest and its national sovereignty."
Around 130,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with some 90,000 of whom Americans would complete the security transition to Afghan side by the end of 2014.Hmmmm......."Leading from Behind".Read the full story here.
Obama signs anti-protest Trespass Bill, essentially criminalizing protest in the United States.
Obama signs anti-protest Trespass Bill, essentially criminalizing protest in the United States.(RT).
Only days after clearing Congress, US President Barack Obama signed his name to H.R. 347 on Thursday, officially making it a federal offense to cause a disturbance at certain political events — essentially criminalizing protest in the States.
RT broke the news last month that H.R. 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011, had overwhelmingly passed the US House of Representatives after only three lawmakers voted against it. On Thursday this week, President Obama inked his name to the legislation and authorized the government to start enforcing a law that has many Americans concerned over how the bill could bury the rights to assemble and protest as guaranteed in the US Constitution.
Under H.R. 347, which has more commonly been labeled the Trespass Bill by Congress, knowingly entering a restricted area that is under the jurisdiction of Secret Service protection can garner an arrest. The law is actually only a slight change to earlier legislation that made it an offense to knowingly and willfully commit such a crime. Under the Trespass Bill’s latest language chance, however, someone could end up in law enforcement custody for entering an area that they don’t realize is Secret Service protected and “engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct” or “impede[s] or disrupt[s] the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions.”
The Secret Service serves as the police that protects not just current and former American presidents, but are also dispatched to monitor special events of national significance, a category with a broad cast of qualifiers. In the past, sporting events, state funerals, inaugural addresses and NATO and G-8 Summits have been designated as such by the US Department of Homeland Security, the division that decides when and where the Secret Service are needed outside of their normal coverage.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund tells the International Business Times that the Trespass Bill in its current form “means it's easier to prosecute under 'knowingly,'” instead of both knowingly and willfully, “which is an issue because someone could knowingly enter a restricted but not necessarily realize they are committing a crime.” Speaking with IB Times, Verheyden-Hilliard tries to lay to rest claims that the Constitution will be crippled by the Trespass Bill, but acknowledges that it does indeed allow law enforcement to have added incentive to arrest protesters who could be causing a disturbance.
"[HR 347] has been described as a death knell for the First Amendment, but that isn't supported by the facts," Verheyden-Hilliard adds. "This has always been a bad law."
Gabe Rottman of the American Civil Liberties Union adds to IB Times, "Bottom line, it doesn't create any new violations of the law.” So far, however, it has raised awareness of the levels that the US government are willing to go to in order to make it harder to express ones’ self.
Under the act, protesting in areas covered by Secret Service could land a demonstrator behind bars, and the thing about the Secret Service (in case you couldn’t tell by their name), is that they don’t always make it clear where they are. You could even say that the service they provide, at times, is kept secret.
Presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now officially covered under Secret Service protection, making it a federal offense to disrupt a campaign stop. That means whether it’s by way of a glitter bomb protest or causing a disturbance on the same Holiday Inn hotel floor that Santorum is staying in, doing such could cause a bit of a legal battle for the persons involved.
Although the G-8 Summit originally scheduled for Chicago this spring would have made much of the Windy City a protected area where crimes could easily be tacked on to arrested protesters, the event was moved this week to the presidential retreat at Camp David. In turn, many have suggested that the White House is only going out of their way to limit protesting rights. While a Chicago summit would have meant the Trespass Bill could have been enforced in the same area where thousands of demonstrators were expected to protest, moving the event to a heavily fortified rural location will instead deter protesters from likely coming close atto the meeting at all.
And before you forget, the president can now detain you for getting too close to his front yard, order your assassination if the country considers you a threat and lock you away for life with no charge if you’re alleged to be a terrorist. You, on the other hand, can’t yell obscenities at Newt Gingrich without risking arrest..Hmmmm...............Obama Blames "Founding Fathers" For Making It Difficult For Him To "Bring Change"But..."I will keep plotting"."Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty". ~ Plato.Read the full story here.
"Investors eat your heart out" One Silver shekel sells for $1.1 million in US.
"Investors eat your heart out" One antique Silver shekel sells for $1.1 million in US.(Yahoo).A silver shekel in circulation at the time of a Jewish rebellion against their Roman masters nearly 2,000 years ago sold Friday in New York for $1.1 million, Heritage auction house said.
The sale was a record for a Judean coin, fetching four times as much as the previous top price.
Heritage said a California dealer bought the coin on behalf of an unidentified, private American collector. It was part of the Shoshana Collection of more than 2,200 ancient Judean coins, which the auction house hopes to sell for a total of $10 million.
The silver shekel dates to 66 AD when Jewish forces were rebelling against Roman rule. Only one other such coin is known to have survived.
The shekel "is an incredible piece of history," said Cris Bierrenbach, at Heritage Auctions.
"This is literally one of the very first coins the Jewish rebels struck after they ousted the Romans from Jerusalem, sending shock waves through the empire."Read the full story here.
"Who's afraid of the Islamic Jihad Wolf "?UK to Provide 13,500 Troops to Guard 2012 Olympics
In preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. Britain says it will provide 13,500 troops as back-up security for the 2012 Olympic Games—more than it has in Afghanistan—in Britain's largest peacetime security operation.
Britain will provide 13,500 troops to protect next summer's London Olympics—4,000 more than in Afghanistan—after organizers said international uncertainty meant security for the event needed to be doubled.The military presence will also include Special Forces and specialist bomb disposal units as well as a 1,000-strong contingency force in case of an Olympics-related civil emergency.
Philip Hammond, UK Defense Secretary:
"7,500 of these are providing venue guarding capability, they will add resilience and robustness to what will be a civilian led operation. The other 5 or 6,000 will be providing military support to the police in what will be the biggest security challenge this country has faced for decades. We're very pleased that the military will be able to provide their specialist skills and specialist equipment to support the police and make sure this is a safe and secure Olympic Games."
The Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, will be protected by missiles against airborne attack, in line with measures taken by Beijing in 2008 and Athens in 2004."Military hardware will be used, we'll be deploying helicopters, we'll be deploying Typhoon fighters to defend London's air space; we'll be deploying ground to air missile systems. So the military will be using its full range of equipment to keep London safe during the Olympics."
Britain has been a target for Islamist militants for many years as a leading ally of U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.Hmmmm............Talk about "ISLAMOPHOBIA" ?
"Commander in chief' Obama agrees to transfer the Taliban Guantanamo detainees to Qatar.
"Commander in chief' Obama agrees to transfer the Taliban Guantanamo detainees to Qatar.(AA).Five Taliban detainees held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay military prison have agreed to be transferred to Qatar, a move Afghanistan believes will boost a nascent peace process, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman said on Saturday.The transfer idea is part of U.S. efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table to avoid prolonged instability in Afghanistan after foreign combat troops leave the country at the end of 2014.
“We are hopeful this will be a positive step towards peace efforts,” Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi told Reuters, adding the Taliban detainees would be re-united with their families in Qatar if the transfer takes place.
It would be one of a series of good-faith measures that could set in motion the first substantial political negotiations on the conflict in Afghanistan since the Taliban government was toppled in 2001 in a U.S.-led invasion.
A year after it was unveiled, the Obama administration’s peace initiative may soon offer the United States a historic opportunity to broker an end to a war that began as the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaeda attacks on the United States.‘But the peace drive also presents risks for President Barack Obama.
He faces the potential for political fallout months before a presidential election, as his government considers backing an arrangement that would give some degree of power to the Taliban, known for their brutality and extreme interpretation of Islam.
Despite months of covert diplomacy, it remains unclear whether the prisoner transfer will go ahead.(Yeah whatevah).
Doubts are growing about whether the Taliban leadership is willing to weather possible opposition from junior and more hard-core members who appear to oppose negotiations.
Karzai’s top aide, Ibrahim Spinzada, visited the Guantanamo facility this week to secure approval from the five Taliban prisoners to be moved to Qatar.
Karzai’s government has demanded the five former senior members of the Taliban government, held at Guantanamo Bay for a decade, give their consent before they are transferred to the small Gulf state where they would be under Qatar’s custody.
U.S. officials hope the peace initiative will gain enough traction to enable Obama to announce the establishment of full-fledged political talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban at a NATO summit in May.
That would mark a major victory for the White House and might ease some of the anxiety created by NATO nations’ plans to gradually pull out most of their troops by the end of 2014, leaving an inexperienced Afghan military and fragile government to face a still-formidable insurgency.
The Taliban detainees are seen by some U.S. officials as among the most dangerous inmates at Guantanamo.
Their possible transfer has drawn attack from U.S. politicians from both parties even before the administration formally begins a required congressional notification process.
Among the prisoners who may be sent to Qatar is Mohammed Fazl, a “high-risk” detainee alleged to be responsible for the killing of thousands of minority Shi’ite Muslims between 1998 and 2001.
They also include Noorullah Noori, a former senior military commander; Abdul Haq Wasiq, a former deputy intelligence minister; and Khairullah Khairkhwa, a former interior minister.
Karzai has complained the United States has repeatedly sidelined his government in a process that is supposed to be “Afghan-led” after it emerged that U.S. officials had established contacts with the Taliban in Qatar.
But his worries seem to have eased, and there are signs that the Kabul government is prepared to extend greater support to the Qatar process, even though it wants Saudi Arabia and Turkey to facilitate talks as well.Hmmmm.....As Muslim Brotherhood Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi 'arranged' with the Obama 'administration'.Read the full story here.
Video: Machine Gun Preacher responds to Kony 2012
Sam Childers, the man who has become known as the Machine Gun Preacher. A movie was made about him just last year. Gerard Butler played his role. For the last fourteen years, Childers has spent a tremendous amount of time on the ground in the region, protecting and defending South Sudan’s christians. He has built orphanages and saved countless lives. If there is anyone who knows about that region, it’s Childers.
He has released a statement in response to Kony 2012 that is definitely worth watching. In essence, he says, although Kony is very evil, the larger evil is Northern Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir, who has been funding Kony’s genocidal war effort for years. Bashir is a Muslim who has been endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood.
This is the video that should be going viral.HT:W.Shoebat.More here at BenBarrack.
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