Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet

VIDEO: Finkelstein on Gaza Flotilla Attack

Financial Times: "With Monday’s brazen act of piracy, Israel dealt a blow to the legitimacy of its own struggle. . . . Outrageous as this behaviour was, the true outrage is the illegal blockade of Gaza that it enforced."

Xinhua: World condemns Israel for attacking Gaza aid flotilla

Outlook: "Some 700 pro-Palestinian activists were on board the flotilla, including 1976 Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor."

Voice of Russia: "Israeli troops have attacked vessels carrying aid to the Gaza Strip Monday, killing 19 people out of 700 on board. Among them was the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Northern Ireland) and deputies of the European Parliament."

Al Jazeerah: "At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, Israeli radio reported.

"The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast. . . . "

Reuters: Israel flotilla action criticised by friends and foes

Financial Times: At least 10 dead after Israel raids convoy

Washington Post: Israel: At least 10 pro-Palestinian activists killed on Gaza flotilla carrying aid

New York Times: At Least 10 Are Killed as Israel Halts Flotilla With Gaza Aid

The coming Iran war

Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill

The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades.

Unilateral strike by U.S. on Pakistan an option

by Enver Masud

The U.S. is studying options for a unilateral strike on Pakistan. The Times Square bomber may have been a setup to get Pakistan to strike militants in its Northwest harder, and failing that to set the stage for bigger U.S. strikes.

Apparently, drone strikes by the United States on Pakistan, sanctioned by its government, deemed unlawful by U.S. legal scholars, are not enough.

Greg Miller reports today in the Washington Post, "a U.S. reprisal would be contemplated only under extreme circumstances, such as a catastrophic attack that leaves President Obama convinced that the ongoing campaign of CIA drone strikes is insufficient."

If a catastrophic attack on the U.S. does occur, recall the the threat of Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and the hard evidence that it wasn't the Taliban led by Bin Laden who gave us 9/11.

What does BP's failure modes and effects analysis reveal?

Did British Petroleum (BP) conduct a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)? I did this routinely when working for Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company.

We designed the bulk power supply system to withstand PROBABLE contingencies so that customers would not notice their effect.

We also designed for LESS PROBABLE contingencies so that the problem could be isolated, and the remainder of the bulk power supply system secured with some customers noticing lights dimming.

This sort of analysis is common to many industries — nuclear, aircraft, etc. It defines the tradeoffs that must be accepted before one determines the final design, and decides to proceed with construction.

It would be interesting to see the results of BP's failure modes and effects analysis.

Enver Masud

Those irrational, misled, conspiratorial Muslims

This game of Let's Mock Those Crazy, Conspiratorial Arabs and Muslims is as useful as it is common: recall how only the Paranoid "Arab Street" believed that the invasion of Iraq would lead to permanent American military bases in that country, only for this to be revealed, followed by this. There is a lot of propaganda, paranoia and myth in Pakistan, along with most places in the world. But the American media's fixation on pointing to it and deriding it has the principal effect (if not intent) of obscuring the role we play in enabling (and even justifying) those sentiments, along with at least our own equal share of such propaganda and our own media's central role in bolstering it.

Calls to murder

Sheldon Richman, at The Future of Freedom Foundation, writes: "Yesterday, in a statement placed in the New York Review of Books, headlined 'Crimes Are Crimes No Matter Who Does Them,' a group of prominent leftist intellectuals, activists, and actors said, 'Crimes under Bush are crimes under Obama and must be resisted by anyone who claims a shred of conscience.'"

The group specifically referred to Obama’s ordering the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and radical Muslim cleric living in Yemen, “because he is suspected of participating in plots by Al Qaeda.” The statement notes that “Al-Awlaki denies these charges. No matter. Without trial or other judicial proceeding, the administration has simply put him on the to-be-killed list.”

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) condemned Anwar Al-Awlaki's "destructive, sickening call to murder". MPAC made no mention of Obama's call to murder an American without trial or other judicial proceeding.

Which call to murder presents a greater threat to Americans?

Southern Baptist's ex-Muslim narratives in dispute: University to investigate seminary leader's claims

Blackwater infiltrates streets of Pakistan capital city, Islamabad

Who is funding the $100 million mosque going up at 'ground zero' in New York?

The Associated Press reports that the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative are the two organizations sponsoring the project. We were curious about the funding for this project.

The Cordoba Initiative (founded 2004) last filed an IRS Form 990 in 2008 showing revenues $0, expenses $2767, and net assets of $18,255.

The American Society for Muslim Advancement (founded 1998) has apparently never filed an IRS Form 990. Their website shows that the last event they held was in May 2007.

Small tax-exempt organizations whose annual gross receipts are normally $25,000 or less usually file IRS Form 990-N (e-Postcard) — a relatively recent requirement — which does not require the reporting of financial information.

An organization that "fails to file required e-Postcards (or information returns – Forms 990 or 990-EZ) for three consecutive years will automatically lose its tax-exempt status."

Report: IAEA to discuss Israel's nuclear activities for first time

Times Square, NY: Muslim 'leaders' never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity

Was it a false-flag operation?

To Chairman and CEO, AOL re email blocking

VIA PRIORITY MAIL #03093220000037794676

Tim Armstrong
Chairman and CEO
AOL Inc.
770 Broadway
New York, NY 10003


Dear Mr. Armstrong:

AOL is blocking hundreds of emails from The Wisdom Fund — a Section 501(c)(3), nonprofit corporation, established in 1995.

We have used the same ISP since 1995 — Heller Information Services (HIS.com).

Our mailing list has been developed over 15 years: some subscribed, some were added when they contacted us, some were added from those CCd in mail to us.

We use Intellimerge software for bulk mailing, and every email we send has an unsubscribe link — unsubscribe requests are handled by Intellimerge.

The error message we receive is:
http://postmaster.aol.com/Postmaster.Errors.html#421rlynw
which takes us to an AOL page designed for ISPs — not ISP clients.

We do not have the resources to interpret AOL instructions written for ISPs, and we cannot spare countless hours to get our email unblocked, only to be blocked again.

AOL’s block is damaging communications with our subscribers. Please take measures to place us on a safe list so that our email is not blocked.

Thank you,


Enver Masud
Founder and CEO
The Wisdom Fund

Reporters Without Borders funded by US foreign policy organizations

After years of trying to hide it, Robert Menard, Paris-based Secretary-General of Reporters Sans Frontieres or RWB, confessed that the RWB budget was primarily funded by "US organizations strictly linked to US foreign policy." Those US organizations behind RWB include the Open Society Foundation of billionaire speculator, George Soros, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Congress' National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Copy machines, a security risk?

AOL blocking email from The Wisdom Fund

AOL is blocking our email. If you wish to receive email from The Wisdom Fund, tell AOL to stop blocking email from staff@twf.org.

Airline pilot cleared of role in 9/11 after 'nine years of hell'

The Guardian (UK) reported: Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian living in Britain who lost his career as an airline pilot, suffered wrongful imprisonment and damage to his health, will now be eligible for up to £2m compensation. . . .

Raissi's arrest, at his home in Colnbrook, Berkshire, 10 days after the 9/11 attacks, followed an extradition request from the FBI. In court, where he awaited extradition to the US on a holding charge, he was described by British lawyers representing the US as one of the lead instructors of the four hijackers.

9/11 witness April Gallop case dismissed

On April 16, 2010, it was reported that William Veale, the attorney representing April Gallop, wrote: "Judge Chin has just dismissed the Gallop case. He said that the allegations are frivolous and based on fantasy and delusion."

"April Gallop's . . . desk was roughly 40 feet from the point where the plane [Flight 77] allegedly hit the outside wall. As she sat down to work there was an explosion, then another; walls collapsed and the ceiling fell in. Hit in the head, she was able to grab the baby and make her way towards the daylight showing through a blasted opening in the outside wall. There was no airplane wreckage and no burning airplane fuel anywhere; only rubble and dust."

Fantasy and delusion, Judge Chin? Did you examine the evidence?

On April 16, the Los Angeles Times reported that President Obama "has nominated U.S. District Judge Denny Chin for the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."