A hidden camera that caught Mitt Romney speaking at a private fundraising dinner has grabbed a lot of media attention today. Network news is focusing primarily on a single portion of the candid-camera speech in which Romney derides “47 percent” of the population who doesn’t pay income taxes and therefore will automatically vote for Obama. This should be really effective at grabbing that 5 percent of swing voters, Ol’ Mitt. Truthfully, this is one of the most poorly run campaigns I’ve seen in a long time. But there are other parts of the video not being talked about as much. Via David Corn at Mother Jones, Romney also talks – off the script! – about Iran, Israel-Palestine, and broader foreign policy issues. They are shocking in their ignorance. On Iran, Mother Jones reports, “He repeated the tough talk he has issued on the campaign trail, but he also provided an odd reason for drawing a red line with Tehran about its nuclear program”. I’ve heard a lot of outlandish reasons to consider Iran a threat, but sending Hezbollah to Chicago with a dirty bomb is almost record-breaking in its absurdity. First of all, Romney uttered these words in the context of giving Iran a “red line” in its nuclear enrichment past which it could not avoid US military action, but, as David Corn writes, he “didn’t appear to understand that a dirty bomb—an explosive device that spreads radioactive substances—does not require fissile material from a nuclear weapons program. Such a bomb can be produced with, say, radioactive medical waste. If Iran’s nuclear program poses a threat, it is not because this project will yield a dirty bomb.” Furthermore, this ridiculous scenario recklessly overestimates the capabilities of Hezbollah and the stupidity of Iran. In the context of their nuclear program, Iran is interested in deterring military threats from the US and Israel – not in committing national suicide by provoking a nuclear war for which they are pathetically outmatched.

On Israel-Palestine, Romney said he was convinced of two things (1) the Palestinians don’t want peace, only the destruction of Israel, and (2) the conflict is unsolvable, and so he would make no effort as president to solve it. [...] Update: Mother Jones has now posted the entirety of Romney’s hidden camera speech. See it here. One notable quote from a portion on foreign policy: “For me, everything is about strength, and communicating to people what is and is not acceptable.” Can you envision a more authoritarian articulation of grand strategy? [...] Indeed, much of Israel’s insistence to keep up the occupation of the West Bank lies in the kind of dogmatic, uncompromising ideology Romney assigns to the Palestinians. The true Israeli objection to settlement is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “committed to the retention of most if not all of the West Bank,” Harry Siegman, President of the U.S./Middle East Project, has written, “as are most other members of his government, most of whom belong to the ‘Whole Land of Israel Caucus’ in Israel’s Knesset.”

Nassralla Abdelmasih, whose nonprofit Media For Christ produced the inflammatory anti-Muhammad video trailer "Innocence of the Muslims", and anti-Islamic activist Pamela Geller, whose popular blog Atlas Shrugs published, in February 2012, a financial solicitation for an anti-Muhammad movie. - Yesterday, while compiling evidence for a report demonstrating conclusively that the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Media For Christ was the most significant force behind the production of the anti-Islamic trailer video "Innocence of the Muslims" which, after being posted on Youtube, has helped incite riots throughout the Islamic world, I came upon the following February 12, 2012 post, on the website of Atlas Shrugs -- the blog of Pamela Geller, the anti-Islamic activist who cofounded the group Stop Islamization of Nations and helped incite and organize the nationally-notorious June 6, 2010 protest against the building of a mosque in lower Manhattan (one of the speakers at the protest was Joseph Nassralla Abdelmasih, head of Media For Christ.) Titled "A Movie about Muhammad: An Idea whose Time Has Come", the Geller post contained a solicitation for funding for a movie about Muhammad.

Justin Raimondo: The ‘Pro-Israel’ Network Behind the Innocence Video

Canada has taken its place among the Top 5 countries with the most economic freedom, according to a new Fraser Institute report — now leaps and bounds ahead of the United States thanks to the gradual shrinking of the Canadian government since the mid-1990s as America’s just got bigger.

The annual Economic Freedom of the World report, released Tuesday, has Canada tied in fifth place with Australia — up one spot from last year. Hong Kong remains at the top, Singapore’s next, then New Zealand. Meanwhile, the United States, once a “standard bearer” of economic liberty among industrial nations, spiralled 10 spots from the 2011 rankings to 18th place — its lowest position ever, and a huge drop from its second place spot in 2000. The report, which judges 144 countries on 42 separate measures of policies that promote economic freedom, ranks a country higher for having a smaller government and also considers its legal system and record on property rights, “sound money” or financial growth, freedom to trade internationally and levels of regulation. It relies on data from 2010 in this ranking, because that’s the most comprehensive data available, study authors said. The Fraser Institute uses numerous surveys and data from the World Bank, which does wide comparative analysis of countries all over the world, to aid in their rankings.

Fraser Institute: Economic Freedom of the World 2012 Annual Report [PDF]

Matt Gurney: America: Still almost as free as Qatar - The timing of the report is interesting. The U.S. is in the middle of an election campaign where the economy is the overriding issue for one simple reason — it’s in terrible shape. Romney is hoping that voters reject Obama because the U.S. economy hasn’t recovered over the last four years, and Obama is keen to play up every possible hint of recovery to show that things are slowly turning around.

Fears that a wave of anger in the Islamic world could spread to Europe mounted as it emerged a French magazine was planning to publish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed. - Satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo confirmed that its latest edition contains several cartoons featuring Mohammed that the publication's editor said would "shock those who will want to be shocked." The magazine is due to hit the streets later today against a background of protests across the Islamic world over a crude US-made film that mocks Mohammed and portrays Muslims as gratuitously violent. At least 30 people have died so far in demonstrations held in over 20 countries.

Charlie Hebdo is no stranger to controversy over its handling of the issues relating to Islam. Last year it published an edition "guest-edited" by the Prophet Mohammed that it called Sharia Hebdo. The magazine's offices in Paris were subsequently fire-bombed in what was widely seen as a reaction by Islamists. Charlie Hebdo's latest move was greeted with immediate calls from political and religious leaders for the media to act responsibly and avoid inflaming the current situation.

Le Monde Blogs: Représenter le prophète est-il vraiment interdit par le Coran?
The Guardian: Charlie Hebdo front cover depicts Muslim man kissing cartoonist (8 November 2011)

Webster Tarpley, Thierry Meyssan, Eric margolis, Nazir Nayouf.

Turkish security forces have seized two tubes of radioactive cesium-137 being transported in a vehicle in the northeastern province of Giresun on the Black Sea, Press TV reports. - Acting on a tipoff that highly toxic radioactive material was on board a car heading from the northeastern city of Trabzon to Giresun city, which is situated 622 kilometers (387 miles) east of Ankara, Turkish soldiers stopped the car near the town of Gulburnu on Tuesday. Upon searching the car, they found two glass tubes of cesium-137 hidden inside the vehicle. The driver was taken into custody, while the radioactive material was taken to the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency to be studied. In April, Turkish security forces stopped a vehicle travelling from Georgia to Turkey and discovered 500 grams of cesium-137 in the car. The material was smuggled to Turkey from Russia Israel through Georgia.

Days after the US and 30 other nations began naval exercises in the Persian Gulf; Tehran has announced it is sending a Russian submarine to bolster its forces in the area. - The Taregh-1, one of three Russian built Kilo class submarines, was sent to the southern port of Bandar Abbas, after completing a refit earlier this year. The deployment comes as Iran strengthens its naval forces in the region. A destroyer, the Sahand, has also been launched after an overhaul and is expected to be ready for operations in the near future. The country’s Supreme leader, Ayatollah Khameni, who has command of all military affairs, said that Iran has no intention of attacking another nation.

PressTV: Iran launches Tareq 901 submarine, Sahand destroyer

Quietly, without fanfare or Congressional hearings, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 privately owned Federal Reserve Banks, domestic policing powers.

Section 364 of the Act, “Uniform Protection Authority for Federal Reserve,” reads: “Law enforcement officers designated or authorized by the Board or a reserve bank under paragraph (1) or (2) are authorized while on duty to carry firearms and make arrests without warrants for any offense against the United States committed in their presence…Such officers shall have access to law enforcement information that may be necessary for the protection of the property or personnel of the Board or a reserve bank.” The police officers are technically known as FRLEO, short for Federal Reserve Law Enforcement Officer. The system has its own police academies for training, their own patch and badges, uniforms, pistols, rifles, police cars and the power to arrest coast to coast without a warrant. They have ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain. In addition to regular policing functions, the Federal Reserve police have been observed in airports with rifles, functioning as dignitary protection teams. Various recruitment ads confirm that this is sometimes part of the job.

HACKED STRATFOR EMAILS: Newly released internal emails from the U.S. private security firm Stratfor state that in 2007 the Bush Administration and CIA ordered the Drug Enforcement Agency to back off a major drug trafficking investigation of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's half brother. Ahmed Wali Karzai was an influential power broker in Afghanistan before he was assassinated in July 2011. Stratfor vice president of intelligence Fred Burton wrote:

The brother of President Karzai of Afghanistan is under investigation by DEA as a major narcotics trafficker. For political reasons [LOL], DEA has been told to backoff [sic] by the White House and CIA. DEA is seeing a direct nexus between terrorism and narcotics in Afghanistan with narcotics sales being used to fund jihadist operations.

A lone appeals judge [Raymond Lohier] bowed down to the Obama administration late Monday and reauthorized the White House’s ability to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or due process.

Last week, a federal judge [Katherine Forrest] ruled that an temporary injunction on section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 must be made permanent, essentially barring the White House from ever enforcing a clause in the NDAA that can let them put any US citizen behind bars indefinitely over mere allegations of terrorist associations. On Monday, the US Justice Department asked for an emergency stay on that order, and hours later US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Judge Raymond Lohier agreed to intervene and place a hold on the injunction. The stay will remain in effect until at least September 28, when a three-judge appeals court panel is expected to begin addressing the issue. On December 31, 2011, US President Barack Obama signed the NDAA into law, even though he insisted on accompanying that authorization with a statement explaining his hesitance to essentially eliminate habeas corpus for the American people. Both Forrest and Lohier were appointed to the court by President Obama.

PressTV: US Judge restores "indefinite detention" law - VIDEO
Bloomberg: Obama Administration Wins Stay of Detention Law Rejection

Britain went out of its way earlier this month to condemn the 1972 killing of 11 Israeli athletes, but it has failed to even raise the horrific Sabra and Shatila massacre of more than 3,000 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians by Israeli-affiliated terrorists ten years later. - The Israeli regime unleashed Phalange terrorists on Muslim residents of Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in the Lebanese capital of Beirut between September 16 and 18, 1982. The terrorists entered the refugee camps, supposedly guarded by Israeli regime’s forces, on September 16, while Israeli troops fired flares to help attackers in their butchery of innocent Muslims including scores of children, women and old men. As many as 3,500 people were slaughtered with many women raped before being killed. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on the 40th anniversary of the Munich attacks on Israeli team members on September 5 that he and his colleagues “reiterate our determination to confront terrorism and stand with the victims of terrorism wherever it may occur.”

AWIP: Sabra and Shatila: A Preventable Massacre

Video Link

Facebook has blocked Press TV’s advertisements on the social networking website, saying that the Iranian news network is located in a region which is “not eligible to use this feature.” - Facebook’s risk management department informed Press TV in an email that the social networking website’s security systems had shut down the payments functionality on Press TV’s account. Press TV has more than 140,000 Facebook fans and its alternative channel has had one of the fastest-growing Facebook accounts in recent years, which is the result of the rapid rise in the number of Press TV viewers. The Iranian channel argues that Facebook’s decision to block Press TV’s advertisements contradicts the social networking site's claims that it provides a platform for free speech. Facebook disabled the account of Iran’s Press TV in July due to what they called technical problems. The account was reactivated after three days.

A woman who cried rape because she regretted having sex with three men at a drunken orgy has been jailed for two years for her ‘wicked’ lies. - Rosie Dodd, 20, had been out drinking when she met the men, aged 25, 23, and 21, and started groping one of them on a bus on the way home. She had sex with them one after the other, but after telling a friend she felt ‘dirty’ she lied to police that she had been raped. The men, two of them students, then suffered a ‘nightmare’ involving intimate examinations and being locked up in cells. But after police became concerned about inconsistencies in Dodd’s account, she admitted the encounters had been consensual.