Every so often, something really weird pops up over the horizon only to sink back down quietly.
Case in point -- from FOX News:
Mystery organization with UN ties issues diplomatic IDs -- except they aren't
EXCLUSIVE: A controversial organization with tenuous ties to the United Nations -- and which counts Kenyan relatives of Barack Obama among its good-will ambassadors -- is supplying its officials and advisers with travel documents designed to look much like U.N.-affiliated diplomatic passports. The problem is, they aren't.
The documents, known in diplomatic parlance as 'laissez passers,' or LPs, ask national authorities to grant privileges and immunities to their holders on official business for the grandly named International Institution for the use of Micro-algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition (IIMSAM), which claims that it will solve the world's hunger problems through the cultivation of algae as food.
Photocopies of IIMSAM documents examined by Fox News show that bearers have titles such as special adviser, and special envoy, as well as good-will ambassador, and that the documents have been issued to people born in a variety of countries, including Iran, Jordan, India and Germany, as well as Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China.
The most recent photocopy of the identity pages of an IIMSAM LP examined by Fox News showed the date of issuance as April 21, 2013.
All were signed by IIMSAM's Secretary General, Remigio Maradona, who has apparently held that position since IIMSAM's inception about a decade ago. Emails sent by Fox News to various email addresses used by Maradona had not been answered by the time this article was published.
Some more:
The brick-red IIMSAM travel documents are a different color than U.N. diplomatic passports, which come in a brighter red (for senior officials) and light blue (for lesser functionaries), and are prominently labeled with the full name of IIMSAM, the organization's logo, and the words DIPLOMATIC LAISSEZ PASSER. U.N. passports bear the name of the United Nations in English and French, and the words LAISSEZ PASSER only.
The misleading travel documents are the latest manifestation of the strange existence of IIMSAM, which claims its main purpose is to make spirulina, a type of algae, "a key-driver to eradicate malnutrition, achieve food security and bridge the health divide with a special priority for the developing world and the least developed countries."
IIMSAM has reinforced its claim of U.N. affiliate status with a voluminous but erratic flow of press releases since 2006, urging support for its work; extolling the health and nutritional advantages of spirulina platensis, a common algae that is used as a dietary supplement and fish food; issuing elaborate statements on various U.N. issues; and announcing partnerships and projects involving various organizations, corporations, international institutions and individuals -- including the Kenyan branch of the Obama family.
And a bit more -- this stuff is unreal:
Whether President Obama's Kenyan relatives are aware of their current status with IIMSAM is another intriguing question. On its current website (www.iimsam.org), IIMSAM prominently lists President Obama's grandmother, Sara Obama, and his uncle, Said, as goodwill ambassadors for the program in East and Central Africa, and says they will play a pivotal role in an IIMSAM feeding program 'to alleviate severe malnutrition and hunger.'
The Obama photographs, and similar claims about the relatives, had appeared on IIMSAM's website for years, but disappeared for a time after Fox News noted on their existence in January 2011, and reported that the White House is not familiar with this organization, nor with the photographs of the President. Questioned again about the website this week, the White House said it was unaware of it.
According to an email examined by Fox News, Said Obama and his mother apparently resigned their goodwill ambassador status with IIMSAM in mid-2012, citing dissatisfaction with "the ongoing negativity of the organization." Among other things, the email charged that IIMSAM's Kenyan staff had not been paid in a year and were themselves malnourished.
If I didn't know for a fact that Lafayette Ronald Hubbard was dead and buried, I would suspect his hand behind this -- it is just that twisted. Their website is a mish-mash of cut and paste and bad graphics...
