The Pope is . . . doing the right things

Pope Benedict XVI lamented that the Vatican acted "slowly and late" in a scandal surrounding the Legionaries of Christ, and a Vatican official called Tuesday for an investigation into who covered up for the conservative order's disgraced founder.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i4NChAsC9XtUxxsSVt2oMrmqQAxw?docId=09ce50ae43884916890753a841a631bd

The Pope is openly and honestly addressing the various church sex scandals that occurred under his predecessors, and appears to be loosening up on restrictions regarding the use condoms for disease prevention. He is confounding his critics by apparently doing the right things.

In other words, nothing

That's how you can accurately describe the U.S.'s response to North Korea's attack on our ally and news of its advancing nuclear missile program.

U.S. officials Tuesday condemned North Korea's deadly attack on South Korea, pledged to protect an ally and urged China to take a more punitive stance toward Kim Jong Il's regime than it has in the past.

Still, they also said it's "too soon" to know how to formally respond.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/23/1940773/korean-showdown-puts-unity-to.html

North Korea has the nuclear material, the missiles, and the technology. Soon, they'll have nuclear armed intercontinental missiles. At that point, sternly worded protests will be ineffective.

The problem with having dictators and absolute monarchs for allies . . .

is that they die. What happens next?

Saudi Arabia's elderly King Abdullah flies to the US today for checks for a back ailment, and Crown Prince Sultan is returning from holiday. Political stability in the monarchy is of global concern. The Gulf Arab state controls more than a fifth of the world's crude reserves, is a vital US ally in the region, a major holder of dollar assets and home to the biggest Arab bourse.

Diplomats said the king's departure and the prince's sudden return indicate the kingdom, which has no elected parliament, is trying to prevent a power vacuum and reassure Washington and other allies.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-king-will-travel-to-us-for-treatment-2140325.html

King Abdullah is 86. His younger brother and heir, Prince Sultan, is 85.

Believe them

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says he believes Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula's boast that it will try to carry out more cheap, small-scale attacks.

Adm. Mike Mullen says the terrorist group in Yemen has grown and is dangerous, and that counterterrorism efforts should focus on its activities.

In an online magazine, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula boasts that it's using cheap and easy methods to attack U.S. targets, pointing to a failed plot to bomb two U.S.-bound cargo planes.

The group says it can "bring down America" with smaller attacks that play on what it calls the "security phobia that is sweeping America."

Mullen told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday he considers the threat to be serious.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1936569/mullen-says-al-qaida-threat-from.html

We ignored them when they said they would fly airplanes into skyscrapers.

We shouldn't ignore them now.

If that means a TSA inspector touches the inner thigh of less than 5% of all air travellers, so be it.

The Obama effect

Last year, Obama famously declared that his personal popularity and awesome political skills would inspire voter turnout and thereby save endangered Democratic incumbents in the 2010 mid term election - - "Well, the big difference here and in ’94 was you’ve got me."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0110/Berry_Obama_said_big_difference_between_10_and_94_is_me.html

In fact, Obama did inspire record voter turnout - - of his opponents.

The 2010 elections turned into a rout of the Democrats because the elderly and wealthy surged to the polls to help sweep the Republicans back into power, and the balance of women's votes shifted to the GOP as well, according to a new report.

The study released Monday by Project Vote, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group, also found that turnout by pro-Democratic blocs such as African-Americans, young people and Latinos dropped sharply from 2008 levels, leaving a lopsided pro-Republican electorate to dominate the national landscape.

. . . Perhaps the most significant point about voter turnout in 2010 is how many voters didn't vote. Some 38 percent of eligible voters didn't vote in 2008 and this November and this year that figure rose to 61 percent.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/23/1939055/2010-electorate-elderly-wealthy.html


The "enthusiasm gap" wasn't a theory. It was a fact.

Hate crimes declined in 2009

According to the mainstream media, Muslims are constantly attacked by vicious American Islamophobes; all gay teens are being driven to suicide by a bullying and homophobic education system; and, the 50+% of Americans who do not approve of Obama's job performance are inspired by racist fear and loathing.

Of course, the media grossly exaggerates the facts, and wrongfully slanders the citizens of our tolerant nation.

The number of hate crime incidents and victims declined in 2009 compared to the previous year, the FBI reported Monday.

Of more than 6,000 hate crime offenders, over six in 10 were white while nearly two in 10 were black.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2032548,00.html

Iraqi democracy

Iraq's president declared on Wednesday that he will not sign off on the hanging of Tariq Aziz, joining the Vatican and others in objecting to the death sentence for a man who for years was the international face of Saddam Hussein's regime. . . .

However, Talabani's opposition does not necessarily mean Aziz, 74, will escape the noose. Aziz was sentenced in October for his alleged role in a campaign of persecuting, killing and torturing members of Shiite opposition and religious parties that now dominate Iraq.

The Iraqi constitution says death sentences must be ratified by the president before they can be carried out. But there are mechanisms to bypass the president - such as an act of parliament or the approval of one of Talabani's deputies.

Justice Ministry spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar told The Associated Press that death penalties can be carried out regardless of the president's refusal to sign an execution order.

http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/17/1528742/iraqi-president-i-wont-sign-aziz.html

That's some "democracy" we established in Iraq - - "The Iraqi constitution says death sentences must be ratified by the president before they can be carried out", but there are "mechanisms to bypass the president".

More Islamophobia

Remember when the media accused all Americans of Islamophobia?

A Somali-born teenager plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he didn't mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony, according to a law-enforcement official and court documents.

Federal agents in a sting operation arrested the 19-year-old just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.

. . . Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great!" -- Mohamud tried to kick agents and police af ter he was taken into custody . . . Mohamud is quoted as saying he picked Portland because "they don't see it as a place where anything would happen." In the affidavit, Mohamud is quoted as saying "it's going to be a fireworks show", and that his goal in the bomb plot was "I want everyone to leave dead or injured."

http://www.kgw.com/news/Feds-Somali-born-teen-plotted-car-bombing-at-Portland-tree-lighting-110897749.html

You know that it's only a matter of time before we are told by the mainstream media that public tree lighting ceremonies are an Islamophobic provocation to peace loving youth.

What about people abuse?

A 12-year prison sentence for a man who dragged a horse behind his truck has touched off a debate over whether a new animal cruelty law goes too far, when even homicide can result in lighter penalties.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/17/puerto-rico-debates-12-year-term-for-animal-abuse/

It is true that Michael Vick would have gotten a lesser sentence and less notoriety if he had abused women rather than pit bulls.

"Others involved" in the BP oil gusher

A new report from an independent scientific panel says BP and its contractors missed and ignored key warning signs and failed to fully recognize important risks in the days and hours leading up to the massive Gulf of Mexico oil well blowout.

Some of the panel's conclusions appear more critical of BP, the owner of the well, than preliminary findings issued last week by the presidential oil spill commission.

That commission said while BP made decisions that saved time it found no evidence that employees consciously chose saving money over safety. The National Academy of Engineering, which issued the latest report, said BP and others involved in the disaster failed to manage risks and didn't even have a system in place to weigh safety against costs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/17/AR2010111705786.html

BP "and others involved" in the disaster failed to manage risks and didn't even have a system in place to weigh safety against costs. Who are those "others involved"?

They would include the federal inspectors and the political appointees working for Barack Obama, the president who received more campaign donations from BP than any other politician, any where, ever, in history.

Of course, the media thinks the big political scandals of the day are "Dancing with the Stars" vote rigging and airport inspectors touching your inner thigh.

While we mess around in Iraq and Afghanistan . . .

Mexico is imploding on our doorstep.

The former governor of the Mexican Pacific coast state of Colima was gunned down in his home on Sunday morning, the latest attack on a politician in the country wracked by drug violence.

Jesus Silverio Cavazos, who left office in November 2009, died of his wounds in a hospital, Colima state prosecutor Arturo Diaz said in an interview on Mexico's Foro TV.

. . . Mexican politicians have been targeted by assassins in states that are home to drug gangs and major smuggling routes as rival gangs battle for control of the lucrative business.

Colima, a small western state, is home to the port of Manzanillo but has been relatively free of the spiraling drug-related violence that has ravaged some other Mexican regions, particularly those in the north of the country.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AK1V320101121

Leniency for Rangel?

Supporters of Rep. Charles Rangel said Sunday that the Democratic lawmaker has been punished enough by the House ethics committee's two-year investigation and should not by censured by the full Congress.

"Charlie Rangel is a giant," said former Mayor David Dinkins. "He's a man who has served not only the 15th Congressional District but this city. He's served this nation. .... There's nothing to be gained by seeking to further humiliate this great man."

The House ethics committee voted 9-1 on Thursday to recommend censure for Rangel after the same panel convicted him of 11 violations, including failure to pay taxes on rental income from a villa in the Dominican Republic. Censure is the most serious congressional discipline short of expulsion.

The full House is expected to vote after the Thanksgiving break.

State Assemblyman Keith Wright said Congress should vote "no."

"I will be making phone calls," Wright said. "All of us will be making phone calls. And we will urge all congresspeople throughout this nation to vote no on this process."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/21/1936766/rangels-ny-supporters-urge-no.html

The House Democrats should let Rangel off . . . if they want to lose another 60 seats next election.

Stupid Westerners

The London-based Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities to refrain from harassing election candidates as hundreds of opposition members have been arrested and their marches dispersed.

The opposition Muslim Brotherhood said Sunday that several of its rallies have been disrupted and more than a thousand of its members have been detained since the banned group announced their intention to contest elections last month.

"The Egyptian authorities must uphold the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly and ensure that peaceful protesters are not arbitrarily arrested and detained," the rights group's Mideast director, Malcolm Smart, said in the statement issued late Saturday.

Amnesty also said the government was restricting public access to information by suppressing newspapers and satellite television stations.

The state press reported that clashes took place over the weekend across six provinces, mostly in the north, the heartland of Brotherhood support, and 30 policemen were injured. There were also some 20 marches by Brotherhood supporters on Friday across the Egypt's second largest city of Alexandria.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hXxo-LuEjoh2wQ8pm4rHPRV2GsNw?docId=1b35d8057f2d418993e1c60705976535

Western based human rights advocates are always trying to protect the rights of crazy, tyrannical and radical groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

They never seem to stop and think about the horrible human rights outlook under a government dominated by parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood.

Another costly Obama mistake

The US has given written assurance to Israel that it won’t be pressured to impose any additional settlement freezes after it accepts a limited 90 day construction moratorium aimed at reviving Mideast peace talks, a top Israeli official said yesterday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from meetings with US officials last week with an American incentive package designed to revive Israel-Palestinian peace talks.

The Palestinians left the talks soon after they begun after a dispute over Israeli construction in the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as part of their future state. The US proposal would mean Israel would cease settlement building for 90 days in return for US pledges to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations and a fleet of next-generation stealth fighter planes.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/middle-east/133126-settlements-us-gives-assurance-in-writing.html

Negotiations are now back where they started before Obama unilaterally introduced the issue of a settlement freeze almost two years ago. And, it cost America a few more billion in military aid to cover up Obama's mistake. Heckuva job.

Are we still Islamophobes?

A Christian woman who was sentenced to death by a municipal court for blasphemy against Islam could be pardoned in the next few days by the president, a senior government official said Monday.

Asia Bibi, 45, an agricultural worker and mother of five, is the first woman to be sentenced to death for blasphemy, according to human rights groups.

The governor of Punjab province, Salmaan Taseer, where Bibi has been held in jail for more than a year, said he had forwarded a petition presenting the facts of the case to President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday.

Taseer, a political ally of Zardari, said, "I hope the president will pardon Asia in a day or two."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_2c93d6ea-d6dd-523c-a073-ee56d49e316b.html

We are sending our children off to fight in support of a government which sentences Christians to death for "blasphemy against Islam".

But, according to our own government and our own media, if we say, "no mosque at Ground Zero", we're vicious bigots and Islamophobes.

Afghanistan: Withdrawal next year is now "transition" into 2015, and beyond

A top NATO official said Wednesday that a complete handover of security to Afghan forces by 2014 was "realistic, but not guaranteed," and the transition could last into 2015 "or beyond."

Mark Sedwill, NATO's senior civilian representative in Afghanistan, cautioned there could be "levels of violence that are, by Western standards, pretty eye-watering" even after 2014. . . .

His remarks appeared aimed at conditioning weary American and European publics to the likelihood that the transition won't be clear-cut or inexpensive. They threw the end date for U.S. and other foreign combat forces further into question.

Aides to President Barack Obama now are playing down the deadline of July 2011, when the first U.S. troops are supposed to withdraw - - at least according to Obama's speech last December.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/18/1931338/transition-could-last-into-2015.html

To be clear - - they're going to say that Obama didn't lie when he promised a post surge withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2011, because withdrawal isn't delayed. Under the new terminology, it's transition which is delayed.

Unfortunately, the anti war left and the mainstream media will let Obama get away with it. As it turns out, they were only against Bush's wars, not all unnecessary wars of choice.

The choice for travel safety

On average, I fly commercial at least once per week for business, and once per month for pleasure.

I really don't want to die because a terrorist blew up my Southwest flight to Tampa (to meet his mentor at USF).

The choice is:

(1) full on profiling with limited, selective and random screenings, pat downs and junk inspection; or,

(2) no profiling and full on screenings or pat downs and junk inspection of all.

Those are really the only choices.

And, if we as a society are too politically correct or too sensitive to the feelings of others to say "males under 40 who are from or visited these 12 countries" must be aggressively screened, then it's naked posing and junk inspection for all.

P.S. - At the risk of further insensitivity, I have a feeling that many of the objections to the new scan technology arise from the false modesty and/or body image issues of the protesters. I doubt if many Brad or Angelina doppelgängers are protesting being scanned. I don't want a bomb on my plane because anyone is too embarrassed to be seen undressed by a stranger in a remote location or touched in an intimate area by a TSA agent.

Now, cholera in Haiti

Poverty, dictatorship, deforestation, hurricanes, earthquakes, now . . .

Stacked with body bags full of corpses of cholera victims, a converted flatbed truck and a colorful tap-tap taxi swerved into the yard of the mayor's office and their drivers asked where to bury the dead.

"Get out of here. Get out of here before they start throwing stones," a city hall employee screamed, her voice panicky, her hands flaring.

A crowd started circling. Three poorly armed police officers showed up and announced more were on the way. Then the city hall employee jumped into a car and motioned the corpse vehicles to follow. The angry crowd shouted and began throwing rocks.

Frightened by a disease never before known in this nation, Haitians are running scared. Residents are stoning the dead and their handlers, local mayors are refusing their burial, and families are abandoning bodies on the streets.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/19/1934890/living-fear-the-dead-in-cholera.html

Haiti is unfit for human habitation. It should not be the home of millions of people. The Haitian people survive only because of the foreign aid they receive.

At some point, Haiti needs to be taken off life support, and much of its population resettled elsewhere. We don't leave people on sinking ships.

Wikileaks founder faces rape arrest

A Swedish prosecutor has requested the arrest of Julian Assange, founder of the whistleblower website Wikileaks, to face charges of rape and sexual molestation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/8142449/Wikileaks-founder-Julian-Assange-faces-international-arrest-warrant-over-Swedish-rape-claims.html

The fellow on a mission to end supposed abuses by the American military is a rapist.

No comment required.

Posturing over gays in the military

Senate Democrats on Thursday pressured Majority Leader Harry Reid to strike a deal with Republicans to aid passage of a bill that would let gays serve openly in the military.

A dozen Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said Reid should allow an extended debate on a wide-ranging defense policy bill, which includes a provision that would repeal the 1993 law known as "don't ask, don't tell."

Lieberman said the Senate's desire to adjourn before the holidays was no reason to curtail debate and give Republicans an excuse to block the bill.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/17/1931118/senate-to-vote-again-on-military.html

When there was a Democratic president, 60 Democratic senators and an overwhelming Democratic majority in the house, the Democratic party did nothing to repeal "don't ask, don't tell".

Now that they lost control, and they know repeal is a lost cause, Democrats are pushing the issue.

That's politics and posturing, not leadership. If the D.C. Democrats wanted to repeal "don't ask, don't tell", they would have done it already.

Unemployment snafu

Another administration mistake:

More than 2-million Americans are at risk of losing their extended unemployment benefits. An extension was enacted this summer and expires December first. Thursday the bill to extend them for three months failed in the house.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=128660&catid=2

Extending benefits for 3 to 6 months at a time, with no long term plan, and with no long range cut off date, and with no decision as to how the long term unemployed are to survive when it does eventually end, is far too typical of the ad hoc, faking it and making it up as you go along economic policy of this administration.

Pro-illegal lies

Upset that the Republicans won the 2010 Hispanic vote in Florida, columnist Myriam Marquez angrily warns Hispanic voters, "you're a U.S. citizen, but you 'look' Hispanic or you talk like one, and if [Republican governor elect] Scott gets his way, you could be hauled to jail if you can't produce your 'papers' to a cop during a traffic stop."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/20/1936065/immigration-may-ding-gop-in-2012.html

Of course, that's a lie. You're just going to be asked for your driver's license or other government issued identification, same as when you cash a check, or use your credit card, or get on an airplane, or check into a hotel . . .

These pro illegal immigrant folks should realize that they're going to look like fools and liars when all these Arizona-style laws are passed, and no one's doors are beaten down by storm troopers in the middle of the night. Nazis never said, "Excuse me, ma'am, may I see your driver's license?"

If you won as the "anti war" candidate . . .

why would you become the "war forever" president?

The White House on Tuesday unveiled a plan for Afghanistan that foresees U.S. troops remaining there until at least the end of 2014, more than three years past when President Barack Obama promised he would begin withdrawing troops from the war-torn country. . . . But even the 2014 date could change -- something some military commanders fear might be necessary because of the difficulty of training Afghan forces. Many Afghan soldiers and police officers forces can't read, and U.S. soldiers complain of their heavy drug use and lack of discipline.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/17/1929606/new-plan-troops-staying-until.html

We can stay in Afghanistan forever, but we're never going to turn a mob of undisciplined, illiterate druggies into a winning army.

Unfair and unbalanced Miami Herald reporting

I understand that the Miami Herald reporting staff is opposed to Republican Senator-elect Rubio and Governor-elect Scott. I'm not necessarily a big fan of either. But, the reporters assigned to cover them are either being ignorant or willfully twisting the facts.

In today's paper:

Elected to great fanfare, Rubio, 39, will be one of the most-watched lawmakers in Washington. A review of the roughly $20 million he collected provides a window into what issues he could champion -- and who may have his ear.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/19/1934882/20m-offers-look-into-rubio-supporters.html

Of course, Rubio started as an unknown, unfunded insurgent bucking his party's establishment. His positions have been consistent from the day he announced. In Rubio's words, "people buy into our agenda, we don't buy into theirs". To imply, as these reporters do, that Rubio will oppose Obama administration initiatives (which he has long opposed) simply as pay back to late donors is unfair and untrue. He received money because of his positions, not to shape his positions.

This also appears in today's Miami Herald, regarding Scott's planned inaugural festivities:

Rick Scott, who won the governor's race after promising to cut wasteful spending, will celebrate his Jan. 4 inauguration over two days in Tallahassee with a parade, an inaugural ball and a candlelight dinner for Republican Party donors who pay up to $25,000 each to foot the bill.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/20/1934878/25k-for-seat-at-rick-scotts-inauguration.html

Scott won the governor's race after promising to cut wasteful government spending. I imagine he's all in favor of wasteful private sector spending, because it creates jobs and drives the economy. The inaugural festivities will be paid for with private, not government, funds. There is no reason to present them as a violation of a campaign promise regarding government spending, unless the reporter is just trying to make him look bad before he's been sworn in. Frankly, I don't remember any criticism on fiscal grounds of the star studded over the top Obama inaugural festivities.

Again, I'm not a big fan of either of these guys. I am a big fan of fair and honest journalism. I didn't read any this morning.

Listening to psychopaths

A British government decision to settle a lawsuit by former Guantánamo detainees who claimed they were tortured after they were turned over to U.S. authorities is bringing renewed attention to Obama administration detention policies.

Britain announced Tuesday that it will pay as many as 16 former Guantánamo detainees millions of dollars to settle claims that its government was complicit in their abuse at the hands of U.S. officials. Details of the settlements have not been publicly disclosed.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/16/1929582/british-settlement-on-torture.html

Why is everyone so quick to rely on the uncorroborated accusations of psychopathic, sociopathic terrorists?

More Mexican hypocrisy

Mexico's federal prison population has more than doubled in recent years amid the crackdown on drug cartels, and the overcrowded system needs to be revamped to prevent violence, the country's top police official said Friday.

http://www.statesman.com/news/world/prison-population-skyrockets-in-mexico-1043381.html?cxtype=rss_news

It's funny. The Mexican government always criticizes the way the United States handles one social problem or another (immigration, drugs, prisons, etc.) But, it always turns out that Mexico handles the identical social issue much worse and with much gratuitous cruelty. For example, Mexico complains that Arizona profiles suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico, but the Mexican government regularly beats and rapes and otherwise abuses illegal immigrants to Mexico.

What's not funny is that those in power in Washington listen to the complaints of the Mexican government, and never call them on their hypocrisy.

Obama now supports ending congressional budget 'earmarks'?

President Barack Obama and House Republicans leaders may actually have found something to agree on: Eliminating congressional "earmarks" from the federal budget.

They represent less than 1 percent of federal spending, but they have come to symbolize Washington's wasteful ways. When huge spending bills are working their way through Congress, legislators often tuck in a provision, known as an "earmark," that requires a government agency to fund a particular local project, even when the agency officials think the money could be better spent elsewhere.

In his Saturday radio address, Obama said that curtailing or eliminating "earmarks" would be a first step toward restoring fiscal responsibility.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/13/3183028/obama-supports-ending-congressional.html

After two years of administration put downs and dismissals of the idea, Obama now supports ending congressional budget 'earmarks'.

Isn't this another policy switch which could have help some defeated Democrats in tight races get reelected, if announced back in August or September?

Hunger in America

U.S. agriculture officials said Monday that the nation's 15 federal nutrition programs helped keep hunger in check in 2009 even as the number of unemployed Americans soared.

After a record one-year increase from 2007 to 2008, the number of U.S. households facing food shortages increased only slightly last year to roughly 17.4 million, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/15/103763/rise-in-us-hunger-slows-but-remains.html

How bad are things getting? Well, the Obama administration congratulates itself for policies which allowed "food shortages" to "increase only slightly last year to roughly 17.4 million" households.

That's 17.4 million households, not people. And, they consider that good news.

Charlie Rangel

This is the second worst news for Congressional Democrats since the election:

The House ethics committee on Thursday recommended censure for longtime Rep. Charles Rangel, suggesting that the New York Democrat suffer the embarrassment of standing before his colleagues while receiving an oral rebuke by the speaker for financial and fundraising misconduct.

Censure is the most serious congressional discipline short of expulsion. The House, which could change the recommended discipline by making it more serious or less serious, probably will consider the recommendation after Thanksgiving.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101118/ap_on_go_co/us_rangel_punishment

The worst news for Congressional Democrats since the election was the reelection of Nancy Pelosi as their leader.

The message to swing voters so far is that the only jobs they're fighting for are their own.

Morons plan body scanner protest

New full body security scanners at airports around the country have been met with mixed emotions. Some flyers are so upset with the scanners they plan to protest by refusing to use them on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/local/111610-travelers-mixed-on-airport-scanner-protest

In fact, protesters plan to opt out of the body scanners at airports nationwide and thereby delay and disrupt air traffic on the day before Thanksgiving.

Putting aside the validity of any fourth amendment concerns, and any false modesty or body image problems of the protesters, it should be obvious that you don't increase public support for your cause by inconveniencing travelers trying to get home for Thanksgiving.

Another federal do nothing job

Speaker Nancy Pelosi will create a new leadership post for Rep. Jim Clyburn as Democrats prepare to cede control of the House of Representatives to Republicans in January.

Pelosi's intervention helps House Democrats avoid an internal fight with racial overtones at a time when they're still licking their wounds from their midterm drubbing.

Clyburn, the current majority whip and the highest-ranking African American in Congress, and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland were competing for the Democrats' No. 2 House leadership spot, minority whip, when the new legislative session starts. . . . adding that the new post would be called assistant leader.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/11/13/103691/clyburn-will-get-house-post-avoiding.html

Get that? In order to "maintain diversity", Pelosi will create a new do nothing job at the taxpayers' expense. I'm sure the job comes with a great office, more staff, big travel and other expense accounts, other stipends, and more cool perks and benefits.

I guess she still didn't get the voters' message.

33 Americans killed in Afghanistan so far this month

NATO released Thursday the first details on an insurgent attack that killed five U.S. soldiers over the weekend, saying the Americans were trying to rout militants from a volatile valley in eastern Kunar province when they came under fire.

The area along Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan has continued to see heavy fighting as NATO focuses most of its efforts on a troop surge in the south aimed at breaking Taliban strongholds there.

Also Thursday, NATO announced two more deaths in the south — one from a bomb explosion and the other in an insurgent attack. The military alliance said both soldiers died Wednesday but did not provide details or disclose their nationalities.

Thirty-nine NATO service members have been killed so far this month in Afghanistan, including at least 33 Americans.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_afghanistan

And the successful anti war presidential candidate's response?

Stay another 3 years!

How does Mexico treat immigrants?

With "abuse, torture and extortion".

On Oct. 26, Yanisleidys Pineda Nápoles turned 20 years old. Her birthday gifts — the only items allowed to enter Iztapalapa’s Migratory Station — were a towel, a tube of toothpaste, a brush and a roll of sanitary paper.

She has spent six months in Mexican migratory prisons and, even though she is no longer deportable since she left Cuba more than a year ago, she doesn’t know how long the Mexican authorities will keep her in detention.

Hers is not an isolated case. In the past two years, after the Memorandum of Understanding between Cuba and Mexico was signed on Oct. 28, 2008, the passing of Cubans through this country en route to the United States has turned into a riskier and more expensive adventure.

Non-government organizations, such as Amnesty International, Without Borders and the Cuban-Mexican Civic Association, keep records of abuse, torture and extortion of Cubans by the Mexican authorities of the National Institute of Migration, the Navy, the Federal Patrol Police, the District Attorney’s Office and even the federal, state and city police, not to mention kidnappings by organized crime.

http://cubafaq.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/cuban-migrants-report-abuses-in-mexico/

That's rignt. The Mexican government which sued Arizona to enjoin police officers from simply asking arrested criminals for identification in turn "abuses, tortures and extorts" immigrants in Mexico.

Latin American hypocrisy on immigration

After the United States' volatile midterm elections, many in Latin America are hoping the Obama administration will refocus on issues south of the border.

But the power shift in the House of Representatives, the ascendancy of tea party politics and the United States' sluggish economy could cloud those hopes . . .

While Republicans are usually reliable supporters of free-trade agreements, it's unclear how the tea party -- and its wider influence on a Republican-controlled House -- might change that dynamic . . .

During the campaign, the Tea Party lashed out at illegal immigration and troubles along the Mexican border. That could make it politically tricky for them to pivot and advocate for free-trade deals in Latin America . . .

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/11/1919834/experts-power-shift-clouds-hope.html

In Latin America, illegal immigrants are routinely rounded up, beaten, and physically and sexually abused before being summarily deported without any hint of due process. Moreover, there is little recognition of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. But, none of that stops Latin American leaders from advocating for advantageous free trade.

Let Latin America's leaders oppose strict enforcement of America's immigration and citizenship law when their law is as generous.

Tax cuts for the wealthy

Candidate Obama promised to repeal them. Of course, Obama, Pelosi, Reid and their overwhelming majorities in Congress took no action to repeal the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

President-elect Obama said he would let them expire. Of course, that required no action from Obama, Pelosi, Reid and their overwhelming majorities in Congress.

President Obama?

On Nov. 30, President Obama will meet with House and Senate leaders of both parties to will meet formally to negotiate the terms of extending the Bush tax cuts.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/15/news/economy/bush_tax_cuts_faqs/

Once more, all talk, followed by no action, followed by surrender.

All Obama is doing now is negotiating the terms of the surrender.

It's nice to have friends in high places

BP and its contractors missed and ignored warning signs prior to the massive oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, showing an "insufficient consideration of risk" and raising questions about the know-how of key personnel, a group of technical experts concluded.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/108583484.html

The federal inspectors could have discovered these "warning signs" if they had looked for them.

Unfortunately, the federal chief executive received more campaign donations from BP than anyone else, ever.

Amazingly, the media never makes this connection.

Obama's buddies

Hezbollah on Thursday warned that the Shiite group would "cut off the hand" of anyone who tried to arrest any of its partisans over the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

. . . Nasrallah's speech was the latest move in an increasingly heated campaign Hezbollah has launched to fend off the anticipated STL accusation against high-ranking members in connection with the killing of Hariri and 22 others in a Beirut bombing on February 14, 2005.

Nasrallah has warned that further Lebanese cooperation with the court would be tantamount to an attack on his powerful group.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iOnwNiJOOz21Im1kBNnEltrBR3gA?docId=CNG.c475d315dd94dc3d274371ac27c49236.771

In negotiations to resolve their dispute with Israel, Obama has taken Hezbollah's side.

More "success" abroad

Militants attacked a police compound in the heart of Pakistan's largest city on Thursday with a hail of gunfire and a massive car bomb, leveling the building and killing at least 15 people, authorities and witnesses said.

The gang of around six gunmen managed to penetrate a high-security area of Karachi that is home to the U.S Consulate, two luxury hotels and the offices of regional leaders. While no stranger to extremist violence, Karachi has not witnessed this kind of organized assault in recent years.

It was the first major attack against a government target outside the northwestern tribal regions for several months, showing the reach of Islamist militants seeking to overthrow the U.S.-allied government despite efforts to crack down on them over the last three years.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/11/bomb-rocks-pakistans-largest-city/

One day, our government will be forced to admit that its efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan are simply not working. In the interim, we're needlessly throwing away our children's lives and our nation's treasure.

Crossing the border by foot

Authorities have dismantled a major cell of a human smuggling ring that may be responsible for the transportation of thousands of illegal immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to Phoenix and other parts of the country, investigators said Wednesday.

Nine people were arrested Wednesday after a yearlong investigation. They have not yet been charged but are accused of picking up illegal immigrants after they crossed the border by foot, and taking them to what are known as drop houses in Phoenix before they were distributed to other parts of the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101111/ap_on_re_us/us_smuggling_ring_bust

This "human smuggling ring" picked up "thousands of illegal immigrants" "after they crossed the border by foot". In other words, it was a transportation service for people who had already entered the country illegally.

Why are "thousands of illegal immigrants" still "crossing the border by foot"? Both Bush and Obama promised to stop that.

Do you need an example of government waste?

In the first major change to cigarette packaging in a quarter-century, the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it would require graphic warning labels that cover half a package's front and rear and the top 20% of all cigarette ads.

The labels will feature either drawings or photos illustrating graphically the dangers associated with smoking and will be accompanied by text stating that smoking is addictive or that it kills. The pictures feature such things as a diseased lung, a corpse and a man smoking a cigarette through a tracheotomy tube. They are not quite as grim as some used in other countries, but regulators hope they will be sufficiently frightening to keep young people from beginning to smoke and to strengthen the will of those who are attempting to quit.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/11/science/la-sci-1111-cigarette-packages-20101111

Anyone who denies there is too much wasteful government spending needs to look at how much the design and implementation of this new regulation will cost the taxpayer. Remember, the purpose of these regulations is to more strongly warn us of what we already know.

Stupid, stupid, stupid

Leaders from both parties in Congress vowed Tuesday to spare more than 21 million taxpayers from significant tax increases when they file their returns next spring by adjusting the alternative minimum tax before the end of the year.

The tax was first enacted in 1969 to make sure higher-income taxpayers could not use deductions and credits to avoid paying any federal income tax. The income limits, however, were not indexed for inflation, so Congress routinely fixes the AMT each year to spare millions of middle income taxpayers from tax increases that would average about $3,900.

Congress hasn't made the change for 2010. In a letter to the IRS, Democratic and Republican leaders of the tax-writing congressional committees said they would address the issue after Congress returns next week in a lame-duck session.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_iIleipbrGw8iImme1B9zOiyhAw?docId=69d248f06f7f4edf8c024dad2bca3feb

Congressional Democrats could have done this alone, before the election, taken credit for a tax cut, and maybe saved a few seats.

Instead, by passing it in the lame duck session, Republicans will get the credit from the public.

More evidence of Tea Party racism

It's the summer of 1999 and 12-year-old Nolan Carroll II, a talented little soccer player and track star, is rollerblading around his Jacksonville neighborhood with a stack of political fliers, going door to door to campaign for his mother.

He is racing his younger sister, Nyckie, and brother, Necho, to see who delivers the most leaflets for Jennifer Carroll, who is running for the U.S. House.

. . . Politics and sports continue to consume the family. Nolan is now a rookie cornerback for the Miami Dolphins. His mother last week became Florida's lieutenant governor-elect, the first black and first woman elected to the post. She was also the first black Republican woman voted into the Florida Legislature seven years ago.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/09/1917888/for-the-carroll-family-competition.html

It doesn't fit the media spin, so it's not being reported, but all the newly elected politicians from minority backgrounds - - governors, congressmen, senators - - were selected by and elected with the support of Tea Party activists, on the basis of merit and without any affirmative action mandates.

Of course, those are the same Tea Party activists who were dismissed as a bunch of crazy white racists when they said the "stimulus" bill and Obamacare were wasteful, ineffective budget busters.

It turns out that they weren't racist, but they were correct.

Is it Islamophobic to question his patriotism?

A U.S.-born radical cleric who belongs to the al-Qaida offshoot behind the cargo bomb plot on the United States told Muslims they are free to kill American "devils" at will in a video posted on extremist websites Monday.

Anwar al-Awlaki's vitriolic sermons have inspired several attacks against the United States, and Yemeni officials say he may have given his blessing to the mail bomb plot even if he did not take an active part in it. The al-Qaida branch in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the foiled bomb plot.

In past messages, al-Awlaki has justified killing American civilians as retaliation for the killing of hundreds of thousands of Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But this appeared to be an escalation, with the 39-year-old cleric arguing that no rationale was needed to seek out and kill Americans.

"Don't consult with anybody in killing the Americans," al-Awlaki said in the 23-minute video, in which he appeared dressed in a white robe and turban, with a sheathed dagger tucked into his waistband.

"Fighting the devil does not require a fatwa, nor consultation nor prayers seeking divine guidance. They are the party of Satan and fighting them is the obligation of the time," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101108/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen_al_qaida

Of course, according to the U.S. media, if you say you would be nervous about getting on an airplane with al-Awlaki (follow link to picture), you deserve to be fired.

Arab Islamophobia?

Several hundred protesters have rallied in Chicago to call on the United States to provide better security for Christians in Iraq.

Protesters dressed in black finished a Monday afternoon march through downtown at a plaza in front of the Dirksen Federal Building.

One demonstrator held aloft a placard that read, "Save Iraq's Most Vulnerable Population." Others held of graphic photographs from inside Iraqi churches after they'd been attacked.

An organizer, Natasha Shino, says Christians are being forced to flee their homeland. The Chicagoan says Iraqi Christians believe the U.S. can do more to protect them.

The Chicago protest and similar ones around the country come in the wake of a recent bloody siege of a Baghdad church that left around 60 people dead.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-iraqchristians-ch,0,7788671.story

I'm waiting for the U.S. media to start accusing Iraqi Christians protesting their slaughter by fundamentalist terrorists of "Islamophobia".

Of course, I'm also waiting for Obama to take time out from attacking Israel's settlement policy to comment upon the Islamic fundamentalists' Christian murder policy.

Drone strikes

A pair of American drone strikes killed 14 suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, local intelligence officials said, in the latest attacks against al–Qaida and Taliban militants seeking sanctuary in the region.

. . . In the first strike, one American missile slammed into a house and another hit a vehicle in the town of Ghulam Khan just north of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, the two officials said. Nine insurgents were killed.

An hour later, another pair of missiles struck a vehicle in the nearby town of Datta Khel, killing five suspected militants, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk to the media. They said all five killed were foreigners.

. . . Some locals allege that the suspected U.S. drone strikes regularly kill innocents, while others say the missiles are accurate and most of the dead are militants or villagers knowingly harboring them.

The strikes are carried out by unmanned drones that fly over the region for hours and equipped with extremely high–powered video cameras.

http://topnews360.tmcnet.com/topics/associated-press/articles/2010/11/10/116036-pakistan-says-2-us-drone-strikes-kill-14.htm

There's no doubt that drone strikes result in unintentional collateral civilian casualties.

Ironically, the same people who complained about "war criminals" in the last administration now authorize aerial bombardment of civilian populated areas.

Their commitment to "anti war" policies was nothing but election year posturing.

More examples of "even handed" news coverage

When Bush did the requisite folk dances overseas, he was a fool. In the words of one critic, "George Bush has one more month left in his presidency but a lifetime left of stupid, funny moments."

http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=76613

http://newsone.com/nation/casey-gane-mccalla/top-10-worst-bush-funny-video-moments/

But, when Obama folk danced in India, he "won accolades among Indians for at least trying out his moves" "to the seeming delight of Indian viewers" and "danced into India's heart".

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/07/1914872/dancing-first-couple-but-mostly.html

"Danced into India's heart"? I'm no supporter of or apologist for George W. Bush, but you have to wonder if such blatant bias is the result of intent or reflex, and why no one in the media ever seems to notice their own obvious favoritism.

While Obama decides to stay in Afghanistan for several more years . . .

A soldier from the U.S.-trained Afghan army apparently turned his weapon on American troops in volatile southern Afghanistan, killing at least two U.S. soldiers, NATO officials said Saturday.

The incident is the latest that calls into question the allegiances of at least some members of the Afghan security forces, which the Obama administration hopes will be the key to an eventual withdrawal of roughly 100,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan.

A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the matter is still under investigation, said the shootings took place late Thursday in southern Helmand province. The area has been the site of intense fighting between the Taliban-led insurgency and thousands of additional troops President Barack Obama sent to Afghanistan this year.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/06/1912336/afghan-soldier-turns-weapon-on.html

It's simply inexcusable to deploy American troops in such hostile territory for a nation building experiment.

Excusing Pakistan based terrorism

President Barack Obama on Sunday defended the U.S. alliance with India's bitter rival Pakistan, but acknowledged that Pakistan's progress in rooting out terrorists "is not as quick as we'd like."

. . . On Saturday, Obama was widely criticized here for commemorating the 2008 Mumbai attacks without mentioning Pakistan's role. The plot was hatched there.

. . . Obama said Pakistan is strategically important to the United States, but that extremism there is "a cancer . . . that can potentially engulf the country.

"I think the Pakistani government understands now the potential threat that exists within their own borders," he said, but added: "Progress is not as quick as we'd like."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/07/1913990/obama-in-india-says-pakistans.html

You have to wonder why he makes excuses for Pakistan's tolerance of terrorism while slamming Israel for allowing the construction of settler housing.

Israel's construction of apartments seems to be more offensive to Obama than Pakistan's implicit support for violent jihad.

Liar backpedals on deadlines for withdrawal from Afghanistan

Actually, the headline was "US starts to backpedal on deadlines for withdrawal from Afghanistan".

The Obama administration has decided to begin publicly walking away from what it once touted as key deadlines in the war in Afghanistan in an effort to remove emphasis from Barack Obama's pledge that he would begin withdrawing US forces in July 2011.

Administration and military officials say the new policy will be on display next week at a NATO conference in Lisbon, where the administration hopes to introduce a timetable that calls for the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan by 2014. This is when the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, said Afghan troops could take over security, three senior officials said.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-starts-to-backpedal-on-deadlines-for-withdrawal-from-afghanistan-20101110-17np2.html

Notice how they waited until after the election to announce that the guarantee of post surge withdrawal was a lie.

It's impossible to quantify the extent to which a pre election announcement of this flip flop would have further depressed turnout of the anti war youth who voted for the "anti war candidate" in 2008. It's easy to imagine the negative impact on turnout in 2012.

Obama kicks Israel

President Barack Obama, stepping into an Israeli-Palestinian dispute during a homecoming visit to the world's largest Muslim majority nation, criticised Israel on Tuesday for its decision to advance the approval of some 1,000 new housing units in East Jerusalem during a sensitive time in the peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

"This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations, and I'm concerned that we're not seeing each side make the extra effort involved to get a breakthrough," Obama said during a joint news conference here with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20101110/1246/twl-obama-raps-israel-on-fresh-settlemen.html

Our president's attacks on Israel in Muslim countries are the equivalent of a comedian performing in New York and asking the crowd, "Anyone here from Brooklyn?" or "How about them Yankees?"

They are nothing but cheap and reliable guarantees of applause.

Except, attacks on Israel back stab an ally and justify anti Israel terrorism.

It's no wonder the Democrats lost 25% of the Jewish vote between 2008 and 2010.

The violence next door down Mejico way

Mexican security forces killed reputed Gulf cartel leader Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords, in a spectacular, hours-long gunbattle Friday in the northern border city of Matamoros. . . .

The clashes across the border from Brownsville, Texas, also claimed the lives of three gunmen and two marines, said Alejandro Poire, Calderon's security spokesman. A soldier and a local reporter were also killed, the Mexican Defense Department said in a news release.

Gunfire first broke out about 11 a.m. at an upscale residential area in Matamoros and shootouts ensued throughout the city after that for about eight hours, said a resident who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal.

A video posted on YouTube shows a string of SUVs and pickup trucks racing through a street while continuous shooting is heard in the background. Men wearing ski masks get out of a car and use it to block the street.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/05/world/main7028102.shtml

The center of downtown Brownsville, Texas is less than 2 and 1/2 miles from the center of downtown Matamoros, Mexico.

There is absolutely no justification for the border between the two being less than 100% secure and sealed.

Unfortunately, by the time the violence does spill on to our side of the border, it will be too late to stop.

Where does the Fed get authority to do this?

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke defended the Fed's new $600 billion program to aid the economy on Saturday, rejecting concerns that it will spur runaway inflation.

Critics, including some Fed officials, fear that all the money being injected into the economy could ignite inflation or speculative bubbles in the prices of bonds or commodities.

Speaking to a conference on the Georgia coast, Bernanke said the new program, announced Wednesday, won't push inflation to "super ordinary" levels.

The Fed will buy $600 billion worth of government bonds in a bid to make loans cheaper and get Americans to spend more. Doing so would help the economy and prompt companies to boost hiring.

The economy hasn't been growing fast enough to reduce unemployment, which has been stuck at a high of 9.6 percent for three straight months. The Fed worries that high unemployment, lackluster wage gains and still-weak home values will weigh on consumer spending, a major drive of overall economic activity.

Because companies are loath to raise retail prices in this climate, inflation has been running at very low levels. That gives the Fed leeway to launch the new aid program.

Earlier in the week, Bernanke expressed confidence that once the economy is on firm footing, the Fed will be able to smoothly soak up all that money without harming the economy and unleashing inflation.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101106/ap_on_re_us/us_bernanke_stimulus

The same people who didn't see the crash coming now want to print $600 billion of new money upon their assurances that it won't cause "super ordinary" inflation (only ordinary inflation?) and that they will eventually "be able to smoothly soak up all that money without harming the economy". Of course, the risk is continued high unemployment combined with high inflation. And, obviously, the debt and the deficit will soar by another $600 billion. Again, this plan was designed by the geniuses who didn't see the crash coming.

Regardless of whether they are right or wrong (and we shouldn't risk finding out), they have neither a Constitutional nor a legislative grant of authority to take this unprecedented action. An unelected group of bureaucrats, acting without executive or legislative oversight, should not take such a huge risk with our economy. If it's such a good idea, let the president and congress hammer it out.

Too litttle, too late

The Obama administration and Congressional Democrats are struggling for a strategy to deal with the soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts, each side uncertain whether the other is up for a fight with Republicans in the wake of the Democrats’ election trouncing — or whether they could win, in any event.

That has both parties betting that the most likely outcomes could be either a truce that extends the tax cuts for all income levels for perhaps a year past their scheduled Dec. 31 expiration, or a stalemate that lets them expire temporarily, in either case delaying the battle until 2011.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/us/07fiscal.html?_r=1

Everyone knows there will eventually be a compromise, probably a one to three year "temporary" extension of the Bush tax cuts.

Of course, had Obama accepted this compromise back in September or October, many swing district Democrats who lost their seats by less than one or two percent might have won.

Obama's constant dithering and delay on issue after issue is undoing 20 years of party building efforts by grass roots Democratic activists. In exchange for huge declines in Democratic strength among women, Jews, Latinos and LGBT voters since 2008, all Obama has brought to the table is an increase in African American voter turnout.

More Islamophobia

A federal grand jury has charged three men, including one from St. Louis and one from Minneapolis, with conspiring to funnel money to a terrorist group in Somalia that the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida.

In an indictment returned Oct. 21 and unsealed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, prosecutors charged St. Louis taxi driver Mohamud Abdi Yusuf, a Somali national who immigrated to the U.S. as a refugee, with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and three counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization - the radical Islamist group al-Shabab.

The government contends that Yusuf and Abdi Mahdi Hussein sent money through a Minneapolis wire-transfer business where Hussein worked to al-Shabab supporters in Somalia between 2008 and at least July 2009. Hussein, who is also of Somali descent, is charged with one count of conspiracy to structure monetary transactions. Yusuf also faces that count.

Duane Mohamed Diriye, who prosecutors contend was on the receiving end of some transactions, is charged with conspiracy and terrorist-funding counts and is believed to be in Somalia or Kenya.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/03/1906857/3-accused-in-al-shabab-terror.html

Al-Shabab is a terrorist group of radical fundamentalist Muslims active in Somalia. Since 2007, approximately 20 young men of Somali descent left Minneapolis to join al-Shabab's fight in Somalia.

They chose to leave the American Muslim community, the richest, safest, freest and most educated Muslim community in history. Notwithstanding what the U.S. media says, it wasn't because of American Islamophobia.

Out of touch or delusional?

"It feels bad," Obama said. . . . But he suggested no change of course, saying that the American people signaled their frustration Tuesday over the economy but brushing aside suggestions that they'd rejected his policies. "Over the last two years, we've made progress. But clearly too many Americans haven't felt that progress yet, and they told us that yesterday. And, as president, I take responsibility for that. ... It underscores for me that I've got to do a better job, just like everybody else in Washington does." . . . Obama said he was the same man with the same agenda and same leadership style he'd always had . . .

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/03/1907376/a-day-after-elections-obama-suggests.html

Obama intends to do the same thing over and over again, with no change of course.

As Albert Einstein said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

More Islamophobia?

After the gunmen killed the priest and nearly everyone in the first row, an eerie quiet descended over the pews. The only occasional sounds were sporadic gunfire, the muffled cries of the hostages and the shouts of Islamic militants – sometimes over their cell phones.

Suddenly the lights went out. Iraqi forces began entering the building, telling parishioners: "We will save you."

Then a shattering blast shook the church as a suicide bomber set off his explosives.

By the time the siege of Our Lady of Salvation church was over Sunday night, 58 people were dead and 78 wounded – nearly everyone inside the building.

The attack, claimed by an al-Qaida-linked organization, was the deadliest recorded against Iraq's Christians since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion unleashed a wave of violence against them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/01/baghdad-church-siege-ends_n_776827.html

Do not hold your breath waiting for front page stories on the plight of Christians in the Middle East. According to the U.S. media, all the problems in the region are the result of Christian and Jewish anti-Muslim bigotry.

Another healthcare "success"

The Obama administration said Friday it will cut premiums and upgrade coverage in a new health plan for people with medical problems, because enrollment has been disappointingly low.

Government economists had projected that people turned down by private insurers would flock to the new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, with 375,000 expected to sign up this year. But as of this week, a little more than 8,000 had enrolled, officials said.

Part of the problem is sticker shock. Premiums vary by state, and can range from $400 to $600 per month or more for people in their 40s and 50s.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101105/ap_on_he_me/us_health_care_plan_changes

The Obama administration thought $400 to $600 per month was "affordable".

They didn't realize that $400 to $600 per month were the high costs we were complaining about before they started the healthcare reform process.

They are truly out of touch.

Our Afghan allies

For months, American and Afghan officials have been promoting a plan to persuade masses of rank-and-file Taliban fighters to change sides and join the government. The tactic, known as “reintegration,” is one of the big hopes for turning the tide in the war.

But the Taliban, it appears, have reintegration plans of their own. On Monday morning, they claimed to have put them into effect.

In Khogeyani, a volatile area southwest of the capital, the entire police force on duty Monday morning appears to have defected to the Taliban side. A spokesman for the Taliban said the movement’s fighters made contact with the Khogeyani’s police force, cut a deal, and then sacked and burned the station. As many as 19 officers vanished, as did their guns, trucks, uniforms and food.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/02/world/asia/02afghan.html?_r=1

We are wasting time, money and American lives in a pointless effort to modernize a primitive fundamentalist society.

Our own leaders' egos and political calculations are the only reasons we are still fighting there.

BP caused more damage to ocean floor than previously revealed

For the first time, federal scientists have found damage to deep sea coral and other marine life on the ocean floor several miles from the blown-out BP well — a strong indication that damage from the spill could be significantly greater than officials had previously acknowledged.

Tests are needed to verify that the coral died from oil that spewed into the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, but the chief scientist who led the government-funded expedition said Friday he was convinced it was related.

. . . For the government, the findings were a departure from earlier statements. Until now, federal teams have painted relatively rosy pictures about the spill's effect on the sea and its ecosystem, saying they had not found any damage on the ocean floor.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700079151/Scientists-find-damage-to-coral-near-blown-out-BP-well.html

Obviously, the "rosy pictures about the spill's effect on the sea and its ecosystem" is a direct result of Obama's receipt of more campaign contributions from BP than any other politician in history.

Rather than focus on the non issue of "Islamophobia", the U.S. media should explore that connection.

More American Islamophobia?

More than 70 people including children have been killed in bomb and grenade attacks on two mosques in northwest Pakistan, according to reports.

The suicide bombing at the Sunni mosque in the town of Darra Adam Khel, which is frequented by anti-Taliban tribal elders, left 66 people dead, officials said.

The attack happened soon after Friday prayers in the town, which lies near the border with Afghanistan.

At least 80 others were wounded in the explosion at the Waali Mosque, reports said.

Later, three grenade blasts killed five people at another mosque in the Badhber area, on the outskirts of Peshawar. Another 24 were wounded, police said.

Video from the scene in Darra Adam Khel showed screaming women, elderly men in blood-stained clothes and a child being wheeled into the emergency ward of a nearby hospital.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/At-Least-50-Killed-In-Suicide-Bomber-Attack-On-Waali-Mosque-In-Darra-Adam-Khel/Article/201011115795636?f=rss

Remember - - according to all the big shots in the American media, the problem is American Islamophobia, not Islamic fundamentalist terrorism.

Our Afghan friend

Afghanistan’s president said yesterday that he had not been informed in advance of Russian participation in a NATO-led drug raid that netted $56 million worth of heroin and morphine, and his administration demanded a formal apology from the alliance.

. . . Russian counter-narcotics agents teamed up with US and Afghan forces Thursday to seize four drug labs in an unprecedented joint raid in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistani border, officials said. The action came less than a week after Russia’s antinarcotics chief accused the United States of failing to dismantle such labs and slow down the flow of heroin into Russia.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/10/31/afghan_leader_decries_russian_role_in_nato_raid_on_four_drug_labs/

Drug labs operate with the knowledge and complicity of the man our children are fighting and dieing to protect.

When we do shut down the drug labs, our supposed "ally" makes excuses and changes the subject.

The product of these drug labs is not for local consumption, but for export to Europe and the U.S.A.

Why do we protect this "ally"?

Pelosi staying?

Bucking speculation that she would step down after her Democratic Party suffered a "shellacking" in Tuesday's election, outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Friday that she will run for minority leader in the next Congress.

. . . Many on Capitol Hill have speculated that Pelosi, 70, who has held the No. 1 job in Congress since January 2007, would resign from the leadership, paving the way for the current No. 2, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to take the top job.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/11/05/pelosi-running-dem-leader/

There comes a time when a leader's continued presence hurts their party, and they must have the strength of character to resign.

As big an egoist as Newt Gingrich knew when it was time to go.

The only bigger fool than Pelosi would be any Democratic representative who votes for her.

Iran ready to return to nuclear talks?

Iran said Friday that it would resume talks with the West about its nuclear program in November, according to officials at the European Union.

In a two-paragraph letter answering an invitation offered more than three months ago by the bloc’s foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, the Iranians said their senior negotiator, Saeed Jalili, could hold discussions as of Nov. 10. Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said last month in New York that Iran was prepared to resume talks, but gave no specifics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/30/world/middleeast/30iran.html

Of course, after all these delays and during all these stalling tactics, Iran is getting closer every day to having nuclear weapons.

Another public transportation "success"

Three years after the Greenbush train made its inaugural run, ridership on the $534 million commuter rail extension is far below the MBTA’s projections, and those who do take it are more likely to be former passengers of the T’s own commuter boats than motorists lured away from the South Shore’s congested highways.

Last week, according to the T, an average of 2,133 weekday customers rode the line toward Boston, about half the 4,200 riders the transit agency had expected within three to five years of opening Greenbush. Even more sobering for the T is the fact that ridership in each month from October 2009 to June 2010 — the most recent month for which complete statistics are available — had dropped below the levels in the same month a year earlier.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/10/31/after_3_years_greenbush_ridership_below_projections/
Big government big spenders are always pushing for billions more tax dollars for various public transportation schemes. They keep getting built.

But, outside of intensely congested urban areas with traditions of public transportation ridership - - New York, Chicago, Philadelphia - - these projects never meet their revenue projections and always lose money.

For some reason, urban and transportation planners will not accept the fact that, given the choice, most Americans prefer the comfort, privacy and convenience of our own cars.

Why is this not bigger news?

A gun used to shoot at a Marine Corps recruiting station in Chantilly, Va., this week was the same used in earlier shootings at the Pentagon and a Marine Corps museum, the F.B.I. said Thursday. Bullet holes were discovered Oct. 17 in windows of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Va., 30 miles south of the Pentagon. Two days later, shots were fired into windows at the Defense Department in suburban Virginia. Ballistics reports previously linked those shootings. The Chantilly shooting occurred Monday night or early Tuesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/us/29brfs-SHOOTINGATRE_BRF.html?src=twrhp

There seems to be a pattern of connected acts of domestic terrorism directed against the military. This news shouldn't be hidden on the bottom of page 11 of the newspaper.

Hezbollah obstructs justice

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, issued a stern warning on Thursday night against any cooperation with the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, putting new pressure on Lebanon’s fragile coalition government.

The speech — delivered in an uncharacteristically quiet and grave manner — went well beyond Hezbollah’s previous statements on the matter, and could make the politically charged tribunal’s work in Lebanon far more difficult. Some of Hezbollah’s domestic political opponents reacted immediately, calling the speech a threat against the state.

The Lebanese authorities have cooperated with the tribunal since it was established. But in recent months reports have circulated that prosecutors are set to indict members of Hezbollah, and Mr. Nasrallah has denounced the investigation as a tool of Israel and the United States.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/middleeast/29lebanon.html

Hezbollah assassinated Lebanon’s prime minister, used the resulting turmoil to force its way into government, and now dismisses the internationally sanctioned criminal investigation of its terrorist activity as a tool of Israel and the United States.

Ironically, and for some reason I will never understand, many in the U.S. media side with terrorist Hezbollah, rather than with international justice.

Now, civilians are falling victim to Mexico's drug war

During its nearly four-year crackdown on major drug trafficking organizations, the Mexican government has repeated the mantra that most of the nearly 30,000 people killed have some association with the illicit trade.

But in the span of a week, a devastating wave of attacks has killed dozens of civilians, rattled a public not easily shocked anymore and forced the government to concede that innocents are being swept up in the violence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/americas/29mexico.html?_r=1

First, we were told to ignore Mexican drug violence, because it was simply criminals killing each other.

Now, it's involving civilians on an unprecedented level.

Soon, the Mexican military will be fully involved in a civil war with narcoterrorists, and the violence will spill over the Mexican border into American territory.

The failure of the U.S. government to secure and seal our southern land border with Mexico is inexcusable.

Turning off Jews

In the 11/06 midterm election, 87% of self-identified Jews voted Democratic.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html

Then, in March, 2010, during an Israeli state visit, "Obama snubbed Netanyahu for dinner with Michelle and the girls, Israelis claim - Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday. . . . It was the second time this month that Mr Netanyahu has been at the receiving end of a US dinner-time snub. A fortnight ago, Joe Biden the US vice president, arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner Mr Netanyahu hosted in Jerusalem . . ."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7521220/Obama-snubbed-Netanyahu-for-dinner-with-Michelle-and-the-girls-Israelis-claim.html

Yesterday, in the 11/10 midterm election, only 66% of Jews voted Democratic.

http://jstreet.org/files/images/J_Street_National_Survey_Results.pdf

Cause and effect? Maybe not. But, by their obnoxious behavior and incompetent job performance, Obama and Biden have managed to alienate approximately 25% of one of the most reliably Democratic voting blocs in America.

More Islamophobia?

Somalia’s most powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab, executed two teenage girls on Wednesday after deciding they were spies, setting off fears among residents, officials and witnesses said.

The two teenagers — one 18, the other 14 — were shot by firing squad in the center of the town of Beledweyne, near the border with Ethiopia, witnesses said.

Pickup trucks with big loudspeakers drove into the town, ordering the residents to watch the execution. Residents were also told to switch off their cellphones and were warned not to take pictures, a prohibition that has been enforced at some Islamist executions in the past.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/world/africa/29somalia.html?_r=1

Remember, according to the America haters in the American media, the problem is not foreign Islamic terror but vicious American Islamophobia.

Of course, there's no evidence to support their proposition.

Does anyone else notice that the states in which Democrats suffered their worst defeats . . .

are generally the states in which Hillary overwhelmingly won the primary?

Maybe now Democrats are ready to admit they let the wrong guy steal the nomination.

Hopefully, there will be a Democratic primary challenge to Obama in 2012.

BP knew of cement flaws, why didn't the government inspectors?

Halliburton officials knew weeks before the fatal explosion of the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico that the cement mixture they planned to use to seal the bottom of the well was unstable but still went ahead with the job, the presidential commission investigating the accident said Thursday.

http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_16463559

BP cut corners to maximize profits.

Unfortunately, that's what corporations do. It's why we have inspectors.

Where were the government inspectors?

Oh, that's right - - BP's permit applications were approved with minimal review by the administration of Barack Obama, the man who received more donations from BP than any other politician in history.

Have you noticed that in the 3 way races - -

in Alaska and Florida - - it's looking like Tea Party in first, mainstream Republican in second, and Democrat in third (with 25% or less!)

Can the Democratic Party continue to ignore those people and issues, and win elections while dismissing one third of the electorate out of hand?

Ryan Seacrest?

The host of "American Idol" will be fielding a last-minute appeal for votes from President Obama in the latest intermingling of pop culture and politics.

An interview with Ryan Seacrest is one of several on Obama's call sheet on this day before the midterm elections. After a series of campaign appearances across the country, including four over the weekend, Obama had no public events on his schedule Monday.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-pn-obama-ryan-seacrest-20101102,0,407126.story

As they send him from Oprah to The View to The Daily Show to Ryan Seacrest, Obama's advisors obviously fail to consider the impact on the question of whether the public thinks he's "presidential".

Appearing as the butt of the joke on comedy shows, and as one more vacuous celebrity on top 10 radio, is going to make it harder to argue that Obama is more serious than Sarah Palin.

If only the U.S. was more like France . . . .

How many times have you heard that refrain?

Before every election, some progressive or other threatens to move to more sophisticated and worldly France if their side loses.

Ironically, French policies don't seem to help.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country's support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.

In the tape obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan. He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France's oppression of Muslims.

. . . France passed a law this month that will ban the wearing of face-covering burqa-style Muslim veils in public starting in April. Many Muslims have expressed fears the law would stigmatize them.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h_WrlTwCEiL75NEa1-66RvXda4pw?docId=6144e5464d0840a9a80d7cfda64a74a1

It's not us. It's not because of any particular American policy. It's not because of our alleged Islamophobia.

Islamic terrorists engage in terrorism against us because they are terrorists, regardless of what we do, even if we all became French.

The U.S. and Israel, alone

The UN General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly for the 16th year in a row to demand an end to the crippling US trade embargo against Cuba, despite Washington's pledge to keep it in place.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5joQgjAc2_TuGGZdOvKiNEYEtg7sQ

The Assembly — by a recorded vote of 187 in favour to 2 against (United States, Israel), with 3 abstentions (Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau) — adopted a resolution for the nineteenth consecutive year, calling for an end to the embargo and reaffirming the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention in their internal affairs and freedom of trade and navigation as paramount to the conduct of international affairs.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2010/ga11015.doc.htm

There is only one country the U.S. can always count on - - Israel.

Isn't this what Juan Williams said?

A U.S.-born spokesman for al-Qaida on Saturday urged Muslims living in the United States and Europe to carry out attacks there, calling it a duty and an obligation. In a 48-minute video posted on militant websites, Adam Gadahn directed his appeal to Muslim immigrants in what he called the "miserable suburbs" of Paris, London and Detroit, as well as those traveling to the West to study or work.

http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/american-al-qaida-spokesman-urges-attacks-in-us/19686627

Of course, Juan Williams was fired for saying that.

By the way, I don't know about the Muslim suburbs of Paris and London. But, Detroit? The richest, freest, most educated and most successful Muslim community in the history of the world, ever, anywhere, is centered around the suburbs of Detroit.