WHO PAYS THE PIPER CALLS THE TUNE, AMERICANS

China PLA officers urge economic punch against U.S.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Senior Chinese military officers have proposed that their country boost defense spending, adjust PLA deployments, and possibly sell some U.S. bonds to punish Washington for its latest round of arms sales to Taiwan.

World

The calls for broad retaliation over the planned U.S. weapons sales to the disputed island came from officers at China's National Defence University and Academy of Military Sciences, interviewed by Outlook Weekly, a Chinese-language magazine published by the official Xinhua news agency.

The interviews with Major Generals Zhu Chenghu and Luo Yuan and Senior Colonel Ke Chunqiao appeared in the issue published on Monday.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) plays no role in setting policy for China's foreign exchange holdings. Officials in charge of that area have given no sign of any moves to sell U.S. Treasury bonds over the weapons sales, a move that could alarm markets and damage the value of China's own holdings.

While far from representing fixed government policy, the open demands for retaliation by the PLA officers underscored the domestic pressures on Beijing to deliver on its threats to punish the Obama administration over the arms sales.

"Our retaliation should not be restricted to merely military matters, and we should adopt a strategic package of counter-punches covering politics, military affairs, diplomacy and economics to treat both the symptoms and root cause of this disease," said Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Academy of Military Sciences.

"Just like two people rowing a boat, if the United States first throws the strokes into chaos, then so must we."

Luo said Beijing could "attack by oblique means and stealthy feints" to make its point in Washington.

"For example, we could sanction them using economic means, such as dumping some U.S. government bonds," Luo said.

The warnings from the PLA come after weeks of strains between Washington and Beijing, who have also been at odds over Internet controls and hacking, trade and currency quarrels, and President Barack Obama's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader reviled by China as a "separatist."

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MOSCOW, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Russia's top general said on Tuesday that plans for a U.S. missile shield are directed against his country.

"The development and establishment of the (U.S.) missile shield is directed against the Russian Federation," Interfax news agency quoted Russian armed forces chief of staff, Nikolai Makarov, as saying. 

That's right weapons of use only when your weapons are in the air on the way to us to kill us are aimed at you. And ANYONE ELSE trying to kill us with missiles.

However, the good news  is that they are never aimed at you if you never launch an attack on us. But if you really concerned about this, you can begin junking your S-300's, TORS, SA-15's, S-400's anytime. I am CERTAIN Obama will reciprocate.

That's the bell, Ivan. Time for math class.

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Absolutely beautiful symmetry of hypocrisy
There is most definitely a god.
From ABC WH correspondent Jake Tapper:

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda."

I guess if you feel the kumbaya-ism of the plan to treat KSM and all comers caught alive as some kind of super car thieves and American citizens or constitutional PERSONS,- being detrimental to the national well being and the safety of the american people, instead of acting as FDR did ..YOU ARE HELPING AL QAEDA. Exsqueeze me, but isn't this PRECISELY what caused all these same people to shriek FASCISM when they were criticized by Dick Cheney?

Brennan writes that, "Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill."

In the oped, titled "'We need no lectures': Administration disrupts terrorists' plots, takes fight to them abroad," Brennan writes that politics "should never get in the way of national security. But too many in Washington are now misrepresenting the facts to score political points, instead of coming together to keep us safe."

The administration op-ed is in response to a USA Today editorial entitled "National security team fails to inspire confidence; Officials' handling of Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour."

Brennan provides a detailed defense of the administration's handling of failed Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab whom, he says, was "thoroughly interrogated and provided important information."

He suggests that many critics are hypocritical and clueless.

That is PRETTY good coming from the man Michael Scheurer identified recently as THE MAN who stopped the CIA from killing Bin Laden during 1996-2000.

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This is an election booth warning from Scott Rasmussen

75% Are Angry At Government's Current Policies

Voters are madder than ever at the current policies of the federal government.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 75% of likely voters now say they are at least somewhat angry at the government's current policies, up four points from late November and up nine points since September. The overall figures include 45% who are Very Angry, also a nine-point increase since September.

Just 19% now say they're not very or not at all angry at the government's policies, down eight points from the previous survey and down 11 from September. That 19% includes only eight percent (8%) who say they're not angry at all and 11% who are not very angry.

Part of the frustration is likely due to the belief of 60% of voters that neither Republican political leaders nor Democratic political leaders have a good understanding of what is needed today. That finding is identical to the view last September, just after the tumultuous congressional town hall meetings the month before. But only 52% felt this way in November.

Americans are united in the belief "that the political system is broken, that most politicians are corrupt, and that neither major political party has the answers,"

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From The Jawa Report by way of Infidel Blogger's Alliance ...INCREDIBLE

Great: Huffpo Blogger Wants Sharia, Is Official Representative of Somalian Taliban (UPDATE: Works for CAIR)

Earlier I posted on the news that the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) led Somali Unity government had appointed an American citizen, Abukar Arman, to be their special envoy to the US. This would be the same ICU that we dubbed the African Taliban because of their support for Taliban-esque sharia law. The image to the right was taken at an ICU rally in Mogadishu shortly after they came to power the first time. Yes, that is Osama bin Laden.

In that post I asked if any one knew who Abukar Arman was. Thanks to dahozho, we learn that in addition to being a "community activist", Arman is also an author at the Huffington Post.

In this post Arman advocates the implementation of sharia law in Somalia. Ironically, since he's now working for a government that wishes to impose Taliban-like sharia, he argues that Taliban-like sharia isn't, you know, the real sharia:

If by Shariah we mean the Talibanesque, self-righteous, and unjust brand currently being practiced by the Somali Neo-Islamists known as al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, the answer is: No.

As if the ICU didn't support similar if not the same type of sharia advanced by other Islamist groups in the country.

I cannot WAIT to see HuffPo fools trying by tortuous pathways and wriggling, writhing argument find their way to some defense of proponents of Sharia in this way, the Taliban and the state Somalia is in. FROM THE TALIBAN.
If they have half a brain they say, "OH", dump the column, issue a pro forma apology quickly and move to the next story, and internally excoriate the FOOL that allowed them to be so absurdly ridiculous.

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From the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and University College of London (SCREAMING HEADLINE NEWS):

People are afraid to lose money

The study of two women with brain lesions that made them unafraid to lose on a gamble showed the amygdala, the brain's fear center, activates at the very thought of losing money.

The finding, reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers insight into economic behavior and suggests that humans evolved to be cautious about the prospects of losing food or other valued possessions.

Benedetto De Martinoa of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and University College of London and colleagues were studying why people will turn down gambles that are likely to lead to gain.

"Laboratory and field evidence suggests that people often avoid risks with losses even when they might earn a substantially larger gain, a behavioral preference termed 'loss aversion'," they wrote.

"Little, epa", grandpa told me as we overheard two men betting each other on the 1958 world series, "never bet what you can't lose."

Apparently, unknown to me, my grandfather had completed his neurology residency many years before.

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I say we give Bibi the green light on the 10th and FOLLOW IT UP OURSELVES THAT NIGHT

Iran anniversary 'punch' will stun West: Khamenei

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday that Iran is set to deliver a "punch" that will stun world powers during this week's 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. "The Iranian nation, with its unity and God's grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned," Khamenei, who is also Iran's commander-in-chief, told a gathering of air force personnel.

The country's top cleric was marking the occasion when Iran's air force gave its support to revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a key event which led to the toppling of the US-backed shah on February 11, 1979. His comments came as Iran said it would begin to produce higher enriched uranium from Tuesday, in defiance of Western powers trying to ensure the country's nuclear drive is peaceful. This year's anniversary is expected to become a flashpoint between security forces and supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who charge that the June re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was rigged. Opposition supporters are expected to stage anti-government protests on Thursday when the traditional regime-sponsored marches to mark the revolution take place across the country. Mousavi renewed his call for demonstrations on the February 11 anniversary. Just over a week ago, he and Karroubi had implicitly called for a gathering of their supporters. "The 22nd of Bahman is upon us, truly it should be called the day of gathering," Mousavi said on his Kaleme.org website Monday. "I feel we have to participate while maintaining the collective spirit as well as our identity and leave an impression," Mousavi said. "Anger and bitterness should not take our control away. "The clerics should know that since imprisonment, beatings, and other confrontational methods are done in the name of Islam and the Islamic regime, it is hurting Islam and we all should try to stop," he added. Anti-government protests were first triggered after the June 12 presidential election won by Ahmadinejad. Over the past eight months, several thousand people were arrested. Some were released and others were given hefty prison terms, among them politicians, journalists and human rights activists. Two protesters were tried, convicted and hanged in the aftermath of the election. Khamenei told the air force personnel the "most important aim of the sedition after the election was to create a rift within the Iranian nation, but it was unable to do so and our nation's unity remained a thorn in its eyes."

Nuclear test?
New home built fighter?
Air show of their new attack drones?

From today's column entitled: America is not yet lost

We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.

We've always known that America's reign as the world's greatest nation would eventually end.
I've never KNOWN that.

But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.
Actually I thought it would be civil revolt against an overreaching national directorship which would result in RE-INVIGORATION, if it was going to be anything. But more likely, a slow swing to original values would obviate such a fate.

So as to this us, and we .....Paul, buddy, comrade,  ... I have a question......

New sanctions on Iran are only path left: Gates

PARIS

Mon Feb 8, 2010 8:48am EST

PARIS (Reuters) - Iran has rejected Western overtures and the international community has no choice but to move toward imposing new sanctions over its nuclear program, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday.

"We must still try and find a peaceful way to resolve this issue. The only path that is left to us at this point, it seems to me, is that pressure track but it will require all of the international community to work together," Gates said at a joint news conference with French Defense Minister Herve Morin.

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While giving my impressions and some observations of the kick-off meeting in Maine, one missing item was the live TV pep-talk by J Street's leader Jeremy Ben Ami.

There were some technical difficulties, and having heard and seen him before, I didn't stick around. Besides, the real issue, I felt, would be the cognitive dissonance caused by real heartfelt and religious arab people's resistance and condoning amoral murder, and Israelis desire to live in their own nation as a jewish democracy in their ancient homeland, and the natural consequence of the other side's condoning the unconscionable.

I did not feel that any of these worthy people's aspirations here in Maine for there TO BE a real peace could in the end deflect either of those two forces, except by influencing the american govt to cut off/reduce Israeli aid or increase pressure (for Israel's own good, of course, to cause sense and then peace to burgeon in Netanyahu's mind and heart) , which I personally feel would lead to some strange renaissances of other Israeli - xxxx alliances, a new alliance with India, and a complete loss of control and influence by the USA, including a near eternal distrust of America, her people and her govt by an Israel which BEGAN under an American arms embargo until 1966, and a determination to depend on no one else. One wonders if anyone in the current administration is even CONSIDERING the long range consequences to the USA (besides the domestic political ones) if the Israelis decide they had better switch to the new Russian stealth aircraft, and SU-35's filled with Israeli electronics out of concern for lack of long range American support. Netanyahu, his foreign and defense ministers all made >5 trips to visit Medvedev in 2009. Even if a peace agreement COULD be signed, anyone here think Iran who bankrolls Hizballah and HAMAS would EVER allow it?

We all want the same goal .. but sometimes how you achieve it defines if it is sustainable.

"when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing.  Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter" William T. Sherman

Pertinent to the live talk by Mr, Ben-Ami we have this story of the kick off meeting that night at the University of Pennsylvania.

J Street Meets Stop Sign at University of Pennsylvania

Shevat 21, 5770, 05 February 10 11:00

by Avi Yellin

(Israelnationalnews.com) J Street, the Washington lobby with strong connections to the Obama administration, held an event at the University of Pennsylvania on Thursday evening, February 4th,  amidst local and nation-wide controversy over the group's "pro-Israel" credentials. The organization, which advocates strong American pressure to force an Israeli surrender of Judea and Samaria as well as the forced expulsion of all Jewish residents from these lands, created a stir in the Jewish media and blogsphere for two weeks with the planned visit of director Jeremy Ben-Ami to the University's Hillel building.

Z Street, a local pro-Israel organization initially attempted to pressure the University to withdraw its invitation to J Street's Ben-Ami (Epaminondas comments - that is both wrong to do and INCREDIBLY STUPID) but when Hillel responded with claims that it was merely renting space to the powerful Washington lobby, Z Street settled for a room in the Hillel building to hold a simultaneous pro-Israel event. The group brought Mitchell Bard, who attracted most of the students concerned with events in the Middle East, and left J Street an audience comprised mainly of elderly Jews from the Philadelphia area.

Roz Rothstein of the California based pro-Israel StandWithUs organization, traveled to Pennsylvania to attend the J Street event and confronted Ben-Ami with her concerns about his activities. "For me, there were several unanswered questions," she told Israel National News following the event. "First, how does J Street justify pressuring the democratically elected government of another country to change its policies through lobbying elected officials in the United States? Second, how can people living in the safety of the United States make policy decisions for another country, possibly endangering its citizens? I tried to find out what Ben-Ami thought. I asked him the questions that were on my mind but did not get answers."

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From Earl Cox, a Christian Zionist and MIssionary:

For many, the settlement issue essentially boils down to: Should we obey G-d, or should we obey man? Who is our higher authority? 
Again, a difficult conflict has arisen in Israel - this time, with regard to the government's order to freeze construction of new housing units in the so-called Jewish "settlements" in Judea and Samaria.
For many, the issue essentially boils down to: Should we obey G-d, or should we obey man? Who is our higher authority?
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently reversed his position on
construction of new homes in the settlements. He had stood strongly
against US and international pressure on the issue since taking office; but suddenly and surprisingly ordered a construction freeze.
However, it should not be overlooked that the ordered freeze is both temporary and incomplete. It is to be in effect for only 10 months, and does not include 3,000 housing units already under construction in Judea and Samaria. Nor does it include east Jerusalem.
Israeli soldiers have been instructed by their government to enforce the freeze. However, many soldiers are defying those orders.

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From Syria, recent scene of  publications by Defense Minister Tlas, such as "THE MATZAH OF ZION" we have:
It's nice to know your negotiating partners' rabid racism has subsided.
It lets you know how close peace really is.

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Down With the People
Blame the childish, ignorant American public--not politicians--for our political and economic crisis.

By Jacob Weisberg

In trying to explain why our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year, analysts have rounded up a plausible collection of reasons including: President Obama's tactical missteps, the obstinacy of congressional Republicans, rising partisanship in Washington, the blustering idiocracy of the cable-news stations, and the Senate filibuster, which has devolved into a super-majority threshold for any important legislation. These are all large factors, to be sure, but that list neglects what may be the biggest culprit in our current predicament: the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large.

Anybody who says you can't have it both ways clearly hasn't been spending much time reading opinion polls lately. One year ago, 59 percent of the American public liked the stimulus plan, according to Gallup. A few months later, with the economy still deeply mired in recession, a majority of the same size said Obama was spending too much money on it. There's nothing wrong with changing your mind, of course, but opinion polls over the last year reflect something altogether more troubling: a country that simultaneously demands and rejects action on unemployment, deficits, health care, climate change, and a whole host of other major problems. Sixty percent of Americans want stricter regulations of financial institutions. But nearly the same proportion says we're suffering from too much regulation on business. That kind of illogic--or, if you prefer, susceptibility to rhetorical manipulation--is what locks the status quo in place.

At the root of this kind of self-contradiction is our historical, nationally characterological ambivalence about government. We want Washington and the states to fix all of our problems now. At the same time, we want government to shrink, spend less, and reduce our taxes. We dislike government in the abstract: According to CNN, 67 percent of people favor balancing the budget even when the country is in a recession or a war, which is madness. But we love government in the particular: Even larger majorities oppose the kind of spending cuts that would reduce projected deficits, let alone eliminate them. Nearly half the public wants to cancel the Obama stimulus, and a strong majority doesn't want another round of it. But 80-plus percent of people want to extend unemployment benefits and to spend more money on roads and bridges. There's another term for that stuff: more stimulus spending.

The usual way to describe such inconsistent demands from voters is to say that the public is an angry, populist, tea-partying mood.

 
They live in fear that their little games of pitting fire breathing commies against grimacing shrieking racists will fall apart and they will remain nakedly exposed as having euchred their way into 8 terms of fun by making the other side into extremist freaks demonized beyond cooperation of any sort.
.
They live in fear of someone taking a good look at health insurance company donations with the understanding that no national wide open market will exist to ruin their fun by driving premiums down the way cell phone plans plummeted. Or sign ons by big Rx companies to insure reimportation of cheap drugs from Canada won't cost a Gulfstream IV for the staff that counts. On the way to ASPEN for a 'critical meeting'.

They live in fear that THEIR deals like Ben Nelson's Nebraska Buyout will become common knowledge.

Worst of all they live in fear in Washington, that if they look out the window they'll see the crowd outside the Louvre with placards giving directions to the Bastille .. when all the crowd with torches and pitchforks want is THIS:
They live in fear of a serious discussion based in reality, and devoid of the polemics which prevent serious solutions from being considered.

And the life of the republic and its 234 year old GRAVY TRAIN of expansion, and personal freedom is at stake.

They live in fear we will REALIZE IT.

AND ACT


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Last week I posted Scott Horton's entire story about three suicides at Gitmo, which he claimed were actually murders. I prefaced this with the statement that Horton, being Andrei Sahkarov and Yelena Bonner's lawyer certainly absolves him of any Ramsey Clark-ist blame america first - bigotry.

Here now is a rebuttal from an equally serious source, Rowan Scarborough who works with Bill Gertz.

Harper's Is Wrong on Gitmo Suicides

by Rowan Scarborough (more by this author)

Posted 01/29/2010 ET

Harper's Magazine has topped all previous left-wing conspiracy stories on the Guantanamo prison by weaving a preposterous tale of murder and torture in what it presents is one of the most extensive cover-up in military history.

To believe Harper's -- and activist lawyer Scott Horton, the article's author -- you have to accept that three terrorist detainees did not hang themselves on the night of June 9, 2006, as the military said, but were killed by their captors.

The coverup, Harper's charges, involved the guards in Camp Delta cell block Alpha, the prison's commanding officer, the admiral who ran the Gitmo task force, the Navy Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), and forensic pathologists for the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology.

The trouble for Harper's is that when its wild speculation is compared with facts, the Jan. 18 story collapses. The overwhelming evidence, to both the Bush and Obama administrations, is that the three committed suicide in a coordinated jihadi pact ordered by the terrorists' leadership inside the prison. They left suicide notes in their pockets depicting themselves as martyrs. The NCIS found other writings to that effect.

The Obama-run Pentagon and NCIS issued this statement:

"An article in Harper's Magazine on-line claiming that the suicides were actually homicides, and the NCIS knowingly participated in a coverup of those killings, is nonsense. NCIS categorically and unequivocally rejects these accusations. The Harper's article incorporates a great deal of supposition, intended to fill in where details are unknown to the author. It contains numerous factual errors."

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Nice people. The nicest.
I remember most of them being around me when Hendrix dumped lighter fluid on his guitar, and we had a great time when Country Joe and the FISH spelled out F-U-C-K. Iconically speaking, of course.
Now it was bald heads, gray hair, some younger people. They were 4 college age people in a group of 40 at this kick off night for new J Street branches around the country.

The phrase "Pro-Israel Pro-Peace" (emphasis theirs) was brandished before the speakers like a crucifix in a nest of vampires. They handed out bumper stickers. I wondered how they would react to the fact that J Street U had dropped "Pro-Israel". In my role there as observer however, I felt throwing that bucket of cold water should wait. Mrs. Epa feels they would simply say, 'we don't believe that'.

Listening to a discussion between two climate scientists, one of whose names would be RECOGNIZABLE (more on that in another post) I suddenly realized something standing amid the directors of non profits, teachers, professors, state employees and social service providers (yes, after this epiphany, I asked) ... I was the ONLY person in the room responsible for generating a profit. I was the ONLY businessman there (I could find). I'm sure they would feel 'what difference does that make?'

The leader stated that J Street national wanted a HARD SELL for activist commitment to action in break out groups, but she felt that wouldn't work in Maine. So right. She and the other leader this celebratory night, lured in with music, dancing and food, told us that the peace group Brit Tzedek Vsholom, was now subsumed into J Street, which was lead essentially by MoveOn.

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The Indian government has established its own body to monitor the effects of global warming because it "cannot rely" on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the group headed by its own Nobel prize-winning scientist Dr R.K Pachauri.

The move is a significant snub to both the IPCC and Dr Pachauri as he battles to defend his reputation following the revelation that his most recent climate change report included false claims that most of the Himalayan glaciers would melt away by 2035. Scientists believe it could take more than 300 years for the glaciers to disappear.

The body and its chairman have faced growing criticism ever since as questions have been raised on the credibility of their work and the rigour with which climate change claims are assessed.

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Sarkozy and Merkel brush off Obama snub of next EU-US summit

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel brushed off President Barack Obama's decision not to attend an annual summit with European leaders while stressing Thursday the importance of Russia as a European partner.

A U.S. State Department deputy briefing reporters made the announcement Monday that Obama would miss the EU-U.S. summit in May that will take place in Spain, which now holds the rotating EU presidency.

Since then, European media have been awash with commentary wondering what the White House's snub means for Europe as it struggles to find a united voice in foreign affairs following the creation of the new posts of EU president and foreign minister.

Maybe after Moody's re-rates us to be equal to Belize in credit responsibility (sorry Belize, you are probably more responsible than we are), Obama must figure he can't really afford the trip and will use LIVESHOW instead.

And these people disliked Bush?

From the Davos economic meeting amid news that Moody's is considering dropping the USA's AAA rating....

This week, the White House forecast a $1,565bn budget deficit for 2010, which represents 10.6 per cent of gross domestic product and is the highest such ratio of debt to GDP since the second world war.

While the budget gap is forecast to fall to about 4 per cent by 2013, it is based in part on economic growth not falling below government expectations, Congress agreeing to tax rises and a spending freeze on non-security discretionary spending.

Crucially, projections of the overall debt-to-GDP ratio for the US are seen rising from 53 per cent in 2009 to 73 per cent in 2015 and 77 per cent by 2020.

Moody's, however, says this understates the overall US debt level.

"Using the general government measure, including state and local governments as well as the federal government, which is used internationally, this ratio would be well over 100 per cent in 2020."

At the heart of investor concerns is whether countries such as the US with its rising debt burdens has the political will, or the sense of consensus, to take decisive measures to cut debt.

Some investors at Davos suggested it might be helpful if the credit rating agencies were to step up their threats about a potential future downgrade in countries such as the US and UK, since it would force politicians to act - and turn the issue into an election topic.

And then...

House faces tough vote on $1.9 trillion more debt

Facing a politically excruciating vote, House Democratic leaders are counting on new budget deficit curbs to help smooth the way for a bill allowing the government to go $1.9 trillion deeper into debt over the next year - or about $6,000 more for every U.S. resident.

The debt measure set for a House vote Thursday would raise the cap on federal borrowing to $14.3 trillion. That's enough to keep Congress from having to vote again before the November elections on an issue that is feeding a sense among voters that the government is spending too much and putting future generations under a mountain of debt to do it.

Already, the accumulated debt amounts to $40,000 per person. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China.

Passage of the bill would send it to President Barack Obama, who will sign it to avoid a first-ever, market-rattling default on U.S. obligations. Democrats barely passed it through the Senate last week over a unanimous "no" vote from GOP members present.

Someone has to finally JUST SAY NO. It's beyond political. It's IMPOSSIBLE

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You know, the guys taking on the crotch bomber... seeking lawyers...

The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine. Applicants who meet the qualification requirements and are able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation are encouraged to identify targeted disabilities in response to the questions in the Avue application system seeking that information.

Now just imagine you have been denied equal opportunity, and truly discriminated against, and in rides the justice dept to the rescue with a mentally ill, mentally retarded lawyer they sought out in order to achieve a quota check mark to right the wrong.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE AMERICA?

What words can be used to describe the kind of tortuous 'logic' it takes to end up with this ad?

From HERE:

I asked Biden about the surprise applause line in President Obama's State of the Union speech -- "I do not accept second place for the United States of America." Will we hear more on the America-as-No.-1 theme?

What followed was a torrent, in red, white and blue.

"From me you're going to hear more," he replied emphatically. "I want to tell you something, because if we cede the ground to those who suggest that -- I don't mean foreigners, I mean domestic critics -- that somehow, we are destined to fulfill (historian Paul) Kennedy's prophecy that we are going to be a great nation that has failed because we lost control of our economy and overextended, then we might as well throw it in now, for God's sake. I mean it's ridiculous."

Combine with VDH, HERE:

Our military is rushing anti-missile batteries to Iran's Arab neighbors in the Gulf in anticipation of new Iranian military escalation.

As in the case of the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, the U.S. both gives the most aid to a devastated Haiti and still seems to receive the most criticism.

China has just warned us not to supply more armaments to Taiwan.

Our Predator drones continue to be the judge, jury and executioner of suspected terrorists in Pakistan.

What's gone wrong with Obama's dream of multilateral cooperation?

For starters, the world's tensions were not caused by, and remain far larger, than George W. Bush -- and thus cannot be so easily solved by his absence.

Obama also has apparently confused what people say with what nations do.

Dionne wants us to believe that all repubs can do is cut taxes and spend military dollars to counter the idea of decline..as opposed to creating a gazillion engineers and scientists forming the ground on which the economy is built, and VDH accurately points out that behind a monstrous economy you need more as well.

But there is no doubt that American supremacy is based on economic might (backing historian Kennedy's thesis), and that the dems believe that economy depends on govt guidance and formation. The republicans believe that the historical model of free markets and free enterprise FORMED economic might ..and the dem respond that against today's China, India, EU and low labor costs, that model is dead.

Sorry but we need a lot of the latter and a little of the former. We depend on the govt to ACCURATELY IDENTIFY which educational and economic items to fortify mightily with tax dollars to support scholarships and tax cuts and grants (hint...DIVERSITY as a mandated outcome does not help, nor IMHO does religiously motivated curtailment of research). We depend on the govt to prevent other govts from unfairly targeting our businesses, and ensuring fair trade is maintained, and finally we depend on the govt to ensure that foreign intimidation and force does not affect the growth of American business.

But the govt cannot create wealth.

It can only make the creation of wealth easier or harder. Creation of real wealth comes from the individual mind, and the individual back, then expanded to many.

LAW OF NATURE.

Read both articles, VERY WELL WORTH IT.

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And thus at least SHUT THEM UP.

It would be as if people such as Karl Rove had a plan to make ANY reader of Huffington Post, however frequently or infrequently (me), a commissar wannabe. It would be as if those who believed LEGAL immigration such as that from the civil war thru 1924 was a net good for the USA were painted as traitors, or those who wanted civil rights as EQUAL OPPORTUNITY believed reparations and affirmative action was proper. As if to believe in a woman controlling her own body means you are a murderer, or that believing the federal govt is the only tool to solve some domestic problems means you are somewhere between a socialist and communist. That is the mirror image of what is being attempted in this nation.

That this is so, is in the blood of those who think of the tea party (to pick ONE example) as some whackos when all they are doing is seeking responsible FEDERAL GOVT, ie constitutionally reliable and limited government is CRYSTAL CLEAR from the reactions of that left which has put into power those they expect to hew to such beliefs.

That the tea party is a far right whacko fringe...and it is not just embarrassing to be such a believer, but that you will be singled out (as I have seen with others) as some whacko

That if you believe the 10th amendment might have a meaning and a reason for existence... it is not just embarrassing to be such a believer, but that you will be singled out (as I have seen with others) as some whacko

That if you believe Obama's explanation of his desire to Joe the Plumber was a warning of a clear inner means of social and economic justice ..it is not just embarrassing to be such a believer, but that you will be singled out (as I have seen with others) as some whacko

That if you believe the words and philosophies of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Madison and Hamilton are why we have achieved so much, TRULY BELIEVE IT, and want to see those beliefs in practice...it is not just embarrassing to be such a believer, but that you will be singled out (as I have seen with others) as some whacko

Thus we see a Michelle Bachmann painted as a crazy loon. Especially since she had the TEMERITY to ask Mr. Geithner where in the Constitution he found he had the right to do some of the things he has done, and made him look like a moron on national TV. I may disagree with some things she thinks, or not, BUT SHE IS NO WHACKO OR LOON.

In the end these people are riding the tiger.

These people like Kos, HuffPo, the Nation, some people on MSNBC, and the left are actually telling the american people, that if they cannot paint THE MASS OF THE RESPONSIBLE OPPOSITION as a far right danger (anyone see the headlines over Geert Wilders lately, from a place where such efforts have borne this fruit? ), they don't believe themselves, that they can win our minds to a vote. Men and women such as Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi could not, after 2004's defeat of Kerry, run fast enough to bend over and spread their legs for the money, influence, and power promised by people who think those to their right are a danger NOT TO THE REPUBLIC but to the social justice regime they think they must make the republic into.

As for the Tea Party localities (which is really all there is, en masse) here's sample mission statement from the whackos...from the well known hotbed of radicalism ...Staten Island

• We demand that our government practice the same level of fiscal responsibility that we, as ordinary citizens, must abide by in running our own households.
• We demand that our government stop "bailing out" private enterprises
• We demand that our government get out of the business of social engineering through manipulation of the mortgage markets.
• We demand that our government recognize that we, who earn our own money, can spend our own money better than any elected politician, and that we refuse to have the fruits of our labors redistributed, through excessive taxation, to those individuals who wish to lay claim on what is not rightfully theirs Further, we believe that the producers of economic wealth in America are NOT the enemy, and that they should not be forced, at the point of a gun, to bear a greater tax burden than the rest of our society.  To this end, we demand that the current complex, unfair and confiscatory tax code be abolished, to be replaced with a simple and fair Flat Tax or Fair Tax;
• We demand that our government provide our businesses and industries, both large and small, with a nurturing climate that is conducive to our economic well-being.
• We demand that our government set as one of its highest priorities the goal of energy independence
• We demand that our government recognize that the War Against Islamic Extremists is NOT an abstraction or a matter for the courts, but rather a danger as great as any this nation has ever faced, and represents an existential threat to the country in which we live
• We demand that our government adopt stricter, common-sense attitudes towards immigration

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GOOD, gets support even though the people involved sound schizoid...

President Barack Obama is seeking increased funding for nuclear weapons research and security programs next year, even as his administration promotes nonproliferation and has pledged to reduce the world's stockpile of nuclear arms.

The administration on Monday asked Congress for more than $7 billion for activities related to nuclear weapons in the budget of the National Nuclear Security Administration, an increase of $624 million from the 2010 fiscal year.

NNSA Administrator Thomas D'Agostino defended putting more money into the programs, saying the U.S. needs the best nuclear weapons facilities, scientists, technicians and engineers as it moves toward eventual disarmament.

Anyone else think D'Agostino is cracked? That's not much money, but I expected cuts. The real import here is the hard recognition that a world without nuclear weapons IS a world which will have a world war. A cynic's recognition. They cannot reject the idea that they have to have a world without nukes so 'the children' don;t have to live in fear., but what they do tells all. Our warheads are probably approaching 30 years old. You can't just leave the things.

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From Courting Disaster

Justice Dept Official sometime between 2002 and 2006:

In explaining why there was no question that KSM, Bin Alshib et al did not deserve the protection of the Geneva convention ....

"One of the things we clearly want to do with these prisoners is to have an ability to interrogate them and find out what their future plans might be, where other cells are located." he explained on CNN

"under the Geneva convention .. you are really limited in the amount of information that you can elicit from people. I seems to me given the way in which they have conducted themselves, however, that they are not in fact, people entitles to the protection of the Geneva Convention. They are  not prisoners of war. If, for instance, Mohammed Atta had survived the attack on the World Trade Center, would we now be calling him a prisoner of war? I think not. Should Zacarias Moussaoui be called a POW. Again I think not."

No, according to this same person today, he would not be denied being even a POW, he would have the fully accorded right of Americans.

The official:

ERIC HOLDER

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Let me guess...you haven't heard this testimony reported, right?

Wash Times:

By Donald Lambro

If President Obama thinks the political earthquake that hit his party last month in Massachusetts was bad, he had better read the Congressional Budget Office's latest economic forecasts for the next two years.

In testimony before the House Budget Committee last week, which got scant news media attention, CBO Director Douglas W. Elmendorf painted a bleak forecast for the nation's economy under the White House's no-jobs, no-growth tax and spending policies. It spells even deeper political losses for the Democrats in Congress than are presently forecast.

Mr. Elmendorf, who was appointed by Democratic congressional leaders, told the committee that economic growth will be painfully slow over the next several years and that will keep the national unemployment rate at an average of 10 percent throughout fiscal 2011, which ends in September of that year.

Contrary to Mr. Obama's Herbert Hoover mantra that economic recovery and more jobs are just around the corner, the CBO budget chief said the economy will grow by a weak 1.6 percent this fiscal year and the jobless rate will average 10.2 percent.

CBO's outlook for 2011 is just as bleak. The nation's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to reach barely 1.8 percent, while unemployment is projected to show scant improvement, averaging 9.8 percent for that fiscal year.

The administration's unprecedented budget deficits are expected to be more than $1 trillion this year and next and stay at very high levels for years to come.

The INTEREST on the deficits run up in the three years from 2009 thru 2011 will mean INTEREST PAYMENTS ALONE ON THESE THREE YEARS ALONE WILL BE 4 BILLION DOLLARS A WEEK, UNTIL THIS DEFICIT IS PAID OFF, OR FOREVER

THAT'S EIGHTY F-35's A WEEK


IN INTEREST

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the nation will deliver a harsh blow to the "global arrogance" on this year's anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

"The Islamic Revolution opened a window to liberty for the human race, which was trapped in the dead ends of materialism," Ahmadinejad said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

"If the Islamic Revolution had not occurred, liberalism and Marxism would have crushed all human dignity in their power-seeking and money-grubbing claws. Nothing would have remained of human and spiritual principles," he added.

Ahmadinejad said that in the three decades of its history, the Islamic Revolution had inspired some great developments in the world.

The Iranian president made the remarks as the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution approaches.

Iranians are expected to pour into the streets on February 11 to celebrate the occasion in public rallies across the country, as they have done annually over the past three decades.

Nuclear test, or other some such event.

U.S. expanding missile defenses in Gulf

The deployments include expanded land-based Patriot defensive missile installations in Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Bahrain, as well as Navy ships with missile defense systems within striking distance in and around the Mediterranean, officials said.

General David Petraeus, who as head of U.S. Central Command is responsible for military operations across the Middle East, said this month that the United States has stationed eight Patriot missile batteries in four Gulf countries, which he did not identify.

The buildup began under the Bush administration, but has expanded under President Barack Obama, who is pushing for a new round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Officials said the expansion was meant to increase protection for U.S. forces and key allies in the Gulf.

The chairman of the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said last month the Pentagon must have military options ready to counter Iran should Obama call for them.

US raises stakes on Iran by sending in ships and missiles

Tension between the US and Iran heightened dramatically today with the disclosure that Barack Obama is deploying a missile shield to protect American allies in the Gulf from attack by Tehran.

The US is dispatching Patriot defensive missiles to four countries - Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait - and keeping two ships in the Gulf capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Washington is also helping Saudi Arabia develop a force to protect its oil installations.

American officials said the move is aimed at deterring an attack by Iran and reassuring Gulf states fearful that Tehran might react to sanctions by striking at US allies in the region. Washington is also seeking to discourage Israel from a strike against Iran by demonstrating that the US is prepared to contain any threat.

Patriots are nice.

Missile shield and X band is nice.

But that is a JIMMY CARTER MESSAGE (announcing sending of 2 squadrons of F-15's to KSA, and then worrying over the 'message' announce they were unarmed)

Here is how you do it.

Deploy 100% of B-2's to Diego Garcia and or Guam publicly

Deploy several wings of F-15E strike eagles to Kuwait and Bahrain publicly

If they can get there in time, send in 3-4 aircraft carrier task forces publicly.

Send in several marine MAU groups with their carriers to NEAR but outside the gulf.

SAY LITTLE ELSE save the announcement of these movements, an announcement coming from the Pentagon spokesman, at a normal daily briefing, made without taking questions.

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And it HURTS ...

Here's a question:

When Georgia congressman Tom Price charged that Obama had repeatedly accused Republicans of offering "no ideas and no solutions," Obama shot back, "I don't think I said that."

Just how stupid does he imagine we really are?
C-SPAN an absolute must:

In 1972 we heard of Richard Nixon, 'I don;t know how he got elected, I don't know a single person who voted for him'. Nixon was certainly an execrable president, but there is no argument his opponent in 1972 could not have figured out a way to get less votes if he had tried.

And now, amid the post Katrina-like denouement after Scott Brown's ascent, what do we hear?


Eleanor Clift of the tea party people:

It's hard to take their rhetoric seriously

Charles Blow of the NYT:

The president simply couldn't seem to escape his professorial past, to convey his passion and convictions in the plain words of plain folks, and to breach the chasm between the People's House and people's houses.

Gail Collins on the KSM Trials:

As I was saying, last November, the Justice Department announced that the terror trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed would be held in Manhattan. Almost everyone in New York rallied around. This was seen as standing up to terrorism.

Joan Walsh, Salon:

In case he wasn't fully aware that Republicans are impervious to his political charm, President Obama saw it early in his first State of the Union address. After ticking off a list of taxes he'd lowered, the chamber was in cheers -- except for the GOP side of the aisle, where traditionally tax-cutters have clustered. Obama smiled and ad-libbed, "I expected some applause for that one."

These confused, unrealistic pleading sort of whines are very informative.

• They do NOT comprehend WHAT IT IS the tea party people are so totally dedicated about, except foggy comprehension of anger and snarling, most of which does not really redound to their own benefit, anyway.
  
  
• They believe if Obama merely explains himself better, all will be well.
  
  
• They really believe the republicans have done nothing but say no, offered no  plans of their own, and that the people believe that as they do
  
  
• They believe FOREIGN enemies of the United States, anywhere on the planet, and our way of life deserve all the benefits of Americans in court when captured in the act of slaughtering Americans, and that the world will celebrate this attitude and all will be better.

Is it any wonder they do not really understand what is going on around them?

No matter who you are, and no matter what your organization, only so many things of importance can be tackled, and in the right order....

Obama administration may take action on College Bowl System

The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review.

In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote that the Justice Department is reviewing Hatch's request and other materials to determine whether to open an investigation into whether the BCS violates antitrust laws.

"Importantly, and in addition, the administration also is exploring other options that might be available to address concerns with the college football postseason," Weich wrote, including asking the Federal Trade Commission to review the legality of the BCS under consumer protection laws.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/01/29/obama.bcs.ap/index.html?xid=si_ncaaf#ixzz0e6HKpDRj

Maybe correct disposition of enemy prisoners in time of war would be a better use of resources?

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

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Full article continues....

Russia unveils top secret new fighter
Russia on Friday unveiled a new fighter aircraft touted as a rival of the US F-22 stealth jet and developed amid the highest secrecy as part of a plan to modernize the armed forces.

The fifth generation fighter, manufactured by the Sukhoi company and known as the PAK FA, made a maiden flight of just over 45 minutes at the firm's home base of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East region.

"The flight lasted 47 minutes during which all the aircraft's systems were tested. It was successful," Sukhoi spokeswoman Olga Kayukova told AFP. "This is the first time it has been unveiled."

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1. 'Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama ups spending on nuclear weapons to even more than George Bush
   
   

   Barack Obama has allocated £4.3billion to spend on maintaining the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile - £370million more than what was budgeted by George Bush.
   

   The budget will also be increased by more than £3.1billion over the next five years.
   

   The announcement comes despite the American President declaring nuclear weapons were the 'greatest danger' to U.S. people during in his State of the Union address on Wednesday.

   
   Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1247049/Nobel-Peace-Prize-winner-Barack-Obama-ups-spending-nuclear-weapons-George-Bush.html#ixzz0e2e04COZ
   
   
   
2. Obama Said to Seek $54 Billion in Nuclear-Power Loans
   

   Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, acting on a pledge to support nuclear power, will propose tripling U.S. loan guarantees for new reactors to more than $54 billion, an administration official said.

   The additional loan guarantees in Obama's budget, which will be released Feb. 1, are part of an effort to bolster nuclear-power production after the president called for doing so in his State of the Union address Jan. 27. In a conference call with reporters, Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced a panel to find a solution to storing the waste generated by nuclear plants. "Senate Republicans support building 100 new plants as quickly as possible -- we hope Democrats will join us in that effort, particularly now with the president's call to action," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on the Senate floor yesterday. "And the president could start by moving forward on the nuclear loan guarantee program.

Is my PIVOT detector on?

This story is written by the lawyer for Andre Sakharov and Yelena Bonner who went after the USSR hammer and tong. In looking for alternate sources ALL references lead back to this story and searching the Sgt involved takes us to the same place.

From Harper's, read examine and form questions ...FOR AUTHORITY.... and about why this story now reported by the Telegraph is NOT yet reported here.

Just think and examine.

The Guantánamo "Suicides": A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle

By Scott Horton

1. "Asymmetrical Warfare"

When President Barack Obama took office last year, he promised to "restore the standards of due process and the core constitutional values that have made this country great." Toward that end, the president issued an executive order declaring that the extra-constitutional prison camp at Guantánamo Naval Base "shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order." Obama has failed to fulfill his promise. Some prisoners there are being charged with crimes, others released, but the date for closing the camp seems to recede steadily into the future. Furthermore, new evidence now emerging may entangle Obama's young administration with crimes that occurred during the George W. Bush presidency, evidence that suggests the current administration failed to investigate seriously--and may even have continued--a cover-up of the possible homicides of three prisoners at Guantánamo in 2006.

Late on the evening of June 9 that year, three prisoners at Guantánamo died suddenly and violently. Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, from Yemen, was thirty-seven. Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, from Saudi Arabia, was thirty. Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, also from Saudi Arabia, was twenty-two, and had been imprisoned at Guantánamo since he was captured at the age of seventeen. None of the men had been charged with a crime, though all three had been engaged in hunger strikes to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. They were being held in a cell block, known as Alpha Block, reserved for particularly troublesome or high-value prisoners.

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UNBELIEVABLE... he's a wiener.

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has called in a new audiotape for the world to boycott American goods and the U.S. dollar, blaming the United States and other industrialized countries for global warming.

In the tape, aired in part on Al-Jazeera television Friday, bin Laden warns of the dangers of climate change and says that the way to stop it is to bring "the wheels of the American economy" to a halt.

He says the world should "stop consuming American products" and "refrain from using the dollar," according to a transcript on Al-Jazeera's Web site.

Phase two ... discriminate between political islamist aggression and speech, and Islam as worshiping God. Then make it stick with nation states.

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Maybe I'm Getting Paranoid ... About Obama

• Marty Peretz
• January 26, 2010 | 6:46 pm

I've just read the transcript [1] of the president's remarks about Haiti, the ones he made on January 15. He noted that, in addition to assistance from the United States, significant aid had also come from "Brazil, Mexico, Canada, France, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, among others." Am I missing another country that truly weighed in with truly consequential assistance? Ah, yes. There it is. Right there "among others." Yes, the country to which I refer is "among others," that one.

The fact is that, next to our country, Israel sent the largest contingent of trained rescue workers, doctors, and other medical personnel. The Israeli field hospital was the only one on the ground that could perform real surgery, which it did literally hundreds of times, while delivering--as of last week--at least 16 babies, including one premature infant and three caesarians. The first 250-odd Israelis were real professionals, and they were supplemented by others, also professionals. And to these can be added the many organized Jews from the Diaspora who, in solidarity with Israel, also went on a work pilgrimage, an aliyah, in solidarity with Haiti.

It's not that Israeli participation in the Haiti horror was being kept secret. I myself saw it reported several times on television--on ABC [2], NBC [3], CBS [4], and CNN [5].

So didn't Obama notice? For God's sake, everybody noticed the deep Israeli involvement. I understand that Obama doesn't like Middle East narratives that do not contain "one side and the other side" equal valence. But he couldn't have that here. The Arabs don't care a fig, not for their impoverished and backward own, and certainly not for strangers. That's why their presence in Haiti amounted to a couple of bucks from Saudi Arabia and maybe from some other sheikhs.

An afterthought: Who would want Arab participation in the rescue effort? This was serious work and dangerous work. Amateurs weren't welcome.

Yes, I think that the labors of the Israelis were edited out of Obama's speech, either by his speechwriters (who have made dissing Israel their forté) or by his own oh-so-delicate but dishonest censoring mechanism.

Advisers ....

Merrill 'american jews are the problem' Mcpeak

Samantha 'criticism of Obama is about what's good for the jews' Power

Zbig 'american jews are too powerful Mcarthyites, and Walt and Mearsheimer were right' Brzezinski

Robert 'I do negotiate with Hamas' Malley

Susan 'let's appoint Jimmy Carter and Jim Baker as chief middle east negotiators' Rice

Steven Walt

Charles Freeman

JEREMIAH WRIGHT....

Edited out by his speechwriters?

Maybe, but certainly because they fear his personal 'proclivities'. The other more troubling explanation is, I fear, far more likely.

And for you Marty .. sure you are paranoid, but he real question is, ARE YOU BEING PARANOID ENOUGH?

Ask yourselves if this could have happened 2 weeks ago
From THE HILL:

Feinstein says Obama should move terror trials from NYC

By Michael O'Brien - 01/28/10 01:21 PM ET

President Barack Obama should order the trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused terrorists moved out of New York City, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Thursday.

Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is the highest-ranking Democrat to urge the administration to reverse course on its decision to bring the terror leaders to Manhattan for trial.

"I think the dynamic has changed now," Feinstein said on MSNBC, citing confidential intelligence briefings.

That's right, for presidential authority it's Feb 1979 ALL OVER AGAIN.

WOW

JUST WOW

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Americablog, which touts it mission as the people deserving the truth, live blogged SOTU and Alito's mouthing of 'not true'.

The comments of the left, way left and ridiculous left should be sampled to truly appreciate the thought patterns, including the reactions to presentation of fact as 'funny'.

The amazing display is HERE

A sample:

"The 5 Justices who ruled in favor of corporate control of our elections are lucky they aren't being hung on national TV for treason. We are now officially a Fascist State. Our little experiment in representative Democracy is over"

"Not that I would ever wish anything bad on anyone... but I sure hope Obama gets to put a few more judges on the SC before his Presidency is over.

We could use more Sotomayors (well to the left of her would be even better) and a less Alitos."

"He's just overturned a century of legal president as an activist judge trying to install his unitary executive (dictator). He hates democracy and he's the one with the power to destroy it, legally."

"Those bastards on the supreme court who decided on behalf of corporations deserve to be put in stocks in the village square, for attempting to destroy the country, it's social contract, and enslave every man, women and child in this country who doesn't happen to be a billionaire or near billionaire.

Calling them out in the state of the union speech is letting them off easy."

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WAR IS DECEPTION, someone once said.

The Defense Department needs to get better at lying and fooling people about its intentions. That's the conclusion from an influential Pentagon panel, the Defense Science Board (DSB), which recommends that the military and intelligence communities join in a new agency devoted to "strategic surprise/deception."

Tricking battlefield opponents has been a part of war since guys started beating each other with bones and sticks. But these days, such moves are harder to pull off, the DSB notes in a January report (.pdf) first unearthed by InsideDefense.com. "In an era of ubiquitous information access, anonymous leaks and public demands for transparency, deception operations are extraordinarily difficult. Nevertheless, successful strategic deception has in the past provided the United States with significant advantages that translated into operational and tactical success. Successful deception also minimizes U.S. vulnerabilities, while simultaneously setting conditions to surprise adversaries."

The U.S. can't wait until it's at war with a particular country or group before engaging in this strategic trickery, however. "Deception cannot succeed in wartime without developing theory and doctrine in peacetime," according to the DSB. "In order to mitigate or impart surprise, the United States should [begin] deception planning and action prior to the need for military operations."

Doing that will not only requires an "understanding the enemy culture, standing beliefs, and intelligence-gathering process and decision cycle, as well as the soundness of its operational and tactical doctrine," the DSB adds. Deception is also "reliant ... on the close control of information, running agents (and double-agents) and creating stories that adversaries will readily believe."

Such wholesale obfuscation can't be done on an ad-hoc basis, or by a loose coalition of existing agencies. The DSB writes that "to be effective, a permanent standing office with strong professional intelligence and operational expertise needs to be established." I wonder: what would you call that organization? The Military Deception Agency? Or something a bit more ... deceptive?

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/#ixzz0dvpGPiV3

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In an address punctuated by a crazy call for increased drilling (Sarah Palin anyone?) I was struck, before being put into a sleep deep enough for a root canal, by a wonder that if George Soros was taking a hike on this guy, and Hillary was busy doing her hair, WHAT WAS NEXT?

It's hard to fathom he could be done.

I can't accept that.

But amid his calls to fight, fight, fight prior to this speech, and his stunningly inaccurate statement on the recent SCOTUS decision and demagogic smear of the justices AT SOTU, .. he just seemed deflated before the botoxed semi rictus of Pelosi's smile and the vapid dentifriced ketamine like gaze of Biden.

But he cannot be all done.

Can he? Not buying it.

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And in the middle of a war........ from Politico

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says any federal spending freeze should apply to defense spending as well as to domestic spending - pushing back against one of President Barack Obama's State of the Union proposals. In an interview with POLITICO, Pelosi also floats the idea of a two-track approach to health care reform, with easier-to-pass incremental changes possibly coming before a comprehensive reform bill.

Any other questions?

I'll start counting threats

Sultan Knish, Atlas, Astute, and I am sure others have pointed to a remarkable conclave of progressive suicide by dialectic.

In brief the story is this from a the Minnesota Independent:

Fifty-four House members are defying AIPAC and calling on President Obama to lift the deadly blockade of Gaza.

... In short, the courageous 54 want the blockade lifted.

Please take a look at the list of these legislators who will, no doubt, catch hell from powerful AIPAC types in their districts and, more significanyly, among their donor base.

Also note this. The fact that your favorite liberal is not among the 54 does not mean he or she disagrees with their braver colleagues. It only means that they are not ready to stand up and be counted.

I decided to check out a member or two of the 54 at random... note that some names, people who would tell you they are ...worried about what Walt and Mearsheimer are worried about are immediately obvious, such as James Moran (who like Mr. Mahathir, blames jews for starting wars), and Mr. McDermott, so I did not want to choose them.

I chose Betty McCollum, and the 3rd article on google search was this, from Al Jazeerah.

How AIPAC Controls US Congress: US Representative Betty McCollum Reacts to the Intimidation Tactics of of the Israel Lobby TAKE ACTION: AIPAC Banned by Rep. McCollum (MN-4)

TAKE ACTION:  Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-4th district) has banned the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) from her office until she receives a formal, written apology from AIPAC for equating her vote in the House International Relations Committee against HR 4681, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, with "support for terrorists." The following "Letter to AIPAC" from Rep. McCollum will be published in the June 8th edition of the New York Review of Books with a long piece by Michael Massing ("The Storm over the Israel Lobby"). Massing includes the letter as evidence to support his thesis that the tactics of the Israel lobby are harsh, and often extremely effective, in pursuing its objectives: "to keep Israel strong, the Palestinians weak, and the United States from exerting pressure on Israel." Both items are essential reading. Please take a moment to thank Rep. McCollum for her stance against HR 4681 and for her courage to stand up to AIPAC's attempts to smear her and stifle debate. You can call her office directly at 202-225-6631 or call the Capitol switchboard toll-free at 1-888-355-3588 and ask to be transferred to her office. If no one is able to take your call, please leave a brief message of thanks along with your name and address so that Rep. McCollum can get in touch with you.  Please call today!

In her support by J Street one is left wondering by what tortuous logic jews at J Street can convince themselves that support of the terrorist regime of HAMAS thru Ms Mcollum aids humanity in any way? Not one search result, btw justifies Ms McCollum's claim she is pro Israel, perhaps she is in the way her supporters at J Street recognize.

In the support of 12.5% of the US Congress for HAMAS' desires one is left wondering by what tortuous logic these men and women have confused right and wrong, especially among a society as dedicated (as demonstrated via free election) to it's declared objective as was Germany and Japan.

Simply put, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE CONGRESSMEN AND WOMEN AND WHAT IS WRONG WITH J STREET?

Sherman's 4th Law:

But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter.

Until then, it's Sherman's 3rd Law:

This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war.

Here are the 54:

Arizona

• Raul Grijalva

California

• Lois Capps
• Sam Farr
• Bob Filner
• Barbara Lee
• Loretta Sanchez
• Pete Stark
• Michael Honda
• Lynn Woolsey
• Jackie Speier
• Diane Watson
• George Miller

Connecticut

• Jim Himes

Indiana

• Andre Carson

Iowa

• Bruce Braley

Kentucky

• John Yarmuth

Maryland

• Elijah Cummings
• Donna Edwards

Massachusetts

• Michael Capuano
• William Delahunt
• Jim McGovern
• John Tierney
• John Olver
• Stephen Lynch

Michigan

• John Conyers
• John Dingell
• Carolyn Kilpatrick

Minnesota

• Keith Ellison
• Betty McCollum
• James Oberstar

New Jersey

• Donald Payne
• Rush Holt
• Bill Pascrell

New York

• Yvette Clarke
• Maurice Hinchey
• Paul Tonko
• Eric Massa

North Carolina

• David Price

Ohio

• Mary Jo Kilroy
• Marcy Kaptur

Oregon

• Earl Blumenauer
• Peter DeFazio

Pennsylvania

• Chaka Fattah
• Joe Sestak

Vermont

• Peter Welch

Virginia

• Jim Moran

Washington

• Jim McDermott
• Adam Smith
• Jay Inslee
• Brian Baird

West Virginia

• Nick Rahall

Wisconsin

• Tammy Baldwin
• Gwen Moore

Virginia

• Glenn Nye

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Pols: Tri-Staters Not In Love With 'New' Obama

President In Deep Trouble With Middle Class; Many Think His Attempt To 'Reconnect' Shows Serious Desperation

Commander-In-Chief To Present New Ideas At State Of The Union Address

President Barack Obama plans to use his state of the union address to "reconnect" with the middle class. Some say it's an open admission to many here in the tri-state area that he has failed to feel our pain and our needs.

From his war on the banks -- the lifeblood of the metropolitan area economy -- to his health care reform which could cost taxpayers here over $1 billion, President Obama's policies have sent a strong message to the tri-state area that Washington doesn't care about the middle class.

Suddenly, he claims he wants to change that.

Poll: Fox is most trusted name in news

Fox is the most trusted television news network in the country, according to a new poll out Tuesday.

A Public Policy Polling nationwide survey of 1,151 registered voters Jan. 18-19 found that 49 percent of Americans trusted Fox News, 10 percentage points more than any other network.

Thirty-seven percent said they didn't trust Fox, also the lowest level of distrust that any of the networks recorded.

There was a strong partisan split among those who said they trusted Fox - with 74 percent of Republicans saying they trusted network, while only 30 percent of Democrats said they did.

CNN was the second most trusted network, getting the trust of 39 percent of those polled. Forty-one percent said they didn't trust CNN.

Each of the three major networks was trusted by less than 40 percent of those surveyed, with NBC ranking highest at 35 percent. Forty-four percent said they did not trust NBC, which was combined with its sister cable station MSNBC.

Thirty-two percent of respondents said they trusted CBS, while 31 percent trusted ABC. Both CBS and ABC were not trusted by 46 percent of those polled.

"A generation ago you would have expected Americans to place their trust in the most neutral and unbiased conveyors of news," said PPP President Dean Debnam in his analysis of the poll. "But the media landscape has really changed, and now they're turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32039.html#ixzz0dlGoMQMP

" tell them what they want to hear"...man, the left just CANNOT STAND IT. There IS an objective reality. When the tree falls there is a sound 100% of the time, even 4 million light years away. Recognizing and acting on it, increases the chance of success. Delusion usually fails.

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The police commander heading security at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland was found dead on Tuesday, local authorities said, adding that his death appeared to be suicide. Markus Reinhardt, head of police in the Swiss canton of Graubuenden, was found dead in his hotel in Davos, police said in a statement on their website. "All indications point to a suicide," the statement said. WEF founder and executive founder Klaus Schwab said in a statement that the organisers appreciated Reinhardt's professionalism and kindness over years of co-operation. "The Security Forces continue to have our full confidence and trust in their work," the statement said. Reinhardt, 61, had headed the canton's police force since 1984.

Naturellement ... Ernst Stavro Blofeld holding for you on line 3, M

Therefore to even be, as he puts it, 'a good one term president', Mr. Obama will have to be who he is not, with a vengeance, and deny all that is in him.

We have all seen the ramping curves of disapproval and cascading approvals.

Maybe Obama et al were thinking they were winking and nodding like crazy at the American people who secretly departing from all those older Reaganite freaks, hungered for a brave new schema of social and economic justice.

Maybe they thought that the echo chamber of Soros-Moveon-Center for American Progress-Tides-The Nation-MSNBC actually has meaning outside in the world.

Maybe they thought that all the quite real international disdain for Mr. Bush meant that when they pulled up at the world saloon and swung those doors, the silence at the bar would mean that the new sheriff could kumbaya his way to a brave new consensus on how the world was going to work. Described by them. Assented to by general acclaim.

But their america-view was a delusion. Their world view a fantasy. Their experience a chimera.

And now their confusion, their comical and naive belief if they frame their message so we can understand it better that all will then be well, is almost endearing when compared to the cynical hardheads who wrote in 6 pages a cynical system which requires dependable human weakness to check human excess.

But I must reserve for his supporters on the left the Harry Turtledove Award for 'otherworldly alternate history dialectically monstrous stupidity'

Huffpo, brings us, the truly incredible, embarassing Rabbi Michael Lerner who faults Obama for GOING TO THE RIGHT INSTEAD OF LEFT (maybe he has never spoken with Mark Lloyd):

Your success depends on helping people believe that they can count on each other, that they are not alone in a ruthless world in which people are out for themselves, and there is a possibility of building a society based on kindness, generosity, and caring for each other. Unless your programs actually allow people to feel in their own lives that they are part of build a new society based on love and generosity of spirit, they will soon fall back into the older paranoid view-that we are all competing with each other and have to look our first for number one. And that will likely them right back into the hands of the most conservative forces in this society. It's that simple, President Obama: if your policies do not give people a personal experience of caring and generosity, people will quickly succumb to the fearmongers who compete in the media over who can make people most afraid, most cynical, and most angry.

Ah yes, the new Horace Greeley's ...go left young man.

And you will find there in chronological order, failure of spirit, malaise, disgust, resolve and finally absolutist enforcement of state theft of individual property, and finally liberties for a 'new society based on love and generosity of spirit'.

But you will be granted the absolution of sincerity

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Sidney Morning Herald ....gdai:

The 23-year-old Nigerian charged with trying to detonate a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight over Detroit on Christmas Day was lonely and sexually repressed, according to messages left on an Islamic website.

As a US Senate Homeland Security committee continued to argue this week about how to handle Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the emotional anguish in his web posts provides an insight into fanatical Islam and what drives often hapless young men to become suicide bombers. Much as we would like them to be, they are not monsters.

Being the son of a wealthy banker, and living in London, Abdulmutallab had no real beef with Western life, did not complain about racism or express concern for downtrodden Muslim brothers.

But, like the September 11 bombers, who visited strip clubs before their date with destiny, when his devout religious beliefs conflicted with his corporeal desires, he found that blowing himself up along with a whole lot of infidels was preferable to being sexually frustrated.

As the New York Post put it: "The bomb wasn't the only thing burning in his pants."

On the Islamic Forum of the Gawaher website in 2005 and 2006 were more than 300 posts by Farouk1986 - Abdulmutallab's middle name and birth year.

Under the heading: "I think I feel lonely," Farouk1986 complains he has never found "a true Muslim friend".

"As I get lonely, the natural sexual drive awakens and I struggle to control it, sometimes leading to minor sinful activities like not lowering the gaze.

"And this problem makes me want to get married to avoid getting aroused ... but I am only 18.'' In another post, he writes ''the hair of a woman can easily arouse a man''.

Sexual Frustration.........fighting in the way of Allah?

DUH!
RIA here but here are the money lines....

• Jihadi Penetration: Part of a War - failures were about the military's ability to "stop foreign terrorists from using American soldiers against the United States."
  
  Such a statement is extremely important, as it finally informs the public that the U.S. personnel roster is indeed being infiltrated and recruited by foreign jihadists, who are described politically by the administration as "extremists." Hence, the first logical conclusion from that finding is that jihadi networks are performing acts of war (and thus of terrorism) against U.S. defense assets and personnel in the homeland. This warrants the reevaluation of the conflict and a re-upgrading of it to a state of war, even though it would still need to be determined "with whom."
• Self-Radicalization - Secretary Gates said that "military supervisors are not properly focused on the threat posed by self-radicalization and need to better understand the behavioral warning signs." He added that "extremists are changing their tactics in an attempt to hit the United States. Unfortunately, the Bush and Obama administrations were both poorly advised by their experts. They were told, wrongly, that if they try to identify a "doctrine," then they will be meddling with a religion. Academic and cultural advisers of the various U.S. agencies and offices (the majority of them, at least) failed their government by triggering a fear of theological entanglement. To the surprise of our Arab and Muslim allies in the region, who know how to detect the jihadist narrative, Washington disarmed its own analysts when bureaucrats of the last two years banned references to the very ideological indicators that could enable our analysts to detect the radicalization threat.
  
  And it is not about "extreme religious views" as much as it is about an ideology. If Arabs and Muslims can identify it in the Middle East, why can't Americans also? It is simply because jihadi propaganda has already penetrated our advising body and fooled many of our decision-makers into dropping the ideological parameters.
  
  
  
  
• The Strategic Threat Ahead -The report raises "serious questions" about whether the military is prepared for similar attacks, particularly "multiple, simultaneous incidents." -- not just in terms of terrorizing the public, but in the framework of a chain of strikes widening gradually until it would evolve to coordinated, simultaneous attacks. In 2006-2007, I served on the then Task Force on Future Terrorism of the Department of Homeland Security and developed an analysis clearly showing the path to come. My briefings to several entities and agencies in the defense sector clearly argued that implanting, growing, and triggering homegrown jihadists to strike at U.S. national security is at the heart of the enemy's strategy.

But even in the face of all this, many show their main concern for is for backlash, which in many cases is an imaginary fear.

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What's it going to take before we examine the ROOT of what the Quran inspires? Something at least in the present we APPARENTLY DO NOT SEE from within the Old or New Testament, or in Buddhism, or virtually any other major religion present within our borders.

Thiessen, who interviewed the 'real Jack Bauers' ...was locked in a secure room and given access to the most sensitive intelligence when he was tasked to write President George W. Bush's 2006 speech explaining the CIA's interrogation program and why Congress should authorize it.

Few know more about these CIA operations than Thiessen, and in his new book, Courting Disaster, he documents just how effective the CIA's interrogations were in foiling attacks on America, penetrating al-Qaeda's high command, and providing our military with actionable intelligence. Thiessen also shows how reckless President Obama has been in shutting down the CIA's program and releasing secret documents that have aided our enemies. Courting Disaster proves:

How the CIA program thwarted specific deadly attacks against the U.S.
Why "enhanced interrogation" was not torture by any reasonable legal or moral standard
How the information gained by "enhanced interrogation" could not have been acquired any other way
How President Obama's actions since taking office have left America much more vulnerable to attack

In chilling detail, Thiessen reveals how close the terrorists came to striking again, how intelligence gained from "enhanced interrogation" repeatedly stymied their plots, and how President Obama's dismantling of this CIA program is inviting disaster for America. from NRO

Here he is with Ammanpour, and and Phillips Sands author of Torture Team.

Never have the issues been so sharply drawn, and more still, never has it been more obvious that there are some Americans who are ready to see Americans die, in a civilization become too civilized to survive, and therefore pass on it's way of live as a valuable contribution to the development of humanity.

Here is what Thiessen said of this in NRO:

Yesterday, I went on CNN's Amanpour to debate Phillpe Sands, author of the book Torture Team. During the interview, I confronted Amanpour with some of her misstatements about the CIA's treatment of terrorist detainees. She was none too happy.

It aired yesterday (WEDS) on CNN International, and will air domestically on Sunday.

And for a fun update..here is Liz Cheney vs Nora O'Donnell on NBC on a similar vein.

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RCP:

Chavez: US Weapon Test Caused Haiti Earthquake

Russia Today: Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has once again accused the United States of playing God. But this time it's Haiti's disastrous earthquake that he thinks the U.S. was behind. Spanish newspaper ABC quotes Chavez as saying that the U.S. navy launched a weapon capable of inducing a powerful earthquake off the shore of Haiti. He adds that this time it was only a drill and the final target is ... destroying and taking over Iran.

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The election of Scott Brown means that unless the House adopted the Senate Health Care Bill letter for letter, a new vote requiring 60 votes would be needed in the senate.

Pelosi now admits, that cannot happen. DOA, and a hope for common sense and cooperation including the two main ideas of Demint and the repubs... free, open competition of health care plans nationally in all states, and tort reform. I would HOPE substantial negotiation would allow for many democratic objectives if both of these would be included. It would also have one more minor detail attached.... IT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL TO THE PEOPLE.

Next .. Bernanke..

Amidst the voter anger at Wall Street and Washington, D.C., ABC News has learned that the Senate Democratic leadership isn't sure there are enough votes to re-confirm Ben Bernanke for another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Bernanke's term expires on Jan. 31.

The White House did not respond to many requests for comment.

"The American people are disgusted with the greed and recklessness of Wall Street," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in an interview with The Associated Press last month. "People are asking, 'Why didn't the Fed intervene at the appropriate time to stop the casino-type activities of large financial companies?'"

Sanders, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., have all put holds on Bernanke's nomination, requiring 60 votes to proceed to a vote.

Voter anger is of heightened concern to members of Congress given the surprise victory of Sen.-elect Scott Brown, R-Mass., who rode a tide of voter discontent and economic anxiety to an upset victory in a special election earlier this week.

Last month, the Senate Banking Committee voted in favor of Bernanke's nomination by a vote of 16-7, not exactly a reflection of overwhelming positive feelings towards the Fed chair given the fact that he was first appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush and nominated by President Obama for a second term last August.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., at one point was planning on scheduling a vote on Bernanke for Friday, but the Senate is currently in the midst of a debate over raising the debt limit and the vote has been pushed.

I smell a scapegoat coming, Justified or not. Bernanke REPRESENTS what too many of the people despise right now.

Irresponsible, nation threatening debt.
Irresponsible printing and automagic money creation.
Irresponsible expansion of govt power

Congress MIGHT be awakening to a dawn where this is not going to be acceptable, or they find themselves ex-congressmen and ex-senators.

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Russia will strengthen its Baltic fleet in response to U.S. plans to deploy Patriot missiles in Poland, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed senior navy official.

"The surface, underwater and aviation elements of the Baltic Fleet will be strengthened," RIA quoted the unidentified Russian navy official as saying.

The United States is dispatching the missiles to Poland after dropping an earlier plan to deploy interceptor missiles in the NATO nation as part of an anti-missile system in Europe.

"In connection with the plans to install the Patriots on Polish territory in the next 5 to 7 years, there may be significant changes in the approach to define the tasks and the military potential of the Baltic Fleet," RIA quoted the same source as saying.

A spokesman for the Russian navy declined to comment.

Warsaw said this week it would station the Patriot missile battery in the northern city of Morag, near Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

A high-ranking source in Poland's Foreign Ministry said Warsaw was not overly concerned about Russia's reported plan.

"Let's stay calm. Such strengthening, even if it becomes true, is no direct threat to Poland," the source told Reuters.

"The Russians have known about the Patriots for at least two years. So there is no reason to react to unofficial comments."

This would be as if Chavez adds missiles which can be used against F-18's and SCUDS and we respond by adding submarines.

It tells us more about how Russian leaders think about events, rather than how they can respond effectively, for this is surely a WTF.

Many Poles still view Russia, its communist-era overlord, as a potential security threat, especially after the August 2008 conflict in Georgia.

Moscow has expressed concern about what it calls U.S. military encroachment and threatened to respond to any change in the current military balance on its western borders with NATO nations.

President Dmitry Medvedev had previously warned Moscow would station Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad if Washington went ahead with its original anti-missile plan. U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to revise it pleased the Kremlin.

But the plan to install Patriot missiles has resurrected longstanding Russian suspicions about the motive for the strengthened NATO presence near its borders, said Alexei Fenenko of the Institute of International Security Studies in Moscow.

"Russia was very concerned about the anti-missile system being installed in Poland and the Czech Republic and didn't understand the need for it in these locations, if it was intended against Iran," he said.

'You must not defend yourselves with weapons which can be used only against our weapons and only if they have already launched against you, it makes us suspicious.'

You have to wonder if they have a clue.

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Barack Obama today......

The president said he made a mistake in assuming that if he focused on policy decisions, the American people would understand the reasoning behind them. "That I do think is a mistake of mine," Obama said. "I think the assumption was if I just focus on policy, if I just focus on this provision or that law or if we're making a good rational decision here, then people will get it."

Is he  saying that the people voted the other way because WE DON"T UNDERSTAND WHAT HE IS TRYING TO DO BECAUSE HE DID NOT EXPLAIN HIMSELF ENOUGH?

If so, I will tell him what I tell I tell my arab acquaintances .. the problem is NOT that we understand too little, but too well.

And then this gem...

"People are angry and they are frustrated. Not just because of what's happened in the last year or two years, but what's happened over the last eight years."

'If I explained what I'm trying to do better, and Bush hadn't screwed up my life, 'Marcia' COakley would be senator, and my approvals would be 70%+'

Arrogant
Immature
Naive
And worst of all, UNABLE TO RECOGNIZE REALITY.

Is there anyone out there who thinks this is not what Achmadinejad, Putin, Chavez, Sarkozy, Hu Jintao and all the rest realize?
AND THE TALIBAN?
AND AL QAEDA?
AND PAKISTAN?

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Iran Targets U.S. via Latin America

By Jamsheed Choksy & Carol E.B. Choksy

Hot on the heels of state visits last November between Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Latin American counterparts Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Evo Morales of Bolivia, Iran's tentacles continue to enmesh Latin American nations. Make no mistake: the target is the United States.

Venezuela's nascent nuclear program seems primed to draw upon technical assistance via both legal and illegal proliferation by Iran's civilian and military programs. Venezuelan Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz told reporters in September that "Iranian and Venezuelan experts are jointly conducting surveys to find uranium deposits." Chavez himself declared: "Preliminary steps have been taken to establish a 'nuclear village' with the help of the Iranians."

Ahmadinejad and Chavez signed a memorandum of understanding in Caracas last November covering "270 agreements on cooperation in agriculture, industry, technology, energy, fishery and housing." An Iranian Ministry of Industries and Mines spokesman announced this month that "70 projects, mostly run by private sector companies, now are operating in Venezuela." The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Corporation reported Iranian corporations are tunneling and excavating in Venezuela - perhaps like their activities around nuclear sites in Iran. Venezuela could end up providing Iran with a steady supply of uranium. Indeed, Chavez taunted the U.S. during a televised Venezuelan cabinet meeting last October: "How's [our] progress on uranium for Iran, for its atom bomb?"

Recently, Tehran and Caracas have reached agreement to supply Iran with 20,000 barrels of gasoline per day - a move that could render ineffective U.S. attempts to embargo refined fuel imports by Iran. Joint efforts by both nations in banking and investment funds increasingly facilitate the Iranian government's efforts to run rings around the U.S. Treasury department's sanctions. Flight manifests between Tehran, Damascus and Caracas remain undisclosed as well, with reports that illicit materials, destructive equipment, and dangerous individuals are moving between those destinations. It is worthwhile to remember that an Iranian and Syrian militant client - Hezbollah - is believed by U.S. intelligence to have spread into Latin America.

Iran began establishing military ties to Morales' Bolivian government in 2007. Economic aid estimated at $1 billion has been pledged by Ahmadinejad's cash-strapped regime to Bolivia. The National Iranian Oil Company opened an office in Santa Cruz for "joint projects in oil, gas, petrochemicals, and minerals" according to a press release last November. In return, Bolivia has publically supported Iran's nuclear program and may have provided some uranium as well. Morales characterizes his relationship with Ahmadinejad as one of "leaders who love justice." Iran hopes Cuba will join Bolivia in tripartite cooperation with the Islamic Republic - and so sent a delegation to Havana in June 2009.

Like Venezuela and Bolivia, Brazil has rapidly expanded economic, technological and financial cooperation with Ahmadinejad's administration. Such cooperation gives the regime in Tehran much needed international validity even as its legitimacy at home slips away. It also further facilitates Iran's attempts to circumvent UN and U.S. economic sanctions. Moreover, like Bolivia and Venezuela, Brazil is a potential source of uranium for Iran and a possible future recipient of Iranian assistance in nuclear technology. Tehran even suggested Brazil as a site where it would swap nuclear fuel with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Under ordinary circumstances, cooperation and assistance between Third World countries would and should be welcomed. Those nations need to solve their socioeconomic problems without constant handouts from developed nations. Yet these are far from normal times.

Iran sees Latin American nations as partners in creating a new world order. Ahmadinejad recently told the visiting Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro: "We need to establish a new system and take measures based on that system.... Many countries will join the new system." That Iran and Venezuela view nuclear power as part of an attempt at global hegemony was reinforced in a joint press conference this month between Maduor and his Iranian counterpart Manuchehr Mottaki: "Our experiences prompt us to generate nuclear fuel independently and even broaden the scope of our activities to meet the demands of other countries."

Many of the allegedly private Iranian companies doing business in Latin America are controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) through investments in corporate stocks. The IRGC operates in mining, construction, oil, gas, communications, mass media and arms industries within Iran and in Iranian commercial and aid ventures abroad. Not surprisingly, an IRGC commander named Mohammad Ali Jafari vowed during the recent protests against the incumbent regime that "preserving the Islamic Republic is even more vital than performing daily prayers." Venezuela and Bolivia too share this situation in which militarization of the state is occurring through the armed forces taking major stakes in industry.

The 2009 Annual Threat Assessment presented by U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair may have been too modest in stating "Tehran has made some progress over the last few years in improving commercial ties and establishing embassies and cultural centers in Latin America, with an aim to reducing Iran's international isolation." Rather, the Iranian government is expanding the lines of conflict with the European Union, United Nations and especially the U.S. through a rearguard action in Latin America. Based on these developments, the administration in Washington needs to take far more seriously the distinct possibility that a regime that is brutally repressive to its own citizens is unlikely to sow anything other than turmoil in the Western Hemisphere.

Jamsheed K. Choksy is professor of Iranian and International studies and former director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Indiana University. He also is a member of the National Council on the Humanities at the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities.

Carol E. B. Choksy is adjunct lecturer in strategic intelligence and information management at Indiana University. She also is CEO of IRAD Strategic Consulting, Inc.

The views expressed are their own.

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MSNBC last night:
I decided to watch Olberman for a few and gloat. He not only reinforced his statements on Scott Brown but...

he, Matthews and and Rachel Maddow came to the conclusion that this electrifying message from Boston was really that the democrats have not been ACTIVE ENOUGH IN PURSUING A LEFTIST AGENDA, THE ONE THE PUBLIC VOTED FOR IN 2008. They are convinced that unless the Health Care bill is passed as is, and the agenda pursued with aggressive ambitions, the dems are done. Olberman to his credit (yes that's right), predicted that the health care bill would end up being some discount on Rx's. He clearly believes a revolution of the Lenin variety is required.

It's BROWN DERANGEMENT. But not for former combat vets....

Politico:

Sen. Jim Webb puts out a statement that puts the notion of a quick Senate vote out of reach and pretty much makes a certification fight moot:

In many ways the campaign in Massachusetts became a referendum not only on health care reform but also on the openness and integrity of our government process. It is vital that we restore the respect of the American people in our system of government and in our leaders. To that end, I believe it would only be fair and prudent that we suspend further votes on health care legislation until Senator-elect Brown is seated.

And good luck getting Lieberman to vote for cloture this week, anyway.

Some people actually BELIEVE

But the admin is not going to heed this MONUMENTAL message from the most democratic state in the nation. Since 1972, when Mass was the only state to vote dem in a national election, voting for a man who said he would go on his knees to Hanoi to get peace, this state has gone FURTHER left.

Not now.

Massachusetts, the only state to go for McGovern, not having elected a republican to any national office since, sent a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN to the most progressive congress in history, under the most progressive president.

Something has happened.

Can Obama, Axelrod, and Rahm accurately identify what it is?

UPDATE:

But in a sign of the party's very public disarray, Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana felt free to take the opposite view in an interview with ABC's Jonathan Karl Tuesday.

Bayh said that "moderates and independents even in a state as Democratic as Massachusetts just aren't buying" the Democrats' message and "just don't believe the answers we are currently proposing are solving their problems."

"There's going to be a tendency on the part of our people to be in denial about all this," Bayh told ABC, adding, "if you lose Massachusetts and that's not a wake-up call, there's no hope of waking up."

Axelrod:

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod, in a telephone interview: "We're going to keep on advocating for the things that we believe are necessary to get this economy moving again, to get people back to work, to lift incomes, to get people more economic security. We will work with whomever wants to work with us to get that done, and I think that's what the American people want. ... We're FAMILIAR with the vote that was cast today: Some of the same sentiment that propelled [Brown's] campaign, propelled ours -- the sense that this economy doesn't work particularly well for middle class, working people ... You overlay the fact that we're in a recession -- the deepest since the Great Depression -- and people are understandably agitated. There is a restiveness -- and I think it's been intensified by the economy and by the recession -- that is real. There were many factors that were peculiar to this race, ... and let's give Brown his due: He ran a spectacular campaign. ... The lesson is to focus very clearly on the concerns -- particularly the economic concerns -- of everyday people. And those concerns go to jobs. Those concerns go to retirement security. They go to the cost of education kids. And, yes, they go to the cost of health care, too. ... I think that it would a terrible mistake to walk away now. If we don't pass the bill, all we have is the stigma of a caricature that was put on it. That would be the worst result for everybody who has supported this bill."

Here's an idea... ENGAGE THE REPUBLICANS.. build health care on two ideas...
1) Insurance companies CANNOT deny for previously exiting conditions
2) Insurance available in New Mexico, Idaho, or ANY state is available in any other state...anyone remember what happened to CELL PHONE PLANS IN THE LAST 5 YEARS?

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Yesterday I said the dems would not sail closer to the american wind, or tack to starboard in the event they lost today in Massachusetts which is what the polls are saying, at any rate. Massachusetts, the repubs warn, is not immune to a Richard A Daley dead/absentee vote holding the balance.

And in Politico we see those around the leader proclaim they are going to down with all flags flying i 2010 and 2012 rather than acknowledge the American will to be ruled center -> right center->left center and no more than that. Conservatives TAKE NOTE. PRO-LIFE FANATICS TAKE NOTE.

President Barack Obama plans a combative response if, as White House aides fear, Democrats lose Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts, close advisers say.

"This is not a moment that causes the president or anybody who works for him to express any doubt," a senior administration official said. "It more reinforces the conviction to fight hard."

A defeat by Martha Coakley for the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy would be embarrassing for the party -- and potentially debilitating, since Democrats will lose their filibuster-proof, 60-vote hold on the Senate.

A potential casualty: the health care bill that was to be the crowning achievement of the president's first year in office.

The health care backdrop has given the White House a strong incentive to strike a defiant posture

"The response will not be to do incremental things and try to salvage a few seats in the fall," a presidential adviser said. "The best political route also happens to be the boldest rhetorical route, which is to go out and fight and let the chips fall where they may. We can say, 'At least we fought for these things, and the Republicans said no.'

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31629.html#ixzz0d3Qp2avD

Fine. Good. Excellent.
It will be interesting to see what the stock market does if Brown wins and the winds change.
It will be interesting to see if more dem Congressmen and Senators suddenly are attracted to the idea of 'spending more time with their families' rather than run.
It will be interesting to see how long the MSM take to begin carping, and turn
It will be interesting to see how long until we get a 'malaise' speech from the ONE regretting that the totality of the American people are not yet ready for 'fundamental change'.

Keep the flags flying by all means. It's heartening to see dems can be every bit as stupid venal and moronic as republicans.

It tells us the boyz in 1789 HAD A CLUE

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TIMES UK

The Haitian people seem to scare aid workers more than Somali warlords, Darfuri Janjawid or Afghan Taleban. Frightened Dutch aid workers abandoned a mission without reaching the collapsed building where people were trapped, and frightened doctors have left their patients unattended.

KUDOS TO CNN AND SANJAY GUPTA WHO REMEMBERS WHAT HE IS- A DOCTOR

The experience of CNN's medical reporter, Dr Sanjay Gupta, is telling. In a makeshift clinic he encountered a Belgian medical team being evacuated in a UN bus. UN "rules of engagement" apparently stopped them providing security for the doctors. The Belgians took most of their medical supplies with them, to keep them out of the claws of robbers.

Dr Gupta and his camera team stayed the night, monitored the abandoned patients' vital signs and continued intravenous drips -- and they were not robbed. Some rescuers are leaning so much toward security that they will allow people to die.

The media are not helping. CNN rules in the rubble. "Outside of a military conflict, this is our biggest international deployment since the tsunami in 2004," according to Tony Maddox, the managing director of CNN International.

If these are the concerns and the acts of those bringing aid, then the US Marines appear to be the best choice for real help. Welcome to bitter reality.

In the end, it's about ammo, storable food, water, medical supplies, and personal security. Otherwise you are dependent on the kindness, risk taking and good will of utter strangers.

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WSJ:

At the Web site of The American Spectator, think-tanker Paul Chesser takes note of a report by John Stossel on Fox Business Network "about a small window company called Serious Materials" that has big pull in Washington:

The company claims to produce the most energy efficient windows in the world, which other larger companies dispute--but that's not the point. Watch the Stossel segment [at either link above] and you'll see how Serious got some high profile endorsements from President Obama and Vice President Biden, which is suspicious because the company's vice president for policy is married to the overseer of President Obama's weatherization program, Cathy Zoi. Amazingly, Serious Materials was the only "green" window company to receive some recent tax credits from the federal government.

Stossel reports that after the segment ran, a Serious Materials flack "called to say that my story is 'full of lies.' But she wouldn't say what those lies are."

The Freedom Foundation of Minnesota has the public documents on which Stossel's report was based.

Timothy Carney at the Washington Examiner reports on another eyebrow-raising apparent conflict of interest:

Mark Ernst, in December 2007, was chief executive officer of H&R Block, the nation's largest tax-preparation company. Thirteen months later, once President Obama took office, Ernst was named a deputy commissioner at the Internal Revenue Service, where he would spend his first year drafting new regulations for tax preparers--regulations that H&R Block welcomes and market analysts say will benefit the company.

With Ernst in mind, recall Barack Obama's campaign pledge: "No political appointees in an Obama administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."

Carney quotes an IRS spokesman's email saying the rules don't apply to Ernst because he "is a civil servant at the IRS; he is not a political appointee." As Carney notes, it's passing strange for an ex-CEO to pursue a second career as a civil servant. He adds: "Now we can see that the ethics rules, like much of Obama's good-government talk, is more style than substance."

The Founding Brothers defined a cynic's system in which human weaknesses were used to hold govt powers in check by balancing opposing natural desires.

But it's still up to us to recognize the realities before us to pass along what we have

This last foolish election in which a hit song was elected president due to a hopeful tune and smart lyrics, hiding a theme of revolution with promises of a better way had better be a lesson to all.

If you've ever thought war gaming was a stupid waste of time, you better read this

GERTZ:
Iran was believed to have dismissed Israel as a military threat.

A simulation at Israel's leading strategic institute re-enacted a crisis over Iran's nuclear program in which an Israeli military option failed to deter Teheran. The exercise by the Institute for National Security Studies envisioned Iran as overcoming U.S. opposition and Israeli military threats as Teheran proceeded with its nuclear program.

"The Iranians (simulations teams) estimated that because of internal and international considerations [U.S. President Barack] Obama would not dare launch a military attack on Iran's nuclear installations," INSS said in a report on the simulation. "Nor in their view did Israel pose a real threat."

If limited to air strikes, I concur completely

The report, titled "U.S.-Iran Negotiations: Simulation Exercise at INSS," did not focus on a Western or Israeli military option against Iran. Instead, the scenarios were limited to Iranian-U.S. negotiations to end Teheran's uranium enrichment program.

INSS organized teams meant to represent Iran, Israel and the United States. At one point, an explosion was reported at Iran's Arak heavy water production plant, for which Israel was blamed.

The report said the Iranian team demonstrated superiority over U.S. negotiators. INSS said Teheran regarded U.S. President Barack Obama as weak and indecisive.

Israel was also seen as vacillating. The simulation showed an Israeli team that could not form a firm position on Iran even while pressing Washington to pursue a military option.

"Israel became a perceptible burden on the United States in the sense that its threats of military action demanded that the United States devote energy to neutralize this possibility," the report on the simulation said. "Conversely, the lack of credibility of these threats in U.S. eyes meant they could not be used by the United States as a possible 'stick' in its negotiations with Iran."

Organizers of the simulation said Obama must improve his negotiating strategy with Iran. But INSS did not rule out the prospect that Obama was simply not serious in stopping Iran's nuclear program.

"At the same time, perhaps he [Obama] is simply not serious enough about arriving at a negotiated outcome," the report said. "It is up to Israeli decision makers to assess which alternative is most likely, and on that basis develop Israel's own approach." 

Lifted directly from the report:

Regarding Iran, its main strength is that it has a clearly defined ultimate aim: obtaining nuclear weapons capability. This aim guides its tactics in confronting the international community. In contrast, while in general terms the US as well as Israel wants to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear state, it lacks well-defined aims and consolidated strategies for dealing with the Iranian nuclear issue. What we observed is that this situation played to Iran's advantage, allowing it to determine to a large degree the pace and even the content of the talks. It used tactics of playing for time and flooding the US with vast amounts of irrelevant information to delay substantive discussion. Iran was also minded to form international coalitions and acquire allies, and demonstrated much flexibility to changing situations.

The Iranians felt superior and displayed this edge towards the Americans in the negotiations game. The US in general and President Obama in particular was perceived as weak. The Iranians estimated that because of internal and international considerations Obama would not dare launch a military attack on Iran's nuclear installations. Nor in their view did Israel pose a real threat. And overall, it was emphasized through the Iranian team in the simulation that Iran saw no way that it could be forced to suspend its ongoing uranium enrichment project unless the regime itself was put in danger. In this context, it was apparent that a military attack on Iran that is not preceded by an intensive campaign to sway world public opinion could cause severe harm to Israel and/or to the US, immunize Iran against further attacks, and generally strengthen Tehran's position.

Any of this surprising in the least? Sound familiar?

I have been saying for years for Israel to be successful regarding Iranian nukes, it is COMPULSORY to go all the way. GAME CHANGER. If they do not, they WILL FACE a regional nuclear war later.

That's all there is.

If I were Netanyahu I don't know if I could launch such an attack, but what I would do is launch a public frank discussion of the choices. And I would ignore the Iranian bluster in return.

An Israel publicly talking about the potential need for a compulsory massive attack with all weapons required for removal of the mullahcracy, and IRGC along with destruction of the nuclear program, in order to avoid a second Holocaust, MIGHT sober up the people of Iran as well.

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Hey, at least they can be subtle.

GERTZ:A report by a British diplomat said Doha has been told that it would be the first Gulf Cooperation Council state to come under Iranian attack in any regional war. The diplomat cited Qatar's hosting of the air operation command for U.S. Central Command.

'Qatar has been told it would be attacked first should it collude in a U.S. attack on Iran.'    internationalpropertyinvestment.com

At the same time, Qatar was said to have pledged to finance a major energy project in Iran.

Ancient tradition: to buy off the barbarians

Iranian officials said the Qatar National Bank would invest nearly $600 million to develop Iran's Esfandiar offshore crude oil field.

"In addition to their belief that Iran wants to dominate the region, the GCC states have specific security concerns, including the safety of offshore oil and gas installations: Qatar has been told it would be attacked first should it collude in a U.S. attack on Iran," the report, "Iran: Breaking the Nuclear Deadlock," said.

Collude? That's pretty loose. A snicker? A comment in the bathroom?

The report, published by the London-based Chatam House, said other GCC states were concerned over the Iranian threat. Author Richard Dalton, British former ambassador to Teheran, said Gulf Arab countries fear Iranian destabilization through their Shi'ite communities.

Can anyone say YEMEN and Houthi?

"Oman must avoid a military clash with Iran in the Straits of Hormuz," the report said. "Bahrain is nervous about possible Iranian irredentism.

Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have concerns about Iranian influence amongst their own Shia populations. The UAE [United Arab Emirates] retains a territorial dispute with Iran over the islands of Abu Musa and the Tunbs."

The report said Qatar and other GCC states would likely come under attack should Israel or the United States seek to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities. Dalton said GCC states have decided to embark on a policy of persuasion, containment and cooptation.

"All the GCC states remain very concerned about the possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran, and have been seeking to prevent this by indirect signals, and by trying, with increasing frustration, to persuade the EU [European Union] to involve them seriously in attempts to engage Iran," the report said. "None of the above seem to be effective, and the rulers are facing a stark dilemma. Yet, however worried they may be, none wants a military solution -- they feel too vulnerable to the spillover, both from direct Iranian counterattack and through regional and domestic destabilization."

Meanwhile, Iranian Offshore Oil Co. said Qatar would provide all of the funding for Esfandiar, to be developed by a contractor from Malaysia.

"According to Iranian regulations related to the finance of contracts in the oil industry, 85 percent of primary investment in finance projects should be provided by investors," Hussein Jafari, financial director of the Iranian state-owned company, said on Jan. 5. "But Qatar's National Bank is to provide 100 percent of the funding."

Qatar has not confirmed the Iranian assertion regarding Esfandiar. The oil field is one of two shared by Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Well that got your attention, didn't it

Saudi billionaire eyes new links with News Corp.

The Saudi billionaire whose investment firm is one of the biggest stakeholders in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. said he is looking to expand his alliances with the media giant, in the latest indication that his appetite for growth remains robust even as his company retrenches.

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi king and who was listed last year by Forbes as the world's 22nd richest person, met with News Corp.'s chief executive Rupert Murdoch on Jan. 14 in a meeting that "touched upon future potential alliances with News Corp.," according to a statement released by his Kingdom Holding Co. late Saturday.

Media reports have indicated that News Corp, parent to Fox News and Dow Jones & Co., among others, may be thinking of buying a stake in Alwaleed's Rotana Media Group, which includes a number of satellite channels that air in the Middle East.

Neither company has commented publicly on the possible deal, but the talks offer an indication yet that such an agreement may yet be in the offing.

Kingdom Holding's statement said Alwaleed is already the second largest stakeholder in News Corp., with 5.7 percent of the shares of the media company. The stake is held through Kingdom Holding, in which Alwaleed holds a 95 percent stake.

The investment company has a diverse portfolio, ranging from hotels to shares in Apple, eBay and Citigroup.

Does this mean "THEY" control the media? Oh, I forgot, KSA is our ALLY !

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"Who is in charge of the clattering train?
The axles creak and the couplings strain"

Hysteria grips the democratic party

Watching a local station ..it goes to commercial.
In 45 seconds I am informed Scott Brown, who is the democratic party's doppelganger for April 19, 1775, actually wants raped women turned away from hospitals.

Next commercial warns that Scott Brown is supported by the same extremists that support Sarah Palin (you know, the TEA PARTY FRINGE)

Brown then gets the third commercial talking about how absurd are the claims being made against him

Ed Schultz(MSNBC) advises cheating by voting multiple times. Thus proving the Alinsky-ism about success being the ultimate ethic, and giving social and economic justice a new meaning.

SCHULTZ : I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts I'd try to vote 10 times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right. I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are.

Democratic national officials scramble to void the possible republican victory by circulating plans to either delay Brown's certification, or using reconciliation (51 votes required, not 60) to get around due process in the Senate since Obamacare is obviously too important for such silliness.

This morning we see that Scott Brown's campaign has now filed CRIMINAL CHARGES against Coakley for her claims about what he believes.

Finally the scene is so over the top, fake republican commercials appear mocking the real democratic ones, along with columns informing that Brown rips off the heads of young tender children to drink their blood.

Between programs here in Massachusetts, there is NOTHING but anti Brown, and Brown. Coakley has nothing but negative campaigning.
And here it's NOTHING but the election.
AND
ITS
JANUARY



So one is forced to wonder, WHAT IS COMING AS NOVEMBER APPROACHES?
What incredible, play for keeps claims, lies, and tactics are going to be forthcoming as these people vilify, demonize and dehumanize their opponents making themselves into the 'bastards' they fear and pushing them into becoming them to win.
Are any of the people driving this clattering train thinking ahead to what the new landscape will be?
Republicans versus Democrats is not the gestapo black leather coats goons, versus the green-olive clad KGB commissar's knock at 4 AM, but that's where one side is driving it by being so SELF RIGHTEOUS.
One is tempted to believe that they HAVE seen that ahead, and they BELIEVE given a choice in that way, the people will choose green.

Start heating up the tar, I'll get the chickens and torches.

BTW EVERY SINGLE POLL now shows Brown leading with 3  -  15%
On Jan 2, she lead by 17%.
Something is happening.
Something real.
Maybe it's that TEA PARTY FRINGE.
You just know some people's consciousness MUST believe it, that NASCAR addicted, gun rack pick up, bible clenching, beer swilling, wife beater wearing, bowling on saturday nite, consipiracy theory believing, survivalist whacko, bass fishing, turkey frying, fried dough eating, nearly high school graduating, pregnant at 15, cousin marrying, n*gger hatin', rabbit shootin', nose pickin', Jerry Springer appearing, FRINGE.


Hey, that's the image I identify with, don't y'all? I gotta go now, my sister shure is purdy.

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cat.

Duty calls for an East Boston resident.

Someone is getting called for jury duty...but it's no human.

A family is trying to figure out how their pet cat was summonsed for jury duty.

"I said, Sal, what's this? You know, I don't believe it I was shocked," said Guy Esposito, Sal's owner.

Sal's owners, Guy and Anna Esposito, think they may know the source of the mix up: Sal really is a member of the family, so on the last Census form, Anna Esposito listed him under "pets".

"I just wrote 'Sal Esposito', scratched out the 'dog,' and wrote, 'cat,'" said Anna.

Anna filed for Sal's disqualification of service. However, the jury commissioner was unmoved and denied the request.

Saying ...'take it up at the next tea party you fringe whacko'

From Breitbart's Big Hollywood.

IT'S A SPADE!

This appears to be accurate. Both Ain't It Cool News and JoBlo.com have posted James Cameron's full "Avatar" script. To triple-check I went to the 20th Century-Fox site and found that they posted the same script, as well. After being as careful as possible (wouldn't want to smear Cameron like he did the U.S. Marines. NOTE for Leftist hair-splitters: former Marines), I bring you a scene written by James Cameron that was cut from the final film but serves as a glimpse at the director's childish prejudices and mindset:

INT. ARMOR BAY - DAY

TROOPERS issue automatic weapons and magazines to a long line of mine workers. The miners lock and load like the redblooded redneck NRA supporters they are.

BLASTING TECHS are setting radio-detonated primer charges into two-ton stacks of EXPLOSIVE COMPOUND. The stacks are band-strapped together on pallets.

TRACKING WITH SELFRIDGE, staring around him in growing dismay as he walks through the full-scale mobilization. He approaches Quaritch, who is barking orders amid a hive of activity around the ampsuits.

SELFRIDGE
This thing is completely out of control!

Quaritch ignores him, turning away to focus on ordnance loading.

SELFRIDGE
Listen to me! I am not authorizing you to turn the mine-workers local into a freakin' militia!

QUARITCH
I declared threat condition red. That puts all on-world assets under my command.

SELFRIDGE
You think you can pull this palace coup shit on me?! I can have your ass with one call -

Quaritch grabs him and PINS him against the side of an ampsuit.

QUARITCH
You're a long way from Earth.

Selfridge is paralyzed. Physical force -- against him? Quaritch releases him and walks away.

Emphasis was mine...

Hmm... Looks as though those "redneck NRA" supporting miners were just as eager as the U.S. Marines (NOTE for Leftist hair-splitters: former Marines) to commit a genocide against innocents starting with a 9/11-style terrorist atrocity on the Na'Vi Home Tree which Cameron intentionally filmed to look like the attack on the World Trade Center... only this time committed by U.S. Marines (NOTE for leftist hair-splitters former Marines). 

More proof that "Avatar" is anti-American? Well, maybe in Cameron's mind those bloodthirsty mineworkers are "redblooded" Frenchman or supporters of the Scottish NRA.

More proof that "Avatar" is anti-Military (NOTE for Leftist hair-splitters: anti-former Military)? Wherever would someone get that idea?

UPDATE: A statement from James Cameron -- "I regret my choice of language in the Avatar screenplay. Unfortunately, the script was locked before I could add the word teabagger." -- Okay, I made that up.

You can see the full script here. The scene above can be found on page 125.

MORE...

A Veteran Speaks: 'Avatar' Demeans Our Military

Marine Official Slams 'Avatar': 'Disservice to our Corps'

Cameron's 'Avatar' Shows Hollywood How to Trash America and Make a Profit Doing So

REVIEW: 'Avatar' Proves James Cameron's a Secret Conservative

REVIEW: Cameron's 'Avatar' Is a Big, Dull, America-Hating, PC Revenge Fantasy

Why Does Cameron Infantilize Native Peoples By Portraying Them as Helpless?

Time to Call Out James Cameron

Obama 'strengthened America' in first year: White House
The White House Tuesday argued President Barack Obama's "steady diplomacy" had made America stronger and renewed its moral authority despite "unprecedented challenges" in his first year in office.

Let's take a tour.
Domestic policy ..

Health Care ..2 different bills were passed, unfortunately no one yet understands them, and their differences are incompatible. However, Obama gets a point because he only wanted something to pass even if it was nothing. On that basis C+ FOR THE BILL.

Economic Recovery ..they are hanging on a technical definition of recovery which is most highly influenced by bank statements and govt owned major industries. The banks HELP make recovery possible by allowing the entrepreneurial to take risks. Are they? Bank products which invent new ways to sell non products (like credit default swaps) only make speculation increases possible, NOT JOBS. Transactions based on financial products on which commission and margin is made are mirages of wealth, not increases in wealth (except to those VERY VERY FEW who make the margins and grab the bonuses on which the charade fulfills the criteria..products DESIGNED to enrich those few, not create wealth by means of more production of any kind). The stimulus was really designed to prevent entities like Goldman-Sachs (who curiously got 100% on their AIG assets, unlike the rest of the world) from going belly up, with the public reasoning that if the banks died, lending would stop. Of course, lending stopped. The banks were petrified by their own greed and stupidity and inventiveness to back both, and suddenly wanted no risk on the books. Obama did nothing about this.
Ford has been successful, but not the others. Meanwhile out here in the field NO RECOVERY IS APPARENT, not only that but there is fear of risk taking at the local level by reason of double dip. The actual unemployment rate is over 17% and does not move at all. The number is not higher because so many DROPPED OUT of the statistics, having given up, and the fact that 661,000 fewer positions were available in Dec. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That irresponsible, greedy SOB

UPDATE:

U.S. Chamber warns of 'double-dip' recession because of Dem policies

F-, White House.

Telling me it would suck worse based on imaginary jobs saved inventomatic stats is BULLSHIT. I don't care. I don't want to hear it. Just get out of the way.

Bright spots

Gun and Ammo sales are way back-ordered.
Non hybrid seed sales as well.
Gold is at an all time high.

Now what do these things have in common?

Foreign Policy -
Russia .. they are building a new generation of weapons for themselves for the express purpose of preventing us from being the only 'superpower' and it was announced in the last 12 months. They are selling every weapon they have except ICBM's and nukes (that we know of) from planes and helos, to subs and capital ships. They are TOTALLY uncooperative, except by reason of diplomatic language on Iran (a weapons client). And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That overbearing, and challenging SOB

China .. rapidly expanding military, both in terms of weapons numbers AND QUALITY. They continue to fund our debt but at a decreasing rate, while selling us the products we must borrow on to buy from them.They are TOTALLY uncooperative, except by reason of diplomatic language on Iran (a weapons client). And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That unimaginative SOB.

NATO .. uncooperative on Afghanistan. Unable to stop piracy, still leaning almost completely on the US in the Balkans, and STILL with American bases for THEIR protection of THEIR soil, 65 years after WW2. Obama has ALIENATED the leadership of France, and managed to make one of his first acts returning Britain's gift of a bust of Churchill. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That, confrontational, 'old europe fearing' moron.

Japan .. a more anti American govt in terms of goals has never been in office in Japan. They show the most concern over North Korea. We continue to refuse them the F-22 Raptors THEY say they need because of Norkland. Nor are they the largest help over Iran.
China.

Iran .. they not only got all THEY WANTED from this administration, they were called the legitimate govt after a joke of an election so totally crooked riots in the streets occurred, and CONTINUE to occur with, REAL ACTUAL MARTYRS while this govt does it's best Stanley Baldwin 'we have to talk to them no matter what' imitation. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That axis of evil, fool.

Israel .. our only democratic ally in the middle east has gotten two things since Jan 2009, the cold shoulder and threats. Since then the leaders of Israel have made AT LEAST FIVE TRIPS TO MOSCOW. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That lack of attention, moron.

Iraq .. continues to generally improve, AND IT'S BUSH'S FAULT

Afghanistan .. OBAMA generally gets the idea. But the sensation it's all lip service doesn't evaporate, and I think that is also true of our enemies view of us. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That lack of attention, moron, distracted by Iraq (the only thing which shows DEMONSTRABLE IMPROVEMENT...so far).

Al Qaeda and Islamists.. only in the last POST 'he was an isolated extremist' horror show does the idea enter Obama's mind that maybe it's more than AFPAK in play. From Indonesia and the Phillipines to the atlantic coast of Africa, and Texas and Michigan, we face everyone from Abu Sayyaf, and JI to AQIM. And BTW, according to Obama, channeling an 8 year old, it's Bush's fault. That lack of attention, moron thinking about Iraq (the only thing which shows DEMONSTRABLE IMPROVEMENT...so far).

Pakistan .. Obama has no clue. The center of the war is not Afghanistan, dude. It's the Taliban's effort to make Waziristan an impregnable base to GET Pakistan. But that's just one campaign they have under way. Obama gets point