FL-Sen: Crist Accuses Rubio Of Getting Back Waxes

FOX NEWS' VAN SUSTEREN: And sort of a punch back which occurred previously is that you have said about your opponent, Mr. Rubio, that he is the greatest fraud perpetrated. So it sounds like you have had a couple of punches back as well. Why do you say that?

GOV. CHARLIE CRIST: Because he's trying to pawn himself off as a fiscal conservative. And yet just in reason weeks, two weeks ago it has come out in news accounts he had a Republican Party of Florida credit card that he charged $130 haircut, or maybe it was a back wax -- we are not sure what all he got at that place.

VAN SUSTEREN: Wait a second, stop. A back wax? Wait a second.

CRIST: I don't know what it was, you know?

VAN SUSTEREN: I know, but was there a suggestion it was for a back wax or are you being flip?

CRIST: I don't know what it was. Initially we were told it was a haircut. And then he said it wasn't a haircut. Then he had the gall to go on Neil Cavuto's show and said it was his money. It was a credit card from the Republican Party. It was party donors' money.

SENATE WARNS EMPLOYEES TO AVOID THE DRUDGE REPORT
Tue Mar 09 2010 08:53:37 ET

Just as the healthcare drama in the capitol reaches a grand finale, congressional officials are warning employees to avoid the DRUDGE REPORT!

The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.'

The committee ordered hill staff: 'Try to avoid' the DRUDGE REPORT 'for now'.

On Monday DRUDGE served over 29 million pages with NOT ONE email complaint received about 'pop ups', or the site serving 'viruses'.

The site was seen 149,967 times since March 1st from users at senate.gov and 244,347 times at house.gov. [10,825 visits from the White House, eop.gov]

The Systems Administrator may want to continue taking her antibiotic until the prescription runs out.

Image via Wikipedia

Are 2010 Dems as corrupt as the 2006 GOP?

Joan Walsh

Of course not. But the media seems to be buying the GOP's false equivalence

I predicted Wednesday that Republicans and the mainstream media would soon have a new but typically simplistic partisan line: that recent scandals involving Democratic Reps. Eric Massa and Charlie Rangel and New York Gov. David Paterson would make 2010 what 2006 was for Republicans -- the year voters punished the party for its corruption. Throw in oldies but goodies like former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, both Democrats, and I foresaw an avalanche of 2006-2010 comparisons. And I was right. 

Before I attack that false equivalence, let me make clear: I'm not defending these Democrats

News Corp buys $70m stake in Saudi group

By Lina Saigol in London and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York

Published: February 22 2010 23:24 | Last updated: February 23 2010 12:26

Rotana Media, the broadcaster and music group owned by Saudi billionaire investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said it had agreed to sell a $70m stake to News Corp, Rupert Murdoch's global media empire.

Rotana said on Tuesday that News Corp had agreed to buy a 9.09 per cent stake with an option to take this up to 18.18 per cent.

The move will mark News Corp's most significant investment so far in the Middle East, where faster GDP growth, a young population and maturing advertising markets have begun to draw US and European media groups facing slow growth in their home markets.

"This is a qualitative leap not just for Rotana but for the whole Arab world," Prince Alwaleed told a press conference. "We are set to gain deep experience from News Corp ... on television, movie production and technology," he said. "They own MySpace ... We can learn from this, the new media field."

The acquisition will also tie the Murdoch family closer to one of their most important shareholders.

Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holdings owns 7 per cent, or 56m shares, of News Corp's class B stock and is the largest shareholder outside the Murdoch family.

The prince is not on News Corp's board of directors, but last month anointed James Murdoch, head of News Corp's European and Asian operations, as his father's eventual successor.

"If he [Rupert Murdoch] doesn't appoint him, I'll be the first one to nominate him to be the successor of Mr Rupert Murdoch, God forbid if something happens to him," the prince told Charlie Rose, a US television interviewer.

Hey, I thought WE controlled the media (and the banks)

Russia has decided to withdraw its advanced missile defense system for export.

Officials said the Kremlin has ordered the state-owned arms agency Rosoboronexport to end marketing of the S-400 air and missile defense system. They said Rosoboronexport was told that the S-400 would be deployed only in Russia until further notice.

The S-400. armybase.us

"Russia would consider exports only after meeting the requirements of its own armed forces," Rosoboronexport director Anatoly Isaikin said on Jan. 28.

Over the last five years, Rosoboronexport has sought to sell the S-400 to a range of Middle East states, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. So far, no export sales were reported.

"There are a lot of preliminary talks," Isaikin said.

The S-400 Triumph was designed to intercept airborne targets at up to 400 kilometers. Rosoboronexport has asserted that the system could destroy stealth aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles.

In 2009, Rosoboronexport lobbied the Turkish government to purchase the S-400. Ankara, which appears to favor the U.S.-origin PAC-3, has conducted a $1 billion tender for the procurement of missile defense systems.

Officials said the Russian military would require at least two years to exploit the potential of the S-400. The first S-400 battalion entered combat duty in the Moscow region in 2007.

"There have been bugs in the system and this has prevented us from properly demonstrating the S-400 abroad," another official said. 

The little mouse whispers ... if you buy the PAK-TA and SU-35 we will withhold the S-400 abroad and S-300 from Iran

MSNBC's Brzezinski: Jimmy Carter 'Best Former President We've Ever Had'

Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on Monday's Morning Joe on MSNBC, noting that it was President's Day, host Joe Scarborough asked the day's panel members who was their favorite President. After the first two guests named Abraham Lincoln, to which co-host Mika Brzezinski agreed, she then announced her admiration for Jimmy Carter's post-presidential activities calling him her "favorite former President." She went on to call him the "best former President we've ever had," prompting Scarborough to quip, "You should be paid."

After Willie Geist poked fun at Brzezinski by declaring that Jimmy Carter was the best President because of "his bravery against that killer rabbit in Plains, Georgia," Brzezinski sulked: "Stop mocking him."

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/brad-wilmouth/2010/02/15/msnbc-s-brzezinski-jimmy-carter-best-former-president-we-ve-ever-had#ixzz0feA5vI0Y

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.

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.

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."

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?

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.

"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."

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.

Image via Wikipedia

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.

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?

• 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.

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.

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."

"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."

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.

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'

There's the currency campaign, for starters. Thousands of rial notes have been stamped with a simple green "V" for victory. Others bear handwritten slogans that echo the public chants denouncing the regime. Some have even been reprinted with pictures: one is a cartoon of President Ahmadinejad with "people's enemy" written underneath. Another carries a picture from the mobile phone images of Neda Agha Soltan as she lay dying on the street from a sniper's bullet. Underneath is written "death to the dictator" -- a common public chant against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The currency campaign even denounces the regime's foreign policy. "Khamenei the non-believer is the servant of [Russian leader Vladimir] Putin," declares one slogan, written in green, on a 20,000-rial note. Another chastises: "They stole money and give it to [Venezuelan President Hugo] Chavez." Some messages simply appeal for others to join the campaign to write anti-regime messages on one billion banknotes. The Government reportedly tried to take the marked notes out of circulation, but found there were too many to replace.

READ THIS WHOLE ARTICLE

Two of the four leaders allegedly behind the al Qaeda plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines passenger jet over Detroit were released by the U.S. from the Guantanamo prison in November, 2007, according to American officials and Department of Defense documents. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the Northwest bombing in a Monday statement that vowed more attacks on Americans.

Russia gears up for major marketing launch of its Su-35 fighter jets

MOSCOW -- Russia has launched its Su-35 fighter-jet program.

Russia's Sukhoi Co. has begun implementing a contract to deliver the Su-35 to the Russian Air Force. Under the contract signed in August 2009, the Russian Air Force, in the largest purchase in 20 years, would acquire 48 Su-35 fighters.

Su-35 Flanker

"Long-term contracts for the fighter aircraft delivery to the Russian Air Force and foreign customers allow Sukhoi Co. to provide for a steady work load of its serial plants by combat aircraft production and shift from modernizing aircraft in the Russian Air Force inventory to manufacturing new products," Sukhoi said.

In a statement on Nov. 17, Sukhoi said its plant on Komsomolsk-on-Amur has begun production of component parts. The company said serial production of the aircraft would begin in 2010.

Executives said Sukhoi and Russia's arms export agency, Rosoboronexport, have been briefing potential clients of Su-35. They said Algeria and Libya have expressed interest in the aircraft.

The Su-35 included a new phased array radar system with long-range aerial target detection. The aircraft, with stealth qualities, has been equipped with new air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles.

"The Su-35 is a substantially modernized highly maneuverable multifunctional 4++ generation aircraft employing technologies of the fifth generation," Sukhoi said. "They make it superior to all other fourth generation fighter jets now under development worldwide."

Let me be precise here: Fox News peddles a fair amount of hateful crap. Some of it borders on sedition. Much of it is flat out untrue.

But I don't understand why the White House would give such poisonous helium balloons as Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity the opportunity for still greater spasms of self-inflation by declaring war on Fox.

If the problem is that stories bloated far beyond their actual importance--ACORN's corruption, Van Jones's radical past--are in danger of leaching out of the Fox hothouse into the general media, then perhaps the Administration should be a bit more diligent about whom it hires and whom it funds.

If the problem is broader--that Fox News spreads seditious lies to its demographic sliver of an audience--the Administration should probably be stoic: the wingnuts will always be with us. The best antidote to their garbage is elegant, intelligent governance. The next-best antidote is occasional engagement: I thought Obama came away from his O'Reilly and Chris Wallace interviews much the better for it. (Though you don't want to sit down with a thug like Hannity or a weirdo like Beck.)

Read more: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/23/outfoxed/#ixzz0VE2QyLNp

by Kathy Shaidle

"Manufacturing Czar" Ron Bloom

Much has been made about White House Communications Director Anita Dunn's description of the murderous dictator Mao Zedong as one of her "favorite political philosophers."

Now comes word that another Obama insider has been quoting Mao approvingly. A video shot at a 2008 Union League Club meeting in New York shows "manufacturing czar" Ron Bloom telling his audience:

We know that the free market is nonsense. (...) We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun.

So who is Ron Bloom?

He has a long history of being the negotiating face of unions in a suit. He is a Harvard Business School graduate who has worked for the unions beginning with [the Service Employees International Union] SEIU for decades.

And of course, the SEIU boasts almost 2 million members, has ties to disgraced "community organizers" ACORN, and contributes millions of dollars to Democratic Party candidates.

Most recently, SEIU thugs were taped assaulting an Obamacare opponent at a town hall meeting.

Bloom's approving citation of Mao comes as no surprise. Other SEIU bigwigs have boasted about the longstanding ties between the Union and the Communist Party:

At a March 2007 meeting, Local 1199's executive vice president Steve Kramer spoke enthusiastically about the role which the Communist Party USA played in building up his union. When the Communist Party split in 1991, several Local 1199 officials took many comrades into the breakaway group, Committees of Correspondence. One of those officials, Rafael Pizarro, also went on to help found the New Party, a Marxist organization that Barack Obama joined in Chicago in 1995.

So far, Media Matters hasn't revved up their spin machine to deal with this revelation, as they did with the Dunn video. Stay tuned.

Stay Tuned for More of 'The Obama Show'

By Dana Milbank
Wednesday, June 24, 2009

In his first daytime news conference yesterday, President Obama preempted "All My Children," "Days of Our Lives" and "The Young and the Restless." But the soap viewers shouldn't have been disappointed: The president had arranged some prepackaged entertainment for them.

After the obligatory first question from the Associated Press, Obama treated the overflowing White House briefing room to a surprise. "I know Nico Pitney is here from the Huffington Post," he announced.

Obama knew this because White House aides had called Pitney the day before to invite him, and they had escorted him into the room. They told him the president was likely to call on him, with the understanding that he would ask a question about Iran that had been submitted online by an Iranian. "I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet," Obama went on. "Do you have a question?"

Pitney recognized his prompt. "That's right," he said, standing in the aisle and wearing a temporary White House press pass. "I wanted to use this opportunity to ask you a question directly from an Iranian."

Pitney asked his arranged question. Reporters looked at one another in amazement at the stagecraft they were witnessing. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel grinned at the surprised TV correspondents in the first row.

The use of planted questioners is a no-no at presidential news conferences, because it sends a message to the world -- Iran included -- that the American press isn't as free as advertised. But yesterday wasn't so much a news conference as it was a taping of a new daytime drama, "The Obama Show." Missed yesterday's show? Don't worry: On Wednesday, ABC News will be broadcasting "Good Morning America" from the South Lawn (guest stars: the president and first lady), "World News Tonight" from the Blue Room, and a prime-time feature with Obama from the East Room.

"The Obama Show" was the hottest ticket in town yesterday. Forty-five minutes before the start, there were no fewer than 107 people crammed into the narrow aisles, in addition to those in the room's 42 seats. Japanese and Italian could be heard coming from the tangle of elbows, cameras and compressed bodies: "You've got to move! . . . Oh, God, don't step on my foot!" Some had come just for a glimpse of celebrity. And they wanted to know all about him. "As a former smoker, I understand the frustration and the fear that comes with quitting," McClatchy News's Margaret Talev empathized with the president before asking him how much he smokes.

There was a moment after 2006 when Rahm Emanuel who was in charge of the House Dems election campaigning nationwide was feted for finding conservative dems who could capitalize on the manufactured and earned dislike for Bush and the well earned dislike and contempt for the republican majorities. It is CLEAR now, what the plan was. Euchre the american populace by any means necessary for the cause, get dems into office, and WHIP them into line, ...in line with the cause...PROGRESSIVE REALIGNMENT OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.

Forget jihad. This is the near enemy, and it was on FULL DISPLAY in ALL ITS MEANS yesterday,

"Why would it drive private insurance out of business? If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government -- which they say can't run anything -- suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical........

"But just conceptually, the notion that all these insurance companies who say they're giving consumers the best possible deal, if they can't compete against a public plan as one option, with consumers making the decision what's the best deal, that defies logic, which is why I think you've seen in the polling data overwhelming support for a public plan."

Why do people end up buying contaminated ultra cheap flip flops from Walmart? Why are they the largest employers in so many towns? Why is the government backing PUBLICALLY the warranties of Chrysler and GM and not Ford? Why does the post office lose money on every piece of mail?

TO BE THE CHEAPEST, YOU CRETINOUS LIAR, and grab market.

No one but the richest is going to resist the cheap govt alternative. Only those who have no understanding of capital as a force of nature, or human beings and how they behave in self interest, would even IMAGINE the absurd, illogical, stupid and therefore, considering the man, LYING argument of the president.

He is no fool.

But neither are we.

High court justice delays Chrysler sale

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg yesterday delayed Chrysler's sale of most of its assets to a group led by Italy's Fiat, but didn't say how long the deal would remain on hold.

Ginsburg said in an order that the sale was "stayed pending further order," indicating that the delay may only be temporary.

Chrysler L.L.C. has said the sale must close by June 15, or Fiat Group SpA has the option to walk away, leaving the Auburn Hills, Mich., automaker with little option but to liquidate.

A federal appeals court in New York approved the sale Friday but gave opponents until 4 p.m. yesterday to try to get the Supreme Court to intervene. Ginsburg issued her order right before the deadline.

Ginsburg could decide on her own whether to end the delay, or she could ask the full court to decide.

This is pretty obvious stuff.
Now add in these two mind blowing factoids FROM THE OLD SCHOOL/NEW SCHOOL left..the ADL and the SPLC...BOTH call the New Black Panthers a hate group. Whoa, right? Ok so now...

WASH TIMES:Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.

The incident - which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube - had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.

Career lawyers pursued the case for months, including obtaining an affidavit from a prominent 1960s civil rights activist who witnessed the confrontation and described it as "the most blatant form of voter intimidation" that he had seen, even during the voting rights crisis in Mississippi a half-century ago.

Here's the REAL RUB ... when charged at the outset, these thugs DID NOT SHOW UP to answer the charges, and had the govt just done NOTHING, they would have been found guilty. Instead Eric Holder went out of his way to DROP THE CHARGES against people who in 1965, and of another hue, would have been doing the frog march with raincoats over theitr heads as they wound their way to a multi year sentence someplace like MARION, IL.

The people running the admin are simply WAY WAY WAY out there.

Apparently they see this as their chance to,,...... what?

HUGE MISTAKE.

A Justice Department spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the agency had dropped the case, dismissing two of the men from the lawsuit with no penalty and winning an order against the third man that simply prohibits him from bringing a weapon to a polling place in future elections.

Can you imagine that outcome in 1966 against some cracker in Dothan Alabama who bought a weapon along with this buds to a voting place to keep black people away?

The people running this govt are NOT LIBERALS. They are against all that liberals worked for in the 60's.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Remember that

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A source with intimate knowledge of the case against two ex-AIPAC staffers accused of passing along classified information says the case has been dropped.

Keith Weissman, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's former Iran analyst, and Steve Rosen, its former foreign policy chief, were charged under a rarely used section of the 1917 Espionage Act that makes it a crime for civilians to receive and distribute closely held defense information. Both men were later dismissed by AIPAC, with the organization claiming the two had violated its rules; Rosen, in turn has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against AIPAC.

Federal prosecutors reportedly had been considering dropping the criminal case in the wake of a number of recent judicial decisions that make the prosecution more difficult. Among these was an appeals court rejection of a prosecution request to review the trial judge's order that prosecutors make the case that the defendants harmed the United States and not merely benefited Israel.

Note that this could be applied to people who 'leaked' satellite info to Britain during the war with Argentina over the Falklands in 1982

Some Democrats see the case as a piece with Bush-era efforts to expand government secrecy powers, but the Post quoted its sources as saying that the review would have occurred whether or not Barack Obama had won election as president.

The dropping of the case comes just days before the start Sunday of AIPAC's annual policy conference in Washington.

David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac, committed suicide in his Hunter Mill Estates home Wednesday morning.

Fairfax County Police spokeswoman Mary Anne Jennings tells WTOP Kellermann, 41, police responded to the home after family members called police around 5 a.m.

"We were called from inside the house to come investigate an apparent suicide," Jennings says.

"We're not going to give you details of the condition of the body, except to say it was an apparent suicide." Neighbors driving by the scene tell WTOP they are surprised to hear about Kellermann's suicide. He has been with Freddie Mac for more than 16 years.

Napolitano stands by 'extremism' report

By Audrey Hudson (Contact) and Eli Lake (Contact) | Thursday, April 16, 2009

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was briefed before the release of a controversial intelligence assessment and that she stands by the report sent to law enforcement that lists veterans as a terrorist risk to the U.S. and defines "rightwing extremism" as including groups opposed to abortion and immigration.

The outcry resulted in a demand from the head of the American Legion to meet with Ms. Napolitano, a request the DHS chief said she would honor next week when she returns to Washington from her current tour of the U.S.-Mexican border.

"The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department´s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States," Ms. Napolitano said in a statement.

Sure plays a mean pinball.

Those people people ARE dangerous, and a vote does not make them less so, nor give them the arbitrary right to declare others so.

2012 is a long way off, but it's time to prepare.

I am just flabbergasted by the utter avalanche of this crap coming from Washington.

Do any of them read history?

Keep going you morons.

Wash Times : The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in "rightwing extremist activity," saying the economic recession, the election of America's first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

"It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," the warning says.

The White House is trying to distance itself, but give me a break. HEADS SHOULD ROLL.

The nine-page document was sent to police and sheriff's departments across the United States on April 7 under the headline, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

It says the federal government "will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months" to gather information on "rightwing extremist activity in the United States."

The joint federal-state activities will have "a particular emphasis" on the causes of "rightwing extremist radicalization."

And these guys think Iraq was taking the EYE OFF THE BALL?

Let's get something straight, these people are not liberals. Men like Hubert Humphrey are SPINNING IN THEIR GRAVES.

With every step in this direction the federal authorities are guaranteeing the outcome they warn against, and it is hard not to imagine the possibility  THIS IS WHAT THEY SEEK.

Russia signs first Israeli drone deal

REUTERS
April 10, 2009 08:24 ET

* Russia says signed deal for Israeli drones

* First Israeli drone purchase by Moscow

(Adds Israeli defence and industry sources, changes headline)

By Amie Ferris-Rotman

MOSCOW, April 10 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it had
signed a contract to buy drones from Israel, in the first such
deal analysts said was aimed at strengthening the armed forces
after last year's brief war with Georgia.

"We signed a contract with an Israeli firm for the delivery
of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)," local news agencies quoted
Russian Deputy Defence Minister Vladimir Popovkin as saying.

Russian media have reported the deal is worth about $50
million and that Russia will buy three different types of drones
from Israel's largest defence firm, state-owned Israel Aerospace
Industries (IAI).

An Israeli defence source with knowledge of the deal told
Reuters the Israel Aerospace Industries sale was the first drone
sale to Russia by an Israeli firm. IAI officials declined to
comment.

Russia's five-day war with neighbouring Georgia last August
exposed a Soviet-style army with obsolete equipment and a lack
of spy drones and high-precision bombs, analysts said.

An industry source in Israel said Russian generals were
impressed with the drones Georgia had bought from the Jewish
state and approached the Israelis shortly after the war.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said that budget cuts this
year in the wake of the financial crisis will not affect planned
purchases of new weapons for the armed forces.

Israel's Haaretz daily said on Friday that the deal for the
drones went ahead only after Israel received clear signals from
Russia that it had no intention of selling S-300 anti-aircraft
missile systems to Iran.

Asked if the sale was connected to the S-300, the defence
source agreed there was a link, but gave no further details.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow, Ori Lewis and Dan
Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Charles Dick)

Senior U.S. officials said last week that there is continued evidence that Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency is supporting terrorists in Afghanistan. "It has been unclear whether all elements of ISI have dropped their support of the Taliban and their extremist allies," Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on his nomination to be ambassador to Afghanistan.

U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry.    AFP/File/Paul J. Richards

U.S. intelligence agencies have reports that Pakistan's military intelligence has supplied cash, supplies and strategic guidance to the Islamist Taliban militia.

Dennis Blair, the director of national intelligence, also said last week that there are signs of continuing ISI backing for the Taliban, which were in part created by the ISI when it was dominated by Islamists during the 1990s.

"The relationship with the ISI with the Taliban of course has been strong in the past, that's well documented," Blair told reporters March 26.

Blair said the United States wants to "reach a common understanding" with Pakistan that the groups along the border area with Afghanistan pose "a common threat, a threat both to Pakistan and to Afghanistan."

Look, Dennis (I appointed Charles Freeman) Blair, if PART of the govt in Pakistan is IN LEAGUE WITH, and ALLIES OF the Taliban it is not at all clear that success of the Taliban and Sharia in both Afghanistan, and Waziristan-Swat would be to the disadvantage of Pakistan. It's time to consider THAT is what the majority of Pakistan would acquiesce to if not prefer, and that the ISI merely REFLECTS that reality. That is the problem you need to consider PUBLICLY (not that Bush ever did)

"And that will require a lot of work with Pakistan and both the intelligence at the policy level," he said. "So it's a work in progress; I'd just as soon not talk about the details of it, but it's one of those issues that we're working hard with Pakistan in order to be on the same page there."

X-lation- 'we don't know who is on our side so I don't want to talk about it too much because we don't have a clue what's REALLY going on'

The United States regards Pakistan as a central focus of efforts to bring stability to Afghanistan because of the safe havens being used by Islamist terrorist group inside Pakistan.

President Obama announced March 27 that the United States would attack targets in Pakistan if intelligence on terrorists is obtained.

World stock markets soared Thursday, with Hong Kong's benchmark vaulting more than 7 percent, as stronger-than-expected U.S. economic figures boosted confidence the world's largest economy is on the mend.

Huge gains in Asia and a strong open in Europe followed an overnight surge on Wall Street and extended last month's rebound in world equity markets amid tentative signs of stabilization in the hard-hit global economy and banking industry. It came as Group of 20 leaders met in London for a summit that aims to hammer out policies to combat the economic slump and reform the global financial system.

Stocks extended gains on Thursday after data showed factory orders rose in February, fueling optimism the economy was showing signs of stabilization.

The data added on to earlier gains spurred by optimism G20 leaders meeting in London will agree on ways to temper the global economic crisis.

U.S. accounting rule-makers agreed to make adjustments to a proposal to change mark-to-market accounting rules about when transactions would be considered distressed.

So... we have a surge based on one reading of factory orders, one time, and emotional optimism based on G20 leaders not shooting each other? And we redefined what "bad" means? 150 days instead of 90, maybe?

Am I wrong?

What's our balance of payments?

How much are we exporting?

What are we producing?

Maybe these guys have a flock of predictor chickens

Conflict resolution is still not high on list of Syria's strategic priorities

The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Iran and North Korea were the key contributors to Syria's nuclear weapons program. The men who run Syria Affiliation: Alawi sect of Shia

-- The Syrian regime has never been regarded as particularly helpful to Western interests in that it quietly but actively aided Al Qaida insurgents transiting its borders to and from Iraq and has continuously helped supply both Hizbullah and Hamas in their proxy wars against Irael.

And yet the leader Bashar Assad (and his attractive wife) dress in fashionable European designer attire and eschew the thuggish public behavior of other dictators in the region.

The quiet military/intelligence band of Alawi brothers he heads and that run the country carefully cater to the Sunni majority that makes country function to the degree that it does and holds down key posts in the middle levels of government.

But the same covert clique worked with North Korea to build a nuclear reactor apparently aimed at producing a Syria arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

This inconvenient fact is downplayed by the newly-empowered U.S. State Department that chafed under President George W. Bush's inclination to favor the Pentagon (during his first term at least) in foreign policy debates.

Under President Barack Obama, the diplomatic corps and significant segments of the U.S. intelligence community under its sway, see engagement with Syria and Iran as the key to conflict resolution and peace in the Middle East.

Good luck with that.

As an advisory by Middle East Newsline warned:

In the latest assessment by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Syria's alliance with Iran is described as unnatural and "may erode if Syria is accommodated significantly in any diplomatic agreement with Israel."

Somebody at DIA might want to know that the Syrian alliance with Iran is nearly 30 years old and survived three Arab wars. DIA might also want to know that President Assad's Alawi-dominated Syria, the minority that comprises 10 percent of the population, has never maintained normal relations with any of its neighbors -- Arab, Sunni, secular, Islamic or Jewish.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, right, welcomes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad upon his arrival at the Amman airport.  AFP/Khalil Mazraawi

Syrian opposition sources report Damascus has been hosting foreign delegations to plan the resumption of its nuclear program. They said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad plans to construct a nuclear facility over the next year.

"A new delegation of Iranian and Ba'athist Iraqis supported by Iran has arrived to Damascus last week to energize the Syrian nuclear program," the Reform Party of Syria said on March 12. "The delegation is comprised mostly of nuclear scientists but their specialized expertise remains a mystery."

The U.S. intelligence community has determined that Iran and North Korea were the key contributors to Syria's nuclear weapons program. In September 2007, the Israel Air Force bombed a suspected plutonium production plant in northeastern Syria near the border with Iraq.

RPS did not provide details of the Iranian delegation to Syria. Sources in Damascus said the destroyed site at Al Kibar has been rebuilt as a missile facility.

The U.S. intelligence community has also determined that Syria is modernizing its military, including the fighter-jet fleet and missile arsenal.

The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that Syria was upgrading its missile, rocket, anti-tank, aircraft and air defense inventories. The Pentagon agency said Syria was receiving advanced Russian air defense systems to combat any Israeli air strike.

Before and after photos of a suspected plutonium production plant in northeastern Syria targeted by the Israeli air force in a strike carried out just after midnight on September 6, 2007.  Wikipedia

"Significant air defense related deliveries include at least two SA-22 self-propelled short-range gun and missile air defense systems from Russia in June 2008, out of a contract for several dozen," DIA director Michael Maples said. "Recent Syrian contracts with Russia for future delivery include new MiG-31 and MiG-29M/M2 fighter aircraft, and the SA-X-17 medium-range SAM system."

The SA-22 has been marketed by Moscow as the Pantsyr-S1 mobile air defense system. Pantsyr was developed with financing by the United Arab Emirates, a leading client of the system.

The MiG-31, a high-altitude interceptor meant to replace the MiG-25, has been deemed one of the most advanced fighter-jets in the Russian Air Force. The MiG-29M/M2 marks an upgrade of the legacy MiG-29, the staple of the Syrian Air Force. Damascus has not bought fighter aircraft in more than 20 years.

"Syria's ballistic missile inventory is designed to offset shortfalls in the country's conventional forces," Maples said. "It includes older Russian-built SS-21s as well as Scud B, Scud C, and Scud D missiles. Syria continues to flight test ballistic missiles which it views as a strategic deterrent against Israel."

In a briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 10, Maples said Syria was supplying anti-tank guided missiles to the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. He said Damascus has regarded Hizbullah as an "extension of its own defense capabilities against Israel in potential future conflicts."

DIA assessed that Syria contains a stockpile of chemical warfare agents, including nerve gas, which could delivered by aircraft or ballistic missiles. The agency said Damascus has advanced its biological weapons program and could fire missiles with a BW warhead.

"Based on the duration of Syria's longstanding biological warfare program, we judge some elements of the program may have advanced beyond the research and development stage and may be capable of limited agent production," DIA said in a report submitted to Congress.

"Syria is not known to have successfully weaponized biological agents in an effective delivery system, but it possesses a number of conventional and chemical weapon systems that could easily be modified for biological agent delivery."

Syria is also involved in supplying of the Hamas regime in Gaza, an operation that has become more difficult since its 2008 war with Israel.

A report by the Israeli intelligence community said that Iran, in wake of the Israel war, would face greater difficulty in restoring Hamas's military capabilities than in Teheran's rearmament of Hizbullah in 2006. The report by the state-financed Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center pointed out that Iran does not have direct access to the Gaza Strip as it does to Lebanon.

However, Hamas's military buildup in the Gaza Strip has been directed by Hamas headquarters in Damascus, Syria, headed by Khaled Mashal, the report said. The report said the buildup has focused on rockets and mortars and IEDs in an effort similar to that of Hizbullah in 2006. Hizbullah was said to have engaged in weapons smuggling for Hamas.

"In the Middle East, there are some countries which manufacture such rockets, including Iran and Syria," the report said. "In our assessment, Iran initiated the technological adaption to make it easier to dismantle the rockets for smuggling into the Gaza Strip for Hamas and the other terrorist organizations."

While new thinking seems to be in vogue these days in Washington policy circles, the priority in Teheran and Damascus remains what it has been: high tech weapons of mass destruction.

KUMBAYA FANS AND YAYO SMOKERS COMMENT HERE

Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to walk out of global summit

Anglo-Saxon gibe strains relations with Obama

President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France's demands for tougher financial regulation are not met.

France will not accept a G20 that produces a "false success with language that sounds good but contains no commitments", his advisers said.

Asked if this meant a possible walk-out, Xavier Musca, Mr Sarkozy's deputy chief of staff for economic affairs, said: "A basic rule with nuclear deterrence is that you do not say at what point you will use the weapon."

We're SCREWED out here.

In a year, anyone who is spending money right now, will be a SCHMUCK.

Our leaders are PYGMIES. I didn't vote for a goddamn one of them.

As things get dicey look for more and more dissension and then finger pointing.

Wait till Obama wants NATO to ante up more troops for Afghanistan

BELIVERS IN THE NEW WORLD ORDER COMMENT HERE

The Obama administration asked Rick Wagoner, the chairman and CEO of General Motors, to step down and he agreed, a White House official said.

The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government's behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason.

On Monday, President Obama is to unveil his plans for the auto industry, including a response to a request for additional funds by GM and Chrysler.

Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.

GM and Chrysler have to prove their viability as a condition of a federal bailout released under former President George W. Bush, and both have asked the current administration for more money.

Obama said Friday in an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation," broadcast Sunday, that the carmakers were going to have to do more.

"There's been some serious efforts to deal with a combination of long-standing problems in the auto industry," the president told host Bob Schieffer. "What we're trying to let them know is that we want to have a successful auto industry, U.S. auto industry. We think we can have a successful U.S. auto industry. But it's got to be one that's realistically designed to weather this storm and to emerge at the other end much more lean, mean and competitive than it currently is.

"And that's gonna mean a set of sacrifices from all parties involved -- management, labor, shareholders, creditors, suppliers, dealers. Everybody's gonna have to come to the table and say it's important for us to take serious restructuring steps now in order to preserve a brighter future down the road.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Highway Patrol this week retracted a controversial report on militia activity and will change how such reports are reviewed before being distributed to law enforcement agencies.

The Highway Patrol also will open an investigation into the origin of the report, which linked conservative groups with domestic terrorism and named former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

The Highway Patrol's announcement followed a news conference in which Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a Republican, suggested putting the director of public safety on administrative leave and investigating how the report was produced.

The uproar revolves around a report released last month by the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a "fusion center" for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to collaborate on domestic security issues. The report concerned militia movements in Missouri and across the U.S., and described how they had evolved over the last several years.

FULL STORY

Government's ALWAYS want more power.

Democratic, Republican, Conwervative, Liberal.

Human nature.

TOKYO -- Japan's move Friday to deploy missile interceptors is the boldest challenge North Korea faces so far to its plan to launch a rocket in the next few days.

Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he ordered the deployment of missile interceptors to Japan's northern coast to prepare to shoot down the rocket and any debris that could fall on Japanese territory. It was the first such order Japan had issued, a ministry spokesman said.

North Korea said it will launch a rocket carrying a satellite between April 4 and April 8, and warned that fragments could fall into the Sea of Japan between the two countries as well as southeast of Japan in the Pacific Ocean.

Japan and its allies suspect the rocket is a new long-range missile, and have demanded that Pyongyang cancel the plan. A launch would violate United Nations Security Council sanctions imposed in 2006 after North Korea tested a long-range missile.

Any action Japan takes would be restricted to shooting at material that threatens to fall on Japanese land or sea. Nevertheless, the move is a bold one for Japan, which has a pacifist constitution that strictly restricts its military to measures of national defense.

Japan is particularly worried about North Korea because of its proximity to the rogue nation. After Pyongyang's launches in recent years, Tokyo imposed sanctions on North Korea and pushed the U.N. Security Council to enact further sanctions. At the time, Japan didn't have the missile-defense capabilities it has today.

If it's a danger, just have an Aegis cruiser take it out.

At boost.

Otherwise it's all just BREAD AND CIRCUS, violence and wonder for the plebs, eh?

China calls for new reserve currency

By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing

Published: March 23 2009 12:16 | Last updated: March 24 2009 00:06

China's central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People's Bank of China's website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank's governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency "that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies".

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing's fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

"This is a clear sign that China, as the largest holder of US dollar financial assets, is concerned about the potential inflationary risk of the US Federal Reserve printing money," said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC.

Although Mr Zhou did not mention the US dollar, the essay gave a pointed critique of the current dollar-dominated monetary system.

"The outbreak of the [current] crisis and its spillover to the entire world reflected the inherent vulnerabilities and systemic risks in the existing international monetary system," Mr Zhou wrote.

China has little choice but to hold the bulk of its $2,000bn of foreign exchange reserves in US dollars, and this is unlikely to change in the near future.

To replace the current system, Mr Zhou suggested expanding the role of special drawing rights, which were introduced by the IMF in 1969 to support the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate regime but became less relevant once that collapsed in the 1970s.

Today, the value of SDRs is based on a basket of four currencies - the US dollar, yen, euro and sterling - and they are used largely as a unit of account by the IMF and some other international organisations.

China's proposal would expand the basket of currencies forming the basis of SDR valuation to all major economies and set up a settlement system between SDRs and other currencies so they could be used in international trade and financial transactions.

Countries would entrust a portion of their SDR reserves to the IMF to manage collectively on their behalf and SDRs would gradually replace existing reserve currencies.

Mr Zhou said the proposal would require "extraordinary political vision and courage" and acknowledged a debt to John Maynard Keynes, who made a similar suggestion in the 1940s.

Acting swiftly, the Democratic-led House approved a bill Thursday to slap punishing taxes on big employee bonuses at firms bailed out by taxpayers. In some cases the bonuses might be taxed 100 percent leaving the recipients with nothing.The bill would impose a 90 percent tax on bonuses given to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at American International Group and other companies that have received at least $5 billion in government bailout money.

Article. I.

Section. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 9. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Saying that the recession continues to deepen, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the economy by buying mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasury issues.


        "Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending," the Fed said, adding that it would "employ all available tools to promote economic recovery and to preserve price stability."

        As expected, the Fed kept its benchmark interest rate virtually at zero. But in a surprise, it drastically increased the amount of money it will create out of thin air to thaw out the still-frozen credit markets that have cramped lending to consumers and businesses alike.

Obama Administration: We Didn't Find Out About AIG Bonuses Until This Month

March 17, 2009 7:18 PM

Sources in the Obama administration Tuesday said that despite previous media reports administration officials did not know until a couple weeks ago that the officials of the controversial AIG Financial Product Division were set to receive $165 million in bonuses on March 13.

It wasn't until Thursday, March 5, 2009, administration sources told ABC News, that officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York informed officials of the Treasury Department of the full extent of the $165 million in bonuses pending for the controversial Financial Products Subsidiary.

This was three days after the Obama administration had already announced a new commitment of an additional $30 billion for AIG.

Disagreements between the European Union and the US over how to combat the global recession widened on Tuesday as EU governments made clear they had little appetite for piling up more debt to fight the collapse in output and jobs.

Finance ministers from the 27-nation bloc insisted in Brussels that it was doing enough to support world demand and did not need at present to adopt another fiscal stimulus plan, as Washington is urging.

The US-European differences are casting a shadow over next month's summit in London of leaders from the G20 group of advanced and emerging economies, an event to be attended by Barack Obama on his first visit to Europe as US president.

It also emerged that Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, was struggling to organise the summit. Britain's most senior civil servant claimed it was hard to find anyone to speak to at the US Treasury. Sir Gus O'Donnell, cabinet secretary, blamed the "absolute madness" of the US system where a new administration had to hire new officials from scratch, leaving a decision-making vacuum.

"There is nobody there. You cannot believe how difficult it is," he told a conference of civil servants.

The critical condition of Europe's economy was underlined by official data on Tuesday showing French industrial output fell at a year-on-year rate of 13.8 per cent in January, the worst fall since records started in 1991. Despite the gloomy figures, stock markets around the world rebounded strongly. In New York, the S&P 500 index surged 6 per cent by mid-afternoon, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of leading European shares gained 5.3 per cent.

France, Germany and Italy, the eurozone's three biggest countries, are anxious that the 16 countries sharing the euro should not run up ever-bigger budget deficits and public debt, potentially threatening the stability of the single currency area.

RASMUSSEN:

Most Americans (53%) now think the United States is at least somewhat likely to enter a 1930's-like depression within the next few years.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 39% think this outcome is unlikely.

Nineteen percent (19%) say a Depression is Very Likely while 7% say it is not at all likely.

The latest results are more pessimistic than those found in early January, when 44% said a 1930's-like depression was likely in the next few years, and 46% disagreed.

If this was the Bush admin the screams of incompetence would be deafening. Whatever problems Obama 'inherited' (he did seek the job), failure to act responsibly on his own is not one of them.

Right now, this is a SHAMBLES.

Nobody there?

COMMENT HERE

Sen. Harkin: 'We need the Fairness Doctrine back'

Just this morning, I reported that Sen. Debbie Stabenow has backed off on the idea of holding hearings for radio accountability, something she discussed last week with liberal radio host Bill Press (leading to an uproar on conservative talk radio over the Fairness Doctrine).

Well today, Sen. Tom Harkin appeared on Press's show and came out in favor of the Fairness Doctrine. 

BILL PRESS:  And, thanks for your leadership, thanks for your good work, it's great to have you there Senator. And,  great to have you on the show. Appreciate it.
 
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Well, anytime - just let me know Bill. I love being with you, and thanks again for all you do to get the truth and the facts out there. By the way, I read your Op-Ed in the Washington Post the other day. I ripped it out, I took it into my office and said 'there you go, we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again.'
 
BILL PRESS:  Alright, well good for you. You know, we gotta work on that, because they are just shutting down progressive talk from one city after another. All we want is, you know, some balance on the airwaves, that's all. You know, we're not going to take any of the conservative voices off the airwaves, but just make sure that there are a few progressives and liberals out there, right?
 
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Exactly, and that's why we need the fair -- that's why we need the Fairness Doctrine back.
 
BILL PRESS: We'll work on that together. Hey, thanks, Senator! Always good to talk to you.
 
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Thanks Bill, see you, bye.

Press told me last week that he's hoping Congressional leaders call for hearings on radio accountability, looking at whether stations are honoring the language in their public licenses. But Press also said he thinks the Fairness Doctrine -- in its previous incarnation, at least -- is outdated.

It seems that a lot of Democrats talk up the issue, but then there isn't any legislation that follows.

For instance, Dick Durbin has spoken favorably of bringing back the Fairness Doctrine in the past, but when I contacted his office last week, his press secretary said that he "has no plans to introduce any legislation on the issue, nor is it even on the radar."

So will Harkin, another advocate, be the one to push the issue forward?

It seems fairly obvious that these cowardly little cretins all know how badly each and every one of them all want to shut up the opposition.

WHY IS THAT SO IMPORTANT?

They also know it's probably a third rail ...TODAY, so they jump around the water hole making threatening sounds swinging thigh bones about over their heads as if they are weapons trying to scare off the opposition looking for opportunity to edge out vocal opposition, which you can be sure will include the net.

Ladies and gents, it's a LINE IN THE SAND.

Please step over it DEMS and make a republican majority for a generation, Messrs Schumer, Harkin, Durbin, Stabenow, et al.

PLEASE

COMMENT HERE

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes

By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government's commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation's home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps. The Senate is to vote early this week on a stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama says is needed to avert a deeper recession. That measure would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.

Only the stimulus package to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates approved in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion in commitments are lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the authority of the Fed and the FDIC. The recipients' names have not been disclosed.

"We've seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country," Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. "Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?"

Have you ever had that gnawing feeling that something is really wrong, but you don;t know what it is?

COMMENT HERE

16 illegals sue Arizona rancher

Claim violation of rights as they crossed his land

An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.

His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.

The lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog.

Attorneys for the immigrants - five women and 11 men who were trying to cross illegally into the United States - have accused Mr. Barnett of holding the group captive at gunpoint, threatening to turn his dog loose on them and saying he would shoot anyone who tried to escape.

The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which also charged that Sheriff Dever did nothing to prevent Mr. Barnett from holding their clients at "gunpoint, yelling obscenities at them and kicking one of the women."

In the lawsuit, MALDEF said Mr. Barnett approached the group as the immigrants moved through his property, and that he was carrying a pistol and threatening them in English and Spanish. At one point, it said, Mr. Barnett's dog barked at several of the women and he yelled at them in Spanish, "My dog is hungry and he's hungry for buttocks."

If there is anything wrong with protecting the private property this nation made sacrosanct upon its founding, please let me know now, and we can all just find some other place to live which will be cheaper.

I can't see a damn thing wrong with this man's actions.

Trespassers on private property.

Criminals entering the USA illegally

WTF?

COMMENTS HERE

Fugitive Nazi lived as 'pious Muslim' at Cairo hotel
One of the most wanted Nazi war criminals, Aribert Heim or "Doctor Death," lived for years as a quiet, pious Muslim in a small hotel on the edge of Islamic Cairo, where he was known as Doctor Tarek.

Concealed in the labyrinthine streets of the largest city in Africa and the Middle East, the man wanted for killing hundreds of concentration camp victims with horrific medical experiments found refuge until his death in 1992.

"He was like a giant, not very chatty but he never missed a prayer at the mosque," remembers Gamal Abu Ahmed, who today lives in Dr Death's former room on the sixth floor of the Qasr el-Medina hotel.

When Abu Ahmed is told about the true identity of the former Nazi, as revealed by Germany's ZDF television and the New York Times on Wednesday, the former clothes shop owner does not seem taken aback.

"I knew him when I was 17 years old, I knew that Doctor Tarek, who I saw every day, was German and Muslim, and it never intrigued me," he told AFP.

It was in the Qasr el-Medina hotel, today a run-down building with stairways overflowing with rubbish, that the "butcher of Mauthausen" arrived on the run after converting to Islam and taking the name Tarek Farid Hussein.

"His life was very ordered, exercise in the morning, then prayers at the main Al-Azhar mosque, and long sessions spent reading and writing while sat on a rocking chair," says Abu Ahmed.

He says he doesn't know exactly when Heim got to Cairo, but that the Nazi had good relations with the Doma family, which owned the hotel, and with the manager, a German-speaking former Egyptian soldier called Mohammed Sherif.

More than 100 personal documents that were in the Doma family's possession as well as the testimony of Heim's son Rudiger, led to the unveiling of the true identity of the doctor who had been in hiding since 1962.

Leading Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre said last July that he believed Heim was still alive and living in either Argentina or Chile.

German public television channel ZDF said in a statement that Heim died of bowel cancer in 1992, citing his son and acquaintances in Cairo.

"He was found dead one day in his bedroom. There were no burial plans when the ambulance came to take his body away and his body was laid to rest in a communal grave," says Abu Ahmed.

Abu Ahmed says that Doctor Tarek's outings in the last 10 years of his life were as rare as the friends who visited him -- none of whom were German despite the fact that several former Nazis settled incognito in Egypt.

"He was very solitary and very pious. He didn't have a full beard, but he was never clean shaven, and always fasted during the holy month of Ramadan."

Born in Austria on June 28, 1914, Heim joined the Nazi party before Germany annexed Austria, when membership of the party was still illegal.

He then became a member of Hitler's elite SS guard in 1940 and, after stints at camps in Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen in Germany, was posted to the infamous Mauthausen camp in Austria.

It was at Mauthausen that he became known as "Doctor Death" after performing sadistic and grotesque medical experiments. Survivors of Mauthausen allege the father of three cut prisoners open, removing their livers, among other things.

His cruelty was such that he has frequently been compared to Josef Mengele, the so-called "Angel of Death" who was a doctor at Auschwitz.

Jewish Center in Amsterdam Attacked, No Injuries

 
by Avraham Zuroff

(IsraelNN.com) Two bullets grazed a window of the Sinai Jewish Center in Amstelveen, Holland's daily newspaper De Telegraaf reported Wednesday.

Bulletproof glass prevented any casualties.

According to the report, the center's maintenance man discovered two bullet holes on Tuesday that were fired towards the building's main entrance. There were no injuries, and the motivation is unclear.

You're kidding, right? Maybe it's to KILL JEWS?

Two weeks ago, there was an arson attempt on a synagogue in Amsterdam's southern district. Since Operation 'Cast Lead', security on Jewish community property has been stepped up. "In the last month, there were as many anti-Semitic incidents as there were throughout 2007 and what worries me the most is that they are of a much more serious nature," says Ronny Naftaniel, director of Centre Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI).
Naftaniel, who is currently in Israel, added, "If anti-Semites have a gun, that goes a step further than an arson attempt. That is bad, but anyone can."

Naftaniel speaks of a 'next stage' of anti-Semitism in the Netherlands. Since the IDF's operations against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, the number of anti-Semitic incidents has grown.

Jews have no place in Europe. There is no aggressive work, or proactive undercover operations of any import to protect this tiny, historically oppressed, attacked, expelled and murdered in those lands. Any such successes would  be the object of political grandstanding and self laudatory adulation.

Jews should leave Europe en masse. Whoever designed and approved this mental health center understands the situation quite well.

No one in Europe would shed a tear, and there might be less than 48 hrs of moderately expressed guilt, and then a sigh of relief. Europe might even get a break from the jihadis for about 6 months.

COMMENTS HERE

Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu on Tuesday promised that a government under his leadership would topple the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

.................................

Israeli election front-runner Benjamin Netanyahu says that keeping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons ranks above the economy in the challenges facing the leaders of the 21st century.

He says the global financial meltdown was reversible but the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a "fanatic radical regime" was not.

He said that "we have never had, since the dawn of the nuclear age, nuclear weapons in the hands of such a fanatical regime."

He is ahead in the polls for the election this month.

This should be interesting

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon President Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas - which could be initiated through the US intelligence services - would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracising of the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp.

There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on in his administration, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

A tested course would be to start contacts through Hamas and the US intelligence services - similar to the secret process through which the US engaged with the PLO in the 1970s. Israel did not become aware of the contacts until much later.