A review of court records indicates that Sweetness & Light is being sued by Righthaven for copyright infringement in the US District Court in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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All support, whether monetary or moral, is greatly appreciated. S&L currently operates at a net loss. As of this time we are unsure as to what course of action we will take.

Continue…

From a joyous Associated Press:

Feds sue Arizona sheriff in civil rights probe

By Jacques Billeaud, Associated Press Writer
September 2, 2010

PHOENIX – The U.S. Justice Department sued Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Thursday, saying the Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office’s defiance "unprecedented," and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and jail policies that discriminate against people with limited English skills…

The use of the word “unprecedented” is a tip-off that this came straight from Mr. Obama.

Arpaio called the Justice Department actions harrassment [sic] at a news conference Thursday morning in downtown Phoenix. His office has said it won’t hand over additional documents because federal authorities haven’t said exactly what they were investigating.

"They have hundreds of thousands of reports, hundreds of thousands," Arpaio said. "They’re so broad, we’re trying to narrow it down. We’re trying to work with them." …

Lest we forget, this is the same Justice Department that claims they cannot enforce our nations immigration laws due to a lack of manpower.

So they are going to do their level best to tie up Mr. Arpaio and his men, to make damn sure they don’t enforce our laws, either.

That is just what you want from your Department Of Justice.

From the Baton Rouge CBS affiliate WAFB Channel 9:

Oil rig explodes in Gulf of Mexico

Sep 02, 2010

VERMILION BAY, LA (WAFB) – The Coast Guard is responding to another oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the Coast Guard, 13 people were onboard when it exploded and caught fire Thursday morning. Everyone is accounted for. Officials are reporting one injury…

The explosion happened around 9:30 a.m. and as of 10:30 a.m. it was still on fire.

Coast Guard officials said they do not yet know if there is any type of leak associated with this explosion.

They said there are reports it was not actively producing product, but they will investigate whether there is any type of environmental impact…

That’s all we need.

(Thanks to Rod for the heads up.)

From a surprisingly forgiving Associated Press:

Police: Discovery gunman shot; 3 hostages safe

By Sarah Brumfield, Associated Press Writer
September 1, 2010

SILVER SPRING, Md. – Police say the gunman who took three people hostage at the Discovery Channel network’s programming has died after they shot him.

All three hostages escaped safely…

A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing said authorities had identified James J. Lee as the likely suspect.

A different official, who spoke on condition of anonymity for the same reason, said Lee previously protested outside the building, where he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in February 2008, according to court records.

Police reports indicate he paid homeless people to join his protest and carry signs outside the building. He gave one individual $1,000 for what he considered a prize winning essay…

At the trial, The Gazette of Montgomery County reported, he said he began working to save the planet after being laid off from his job in San Diego. He said he was inspired by "Ishmael," a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn and by former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

A lengthy posting which could be seen Wednesday on a website registered to Lee expressed anger against the Discovery Channel and said it promoted overpopulation.

He said it and its affiliates should stop "encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants." Instead, he said, the network should air "programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility."

"NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis," he wrote.

He also railed against "programs promoting War" and said solutions should be found for global warming and automotive and factory pollution.

"I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so," he wrote. "I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it." …

Where is the outrage from our media masters at Mr. Gore and his ilk for stirring up this poor demented man to such violence?

(Thanks to Dodgeboy27 for the heads up.)

We almost missed this detail about the Ground Zero Mosque’s Imam, from the Associated Press:

Islamic Cultural Center of New York

Imam behind NYC mosque faces divisions over center

August 30, 2010

… Rauf was born in Kuwait, the son of an Egyptian imam and noted Islamic scholar, Muhammad Abdul Rauf, who came to New York City in the 1960s and helped lead efforts to establish the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, the city’s first building designed as a mosque. The multimillion-dollar project took more than 25 years and opened in 1991. The elder Rauf also led the Islamic Center of Washington before taking a job in Malaysia…

This reminded us how much the claims for the ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ match those that were made for the building of the first mosque in New York City, back in the early 1990s.

We were also reminded of some of the ‘controversies’ that were later associated with the ‘Islamic Cultural Center’ that Mr. Rauf’s father helped to build, especially immediately after the attacks on 9/11.

The Islamic Cultural Center of New York City’s first Imam was Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha. (In fact, Mr. Gemeaha, had lived in Manhattan on the Upper West Side, until he left the country shortly after the following interview.)

Here is a transcription of Mr. Gemeaha’s (aka Al-Gamei’a) October 2001 interview for his university, via MEMRI:

If the Americans Knew That the Jews Carried Out the September 11 Attacks They Would Do to Them What Hitler did

The Egyptian Sheikh Muhammad Al-Gamei’a, the Al-Azhar University representative in the U.S. and Imam of the Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque of New York City, was interviewed for the website www.lailatalqadr.com, an unofficial Al-Azhar University site, on October 4, 2001. Sheikh Gamei’a returned to Egypt after September 11 because he was being "harassed." Following are excerpts from the interview:

Q: "What was the situation of the Muslims before the incident (the September 11 attacks), and what are the negative ramifications for Muslims?"

Gamei’a: "Before the incident, the situation of Muslims was normal (in America). The federal government treated them normally… But after the incident, things deteriorated. All [commercial] activity with anyone found to be a Muslim or an Arab was immediately halted, and the federal bureaus stopped matters. Furthermore, he was thoroughly investigated, and asked: ‘Why did you come to America? What is your connection to Osama bin Laden? What do you know about the [Islamic] Jihad, Hamas, and Hizbullah organizations?’ Therefore, the Muslim feels imprisoned…" "Following the incident, Muslims and Arabs stopped feeling that it was safe to leave [their homes]… They stopped feeling that it was safe to send their wives to the market or their children to the schools. Muslims do not feel safe even going to the hospitals, because some Jewish doctors in one of the hospitals poisoned sick Muslim children, who then died."

Q: "The media has reported firing on mosques and harassment of Muslim women, and the situation has gotten so bad that Arabs are murdered in the streets. What about harassment you and your family have suffered?"

Gamei’a: "It’s true. The Muslims are being persecuted by the people and the federal government. This is the result of the bad image of Muslims created by the Zionist media, and of their presenting Islam as a religion of terrorism. That is why the Americans have linked the recent incidents to Islam. I personally have suffered; my home was attacked and my daughters were harassed."

Q: "What did you do about this harassment?"

Gamei’a: "When a group of people attacked my home, I went out to them and asked why they were doing this. They said that because we were Muslims we were linked to terrorism. I explained to them that what they were doing was uncivilized and was, in effect, a twofold crime, you let the criminals go free and attack innocents. This does not suit a modern state and a modern people, and is opposed to human values." "During my conversations with this group, it became clear to me that they knew very well that the Jews were behind these ugly acts, while we, the Arabs, were innocent, and that someone from among their people was disseminating corruption in the land. Although the Americans suspect that the Zionists are behind the act, none has the courage to talk about it in public."

Q: "Why can’t they talk about it? It’s their country, and the Jews are a minority."

Gamei’a: "When I asked them whether they had the courage to talk about it openly, they said: ‘We can’t.’ I asked why, and they said: ‘You know very well that the Zionists control everything and that they also control political decision-making, the big media organizations, and the financial and economic institutions. Anyone daring to say a word is considered an anti-Semite.’"

Q: "Does this mean that the Jewish element played a role in igniting the flame of fitna (internal strife)?"

Gamei’a: "The Jewish element is as Allah described it when he said: ‘They disseminate corruption in the land.’ We know that they have always broken agreements, unjustly murdered the prophets, and betrayed the faith. Can they be expected to live up to their contracts with us? These people murdered the prophets; do you think they will stop spilling our blood? No." "You see these people (i.e. the Jews) all the time, everywhere, disseminating corruption, heresy, homosexuality, alcoholism, and drugs. [Because of them] there are strip clubs, homosexuals, and lesbians everywhere. They do this to impose their hegemony and colonialism on the world." "Now, they are riding on the back of the world powers. These people always seek out the superpower of the generation and develop coexistence with it. Before this, they rode on the back of England and on the back of the French empire. After that, they rode on the back of Germany. But Hitler annihilated them because they betrayed him and violated their contract with him." "We saw these Zionists, just one hour after the event, broadcasting on the BBC, the biggest media channel, that the Arabs, and particularly the Palestinians, were celebrating and rejoicing over the American deaths. [To do this] they broadcast a video from 1991, [filmed] during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. But Allah thwarted them when a professor from a Brazilian university stated that the video was a forgery, because she had a copy of it. These people have a script prepared in advance, and they have the ability to fabricate events in their favor."

Q: "What was the reaction of the American people?"

Gamei’a: "Unfortunately, this incident made the American people hate everyone who is Muslim or Arab. What can you expect when you think, first off, that fifty thousand have died and the Arabs are celebrating? How would you feel as an American? Of course you’d want revenge. This is what the Jews plotted and planned. They used the Arabs to carry it out."

Q: "What proof could incriminate the Jews of involvement in this incident?"

Gamei’a: "All the signs indicate that the Jews have the most to gain from an explosion like that. They are the only ones capable of planning such acts. First of all, it was found that the automatic pilot was neutralized a few minutes before the flight, and the automatic pilot cannot be neutralized if you don’t have command of the control tower. Second, the black boxes were found to contain no information; you cannot erase the information from these boxes if you do not plan it ahead of time on the plane. Third, America has the most powerful intelligence apparatuses, the FBI and the CIA… How did [the perpetrators] manage to infiltrate America without their knowledge? Fourth, Jews control decision-making in the airports and in the sensitive centers in the White House and the Pentagon. Fifth, to date America has presented no proof incriminating Osama bin Laden and Al-Qa’ida." "If we take these things into account and look closely at the incident, we will find that only the Jews are capable of planning such an incident, because it was planned with great precision of which Osama bin Laden or any other Islamic organization or intelligence apparatus is incapable …" "I told the American officials that the American people cannot, at this critical stage, know the real enemy who struck at its heart if it does not awaken from its slumber and stop blaming the Arabs and the Muslims…"

Q: "What about the American president’s declarations that the war that the U.S. is waging is a crusade?"

Gamei’a: "Herein lies the danger. As President Bush said, this is a crusade against Islam and against Muslims, but the American people are innocent in this matter, because the war was planned falsely." "This war will destroy everything. This is [the kind of] war that the American president tried to avoid, when he [tried] to take back what he said. He went to the Islamic center in Washington and took back his words, but he did this only after he incited the souls and revealed what happened behind the scenes of American policy." "For this reason, I advise every Arab and every Muslim leader not to offer any aid whatsoever to the oppressing superpower [to help it] attack Muslims, because this is a betrayal of Allah and his Prophet…" "On the news in the U.S. it was said that four thousand Jews did not come to work at the World Trade Center on the day of the incident, and that the police arrested a group of Jews rejoicing in the streets at the time of the incident… This news item was hushed up immediately after it was broadcast… The Jews who control the media acted to hush it up so that the American people would not know. If it became known to the American people, they would have done to the Jews what Hitler did! …"

Continue…

From an outraged Reuters:

Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny in a news conference in Stockholm September 1, 2010.

Sweden reopens WikiLeaks founder rape investigation

By Simon Johnson And Patrick Lannin
September 1, 2010

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – A top Swedish prosecutor said on Wednesday she was reopening an investigation into rape allegations against Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing website WikiLeaks…

Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny said she decided to reopen the investigation after further review of the case.

"There is reason to believe that a crime has been committed. Considering information available at present, my judgment is that the classification of the crime is rape," Ny said in a statement on the Prosecution Authority’s website.

"More investigations are necessary before a final decision can be made," she added. She also said a preliminary investigation into charges of molestation would be expanded to sexual coercion and sexual molestation…

Curiouser and curiouser. In any case, we thought that the news of the rape case being dropped was suspicious.

After all, the media has told us for years that women never lie about rape.

From a deeply saddened Reuters:

Alaska Sen Murkowski upset by Tea Party-backed rival

By Yereth Rosen Wed Sep 1, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Senator Lisa Murkowski dropped out of the Republican Senate primary in Alaska on Tuesday, conceding to a Tea Party-backed insurgent in a stunning upset fueled by conservative supporters.

Joe Miller, a Fairbanks attorney who was heavily backed by former Alaska governor and potential 2012 presidential contender Sarah Palin, had a thin lead over Murkowski as the last ballots from the August 24 primary election were counted…

Again, this is the same Sarah Palin the media said was dead as a political force.

Murkowski becomes the seventh member of Congress, and the third senator, ousted amid anti-incumbent fervor fanned largely by a weak economy and the conservative Tea Party movement…

It is decidedly not an “anti-incumbent fervor.” It is a fervor for voting for the most conservative viable candidate in the race. It is an anti-liberal fervor.

Murkowski, the most senior Republican on the Senate Energy Committee, has been considered a moderate on several issues and a potential compromise vote on national climate legislation.

Which is to say that she was barely acceptable to our media masters.

Miller is on record as denying that human-caused emissions are responsible for climate change…

Which is to say he is a raving lunatic in the eyes of the ‘global warming’ cultists which comprise our watchdog media.

From a joyous Associated Press:

NY governor signs domestic worker rights bill

August 31, 2010

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. David Paterson has signed into law the nation’s first extensive domestic workers’ rights measure, saying it corrects historic injustices.

Now if only Mr. Paterson could correct the historic injustice of these people living here illegally and getting all of our country’s benefits without paying any of the costs.

The law will guarantee overtime pay for domestic workers, as well as time off and protections against sexual harassment.

There are an estimated 200,000 domestic workers in New York City. An advocacy groups [sic] claims there are frequent reports of spoken or physical abuse by employers, and two-thirds of the workers said they never received overtime pay…

Would it be cynical to wonder just how they will enforce this new law?

From the always quick to defend Associated Press:

AP source: Unlikely that 2 men plotting terror

By Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press Writer
August 31, 2010

WASHINGTON – The FBI probe of two men arrested in Amsterdam after suspicious items turned up in one of the men’s luggage is finding they were probably not on a test run for a future terror attack, a U.S. official said Tuesday, casting doubt on earlier suggestions even as Dutch authorities held the pair on suspicion of conspiring to commit a terrorist act.

The U.S. does not expect to charge the men, a law enforcement official said. The two men arrested in Amsterdam — both traveling to Yemen — did not know each other and were not traveling together, a U.S. government official said.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the investigation…

Because it is important for the AP to get this out quickly, to avoid the dreaded anti-Muslim ‘backlash.’

Both of the detained men missed flights to Dulles International Airport from Chicago, and United Airlines then booked them on the same flight to Amsterdam, the U.S. government official said. The men were sitting near each other on the flight, but not together.

The men were not on any U.S. terror watch lists, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNN Tuesday.

Case closed, then.

When Customs officials discovered one passenger was not on the flight from Dulles to Dubai, they called the plane back to the gate and removed his luggage. It was then they discovered suspicious items in his bag, a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and box cutter, according to another U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation…

But nothing suspicious, like hair conditioner or baby formula.

By the way, Pepto-Bismol contains an X-ray dense material, bismuth subsalycylate. Which might shield X-ray scanners from picking up anything taped to it.

A U.S. official identified the men as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezam al Murisi…

Again, there is nothing about their names that should arouse suspicion.

Al Soofi was questioned by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration as he went through security in Birmingham, Ala., Sunday on his way to Chicago, one of the officials said. He told the authorities he was carrying a lot of cash. Screeners found $7,000 on him, but he was not breaking any law by carrying that much money. It is not unusual for people to carry large amounts of cash when they travel to Third World countries.

Of course not.

Al Soofi was supposed to fly from Chicago to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia and then on to Dubai, one of the officials said. But when he got to Chicago, he changed his travel plans to take a direct flight to Amsterdam, while his luggage went on to Virginia.

On international flights, passengers and their luggage must be headed toward the same destination, according to U.S. policy.

Al Murisi also changed his travel plans in Chicago to take a direct flight to Amsterdam, raising suspicion among U.S. officials. Federal Air marshals were on the flight from Chicago to Amsterdam, a law enforcement official said.

It was obviously just a coincidence that both of these gentlemen sent their baggage on alone on another flight. What harm could there be in that? Why is everyone so suspicious?

The men were arrested Monday morning at Schiphol Airport after getting off a United Airlines flight from Chicago. Under Dutch law, the men can be held without charges for up to six days. No charges have been filed against the men in the U.S., a law enforcement official said…

Certainly not. Not under Mr. Holder’s Justice Department.

By the way, note the conspicuous absence of any mention of these two bravos religious persuasion.

From Al Jazeera, via MEMRI:

Muslim US Serviceman Nasser Abdo Talks to Al-Jazeera TV about His Refusal to Deploy to Afghanistan

Muslim U.S. Serviceman Nasser Abdo Talks to Al-Jazeera TV from Fort Campbell about His Refusal to Deploy to Afghanistan

August 31, 2010

Following are excerpts from an Al-Jazeera TV report about Muslim U.S. soldier Nasser Abdo, who has refused to be deployed to Afghanistan. The report aired on August 21, 2010, and included clips of Abdo praying in his home while wearing his Army camouflage uniform. According to the report, his wife in Canada runs a website to raise money for Abdo’s legal campaign, and he has retained a lawyer.

"This Muslim Soldier is Refusing to be Sent with His Unit because … as a Muslim He is Forbidden to Kill Muslims"

We certainly have seen a lot of proof of this.

Reporter: "The Muslim U.S. soldier Nasser Abdo prays five times a day where he lives near the Fort Campbell base in Kentucky, from where some 5,000 soldiers are to be sent to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s plan, which strives to eliminate the Taliban. Abdo’s fellow soldiers are preparing for deployment to Afghanistan soon, according to their orders. But this Muslim soldier is refusing to be sent with his unit, because, he exclaims, as a Muslim he is forbidden to kill Muslims."

Nasser Abdo: "I don’t believe I can involve myself in an army that wages war against Muslims. I don’t believe I could sleep at night if I take part, in any way, in the killing of a Muslim."

Does Mr. Abdo ever read the newspapers or watch the evening news?

Reporter: "Nasser says that he has chosen to live his life according to the teachings of Islam. Therefore, he has requested – in accordance with U.S. law – to be discharged from service, because this runs counter to the teachings of his religion. But he says that his commanders have been procrastinating, and to this day, have not given him a clear answer. He has decided not to go to Afghanistan, even though he knows that he might face two years in prison."

Nasser Abdo: "They haven’t processed my packet at all. I even heard from my unity commander that they lost my military record. I can’t deploy with my unit to Afghanistan and participate in the war – I can’t both deploy and be a Muslim."

"Army sources Told Al-Jazeera TV that the Serviceman Nasser would Not be Sent to Afghanistan within the Next Few Days"

Reporter: "The armed command at Fort Campbell issued a written statement in response to our questions regarding the case of serviceman Nasser Abdo, according to which the U.S. army recognizes that a soldier’s religious beliefs may change over time. It said, however, that discharge is an administrative procedure that takes six months.

"Army sources told Al-Jazeera TV that the serviceman Nasser would not be sent to Afghanistan within the next few days, and that his application was under review, but the final decision whether to send him to Afghanistan or not was up to his direct commander in Fort Campbell. For his part, serviceman Nasser Abdo expects to get his deployment orders at any moment.

"It is a military secret, and therefore serviceman Nasser Abdo cannot tell us when his unit will be headed to Afghanistan. It will, however, be soon, and Abdo will not be with them. He will, apparently, be facing a prison sentence.

"He has one lawyer, and his wife from Canada runs a website to raise money to finance his defense. The family of serviceman Nasser Abdo is preparing for a lengthy and bitter legal battle.

"This is Nasser Hussein, Al-Jazeera TV, from Kentucky."

Mr. Abdo should be headed to prison for giving comfort to the enemy.

From an outraged New York Times:

Why Wall St. Is Deserting Obama

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
August 30, 2010

Daniel S. Loeb, the hedge fund manager, was one of Barack Obama’s biggest backers in the 2008 presidential campaign…

So it came as quite a surprise on Friday, when Mr. Loeb sent a letter to his investors that sounded as if he were preparing to join Glenn Beck in Washington over the weekend.

Boy, has Mr. Beck gotten under their collective skin.

“As every student of American history knows, this country’s core founding principles included nonpunitive taxation, constitutionally guaranteed protections against persecution of the minority and an inexorable right of self-determination,” he wrote. “Washington has taken actions over the past months, like the Goldman suit that seem designed to fracture the populace by pulling capital and power from the hands of some and putting it in the hands of others.”

Over the weekend, the letter, with quotations from Thomas Jefferson, Ronald Reagan and President Obama, was forwarded around the circles of the moneyed elite, from the Hamptons to Silicon Valley. Mr. Loeb’s jeremiad illustrates how some of the president’s former friends on Wall Street and in business now feel about Washington.

Mr. Loeb isn’t the first Wall Streeter to turn on the president. Steven A. Cohen, founder of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors and a supporter of the Obama campaign, recently held a meeting with Republican candidates in his home in Greenwich, Conn., to strategize about the midterm elections, according to Absolute Return magazine.

Other onetime supporters, like Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, also feel burned by the Obama administration, people close to him say…

Less than two years ago, Democrats received 70 percent of the donations from Wall Street; since June, when the financial regulation bill was nearing passage, Republicans were receiving 68 percent of the donations, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group…

The prevailing view is that bankers, hedge fund mangers and traders supported the Obama candidacy because he appealed to their egos.

Mr. Obama was viewed as a member of the elite, an Ivy League graduate (Columbia, class of ’83, the same as Mr. Loeb), president of The Harvard Law Review — he was supposed to be just like them. President Obama was the “intelligent” choice, the same way they felt about themselves. They say that they knew he would seek higher taxes and tighter regulation; that was O.K. What they say they did not realize was that they were going to be painted as villains.

Somehow these brainiacs didn’t know that Columbia and Harvard graduate a lot of Communists.

That Wall Street view of itself as a victim has prompted much of the private murmurings and the unfortunate — or worse — outburst from Stephen A. Schwarzman, who likened the administration’s plan for taxes on private equity to “when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.” Mr. Schwarzman later apologized for the “inappropriate analogy.” …

Mr. Loeb’s views, irrespective of their validity, point to a bigger problem for the economy: If business leaders have a such a distrust of government, they won’t invest in the country. And perception is becoming reality…

Gosh, where did they ever get that crazy “perception”?

Mr. Loeb, whose poison pen is legendary, usually targets obstinate corporate managers or rivals..

In his letter to investors, he took issue with a number of Washington initiatives, including the Credit Card Act of 2009 and a proposed “enterprise tax” that would be levied on hedge fund managers who sell their firms.

“So long as our leaders tell us that we must trust them to regulate and redistribute our way back to prosperity, we will not break out of this economic quagmire,” Mr. Loeb wrote…

What a wild-eyed radical.

No wonder The Times compared him to Glenn Beck.

From a gobsmacked Gallup:

GOP Takes Unprecedented 10-Point Lead on Generic Ballot

Republicans also maintain wide gap in enthusiasm about voting

by Frank Newport
August 30, 2010

PRINCETON, NJ — Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP’s largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup’s history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress.

These results are based on aggregated data from registered voters surveyed Aug. 23-29 as part of Gallup Daily tracking. This marks the fifth week in a row in which Republicans have held an advantage over Democrats — one that has ranged between 3 and 10 points.

The Republican leads of 6, 7, and 10 points this month are all higher than any previous midterm Republican advantage in Gallup’s history of tracking the generic ballot, which dates to 1942. Prior to this year, the highest such gap was five points, measured in June 2002 and July 1994. Elections in both of these years resulted in significant Republican gains in House seats…

November really could make history. And it better.

It’s November or never.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson violated rules, steered scholarships to relatives

By TODD J. GILLMAN and CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
Monday, August 30, 2010

Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide’s two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers’ causes.

The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member’s district.

Johnson, a Democrat, denied any favoritism when asked about the scholarships last week. Two days later, she acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she had violated the rules but said she had done so "unknowingly" and would work with the foundation to "rectify the financial situation."

Initially, she said, "I recognized the names when I saw them. And I knew that they had a need just like any other kid that would apply for one." Had there been more "very worthy applicants in my district," she added, "then I probably wouldn’t have given it" to the relatives…

The foundation – which is supported by private and corporate donations, not taxpayer money – provides $10,000 annually for each member of the Congressional Black Caucus to award in scholarships. Each gets to decide how many ways to split the money and whether to create a judging panel, choose personally or delegate the task.

What a shock to see corruption going on at the Congressional Black Caucus.

Johnson, a former chairwoman of the caucus who has served on the board that oversees the foundation, said she wasn’t fully aware of the program rules and emphasized that she didn’t "personally benefit."

Ms. Johnson oversees the foundation, but didn’t know the rules. She sounds like the epitome of a Democrat Congressperson.

"… If it was a secret or if I was trying to hide it, I wouldn’t have done it," she said…

Yes, she is a poster child for the Democrat Party.

The program "operates on an honor system," so the foundation hadn’t known that money went to Johnson’s relatives, she said…

In other words, the foundation had no idea what money went where. What a surprise.

Johnson awarded nine to 11 scholarships a year from 2005 to 2008, the most recent years for which information was available. Each of those years, three or four winners were related to her or her district director, Rod Givens…

The foundation asks applicants to certify that they aren’t related to those associated with the caucus or the foundation, but it does not specify which relationships that includes.

Scholarships have gone to two of the congresswoman’s grandsons, Kirk and David Johnson; to two of her great-nephews, Gregory and Preston Moore; and to Givens’ son and daughter…

Well, Ms. Johnson said she recognized the names.

The latest musing from the ‘Imam’ behind the Ground Zero Mosque, via Abu Dhabi’s National Newspaper:

There is no struggle between Islam and America, imam says

Kareem Shaheen
August 30. 2010

ABU DHABI // The imam behind a controversial plan to build an interfaith centre near the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York said yesterday that there was no struggle between Islam and America, or between religions, but between moderates and radicals.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said opposition to the project was being led by a “tiny, vociferous minority” but he trusted the wisdom of Americans to act in the spirit of the US constitution.

So nearly 70% of Americans is now a “tiny, vociferous minority”?

In an interview with The National, Imam Feisal emphasized the silver lining uncovered in the furore as leaders of all faiths have come out in support of the project. Muslims in the Middle East, he said, could witness how freedom of worship and the protection of all religious viewpoints were enshrined as core principles of the American worldview.

Imam Feisal said he intends to address the row over the plans to build the community centre when he returns to the United States this week.

He is on a US State Department-sponsored visit to Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE as part of a programme to promote interfaith dialogue and to discuss the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world and Islam in America.

He has made little public comment about the Park51 project – formerly known as Cordoba House – in recent weeks as the debate was propelled onto the national stage, with Republican leaders such as Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich speaking against it, and the New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, offering passionate support.

Some opponents of Park51 say the location of the project is insensitive, while others say it would be a monument to the attacks, essentially conflating Islam and extremism. But proponents argue that the centre would be a conduit to inter-faith dialogue.

Imam Feisal , an imam in the area for 27 years, said the struggle “is not between Muslims and non-Muslims, but between moderates of all the faith traditions and the radicals of all the faith traditions. So what is required is a coalition.”

According to his wife, Daisy Khan, Mr. Rauf is merely a freelance, amateur ‘Imam.’ He is actually a real estate developer (and slum lord) by profession.

Christian and Jewish leaders have spoken in support of the project, he said, and are in favour of positive, interfaith discourse.

“However, there are also those very small, loud and vociferous voices who are beating the drum for the opposite kind of discourse. So the question becomes which discourse will dominate, not only in the short term but in the long term.”

He suggested that part of the opposition was politically motivated.

“There is no doubt that the election season has had a major impact upon the nature of the discourse,” he said.

It is painfully clear that whatever Mr. Feisal is, he is certainly no bridge builder.

Opposing or supporting the centre has evolved into a campaign issue ahead of congressional midterm elections in the US in November.

The project’s creators have also been criticised for not effectively participating in the media debate over the centre, but Imam Feisal rejected that criticism.

“We have been saying from the very beginning what the vision and objectives are. I’ve said it repeatedly on many television shows,” he said, adding that religious and political leaders have also spoken forcefully about the merits of the project.

“But, as I said, there is a small minority that doesn’t want to hear this.

Again, the opposition is a vast majority. But even if it weren’t, whatever happened to the rights of the minority?

And speaking of small minorities, practitioners of Islam make up .06% of the American populace. They are less than 1% of the population, and yet look at all of the provisions that have been made for them – out of sensitivity to their ‘religion.’

Perhaps we should just ignore their complaints from now on.

“The fact of the matter is the local community board recognises and understands the vision, the politicians in New York understand the vision, and there is broad-based support for these objectives.”

Again, Mr. Rauf seems quite estranged from the truth.

When asked about whether he would have chosen a different location for the project if he knew in advance about the controversy, Imam Feisal said the Prophet Mohammad instructed Muslims not to dwell on past decisions and wonder about alternative outcomes.

What a shameless dissembler the man is. We know for a fact that he purposefully chose the location as “iconic.” We also know that he knew it would cause controversy.

Imam Feisal said he plans to address the controversy directly when he returns to the US, saying he preferred to do it “when I’m in my homeland and speaking to my people and my fellow Americans”.

We wonder if Mr. Rauf has ever been naturalized. It is not mentioned in any of his very extensive online biographies.

“As it is, my trust and conviction in the wisdom of the American people and political leadership and the American people at large is that they will act in accordance with the highest principles of our constitution and the fundamental American belief in justice and protection of everybody’s rights,” he said.

The imam said that religion is enmeshed in American life, and the Arab and Muslim world must realise that protection of religious freedom is part of the “American creed”.

What utter claptrap. Everyone knows this has nothing to do with ‘religious freedom,’ and everything to do with being sensitive to the community. – A phrase long favored by people like Mr. Feisal.

The inalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, endowed by the Creator and laid out in the US Declaration of Independence, are “a very deeply embedded vision … in the American people. This particular existential viewpoint and foundational viewpoint of America is exactly what Islam is.

What a bastardization of the language of the Declaration of Independence. It is clear that Mr. Feisal is willing to misrepresent anything.

“America was created by people who fled Europe seeking religious freedom and religious liberty. So it is an essential part of the American worldview and creed, that religious liberty is a fundamental protected right,” he said, adding that the role of government is to protect all religions.

“This is something which I believe the Muslim world insufficiently appreciates about America. I’d like to see them understand that better, recognise that better. And recognise that in that is a value which lies at the very core of the Quranic value,” he said.

The imam also spoke of an “evolving American Islamic identity”, and the need to avoid equating Islam with extremism, a concern that “has been going on for quite some time now”.

“And this is why it is important, the issue of radicalism is a threat to all of us. We have radicals in the Muslim world and we have radicals in the other faith traditions as well.”

Really? Perhaps Mr. Feisal could name a few.

“The radicals feed off each other and need each other to sustain themselves. So we need right now to combat the radical voices. That’s the only way we can win this struggle, and establish a peaceful world order, which is what everybody wants and everybody needs.”

“We are evolving an American Islamic identity, and the struggles we are going through today are of the same genre as what the previous faith communities had to face – Jewish immigrants, Catholic immigrants had to face even worse attacks against their communities,” he said.

Yes, everyone remembers how the Jews and Catholics were constantly blowing things up in an effort to impose their system of religious laws on the rest of us.

“But as time goes on and as the second generation establishes itself and is rooted in the United States they articulate an expression of who we are as Americans and to be seen decreasingly as alien and being local.”

That goal is being strengthened through the increased presence of Muslims in fields such as law enforcement and government, as well in more traditional occupations such as dentistry or driving a cab.

“In perceptions between the Muslim world or the Arab Muslim world and the United States in particular, it is an ongoing picture, it is dynamic,” he said.

“There are issues and events which take place that shape people’s perceptions in both directions, whether positively or negatively.”

Mind you, we taxpayers are paying Mr. Rauf to spread this dangerous nonsense.

From Bloomberg:

BP Said to Fault Own Engineers for Misinterpreting Well Data

By Joe Carroll – Aug 30, 2010

BP Plc’s internal investigation of the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster pins some of the blame on the company for mistakes made when finishing the oil well, including misreading pressure data that indicated a blowout was imminent, according to a person familiar with the report.

BP managers aboard the Transocean Ltd.-owned rig misinterpreted a test of the Macondo well’s stability on April 20, deciding the test confirmed the well was in good shape, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the report’s findings haven’t been publicly released.

So how could more strict government regulation and oversight have prevented the misreading of data? How can you regulate against human error?

Doesn’t this once again show that Mr. Obama’s ‘moratorium’ on offshore drilling has nothing to do with the BP accident, and everything to do with trying to stop oil drilling in our country?

That positive interpretation of the test data cleared the way for rig workers to begin replacing drilling fluid in the well, which is heavier than oil and natural gas, with seawater.

The seawater was too light to prevent natural gas that had begun leaking into the well from shooting up the pipe to the rig, where it exploded and killed 11 workers…

A federal investigative panel comprised of U.S. Coast Guard officers and Interior Department regulators has focused on how BP employees aboard the rig and in Houston failed to detect signals that the well was about to erupt.

The probe also has questioned why BP engineer John Guide, the team leader overseeing the project, disregarded warnings of a potential blowout from contractor Halliburton Co…

Oh, the irony.

The 200-page report was compiled by a team of BP investigators led by Mark Bly, the London-based company’s head of safety and operations. The report concluded BP bears at least partial responsibility for the incident that led to the largest oil spill in U.S. history, the person said…

It is not the largest oil spill in US history.

Speaking of misreading data.

From Iran’s Press TV:

Iran discovers 13 oil fields in 1 year

Mon Aug 30, 2010

Iran has discovered 13 new oil and gas fields with in-place reserves of 14 billion barrels of oil and 45 trillion cubic feet of natural gas within the past 12 months.

The Islamic Republic has also exported around 2,200,600 barrels of oil per day in the past year, according to a report published on the Oil Ministry’s SHANA news agency.

The report added that Iran’s revenue from oil exports during the past year reached $69.1 billion.

Lest we forget, there are still no sanctions on Iran’s oil export industry.

Earlier this year, National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) director of exploration Mahmoud Mohaddes announced plans to explore new reserves of 500 million barrels of oil and 5 trillion cubic feet of gas per year during a five year plan…

No moratoriums for them.

But where are the environmentalists?