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Selected News For Oct 17 – Oct 23

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post articles that demonstrate the distortions and biases of our establishment media.

To make the articles as readable as possible, please stick to the format described here.

  • Only post ‘hard news’ from establishment media outlets.
  • Avoid editorials and ‘thought pieces,’ unless they are truly newsworthy.
  • Eschew ‘major news’ items that most people will likely have seen elsewhere.
  • Articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted as a comment there.

  • Post only as little as is necessary from the original article.

Posts of articles that do not follow these guidelines are susceptible to being edited or deleted.

Related Articles:

 

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

105 Responses to “Selected News For Oct 17 – Oct 23”

  1. beautyofreason
    October 17, 2009 at 12:32 am

    BBC critiques Geert Wilders, ignores UK protesters threatening him:

    The Right to Offend? by Gavin Hewitt

    Geert Wilders is not important in himself. Neither is his 17-minute film on Islam. His party has nine seats in the Dutch parliament. But he is a figure around which an important argument can be had; namely on the limits of free speech in a democracy.

    Wilders dislikes the Koran. He believes some of its texts encourage hatred and would like them removed. He sees Islam as “in opposition to freedom”. Some Muslims are deeply offended by his views.

    On the question of whether he should be allowed into Britain the judges had to consider whether his opinions would provoke violence but they concluded that “it was more important to allow free speech than to take restrictive action speculatively”.

    (…) Sometimes it is a fine judgment as to whether exercising the right to offend stirs up hatred and violence too.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/the.....vinhewitt/

    The BBC posted a large image of Wilders picking his nose at the top of the page. Yet NO mention is made of the elephant in the room: 20 Islamic protesters who gathered to call for the Islamic execution of Wilders and for Shariah law in Europe. Signs included “Islam will dominate the world, freedom can go to hell.” For that piece of tolerant speech, you have to go to the Daily Mail:

    Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders faces Muslim protest after arriving in the UK

    Right-wing politician Geert Wilders finally arrived in Britain yesterday to be greeted by angry protests from radical Muslims.

    The Dutch MP overturned a Government ban to arrive for a brief visit guarded by a heavy police presence.

    He had been barred in February amid fears he would incite violence by showing his controversial film linking the Koran to terrorism.

    (…)

    A crowd of around 20 Muslim men chanted ‘Wilders go to hell’ and ‘Sharia for the UK’ . They held up placards reading ‘Shariah for the Netherlands’ and ‘Islam will be superior’.

    Protester Abu Mousa said: ‘What he says deserves the death sentence under Islam.’

    Sayful Islam, said he wanted to see Mr Wilders ‘tried in an Islamic court’ for ‘insulting the Prophet’.

    He added: ‘We need to put this dog on a leash.’

    Mr Wilders said: ‘I am very proud that people – even if they totally disagree with me – can use their democratic right to protest.

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ppeal.html

    So if you threaten to kill someone, you must be “deeply offended.” But if you criticize those same marauders, you are branded inane and bigoted. Such is the fate of the sane.

    • Petronius
      October 18, 2009 at 3:29 pm

      Click on the link to the Daily Mail and look at these photos.

      These are must see photos. See photos for a glimpse at the coming civil war. See them for a glimpse of the suicide of the West, and of the Liberal Death Wish in all of its glory.

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....ppeal.html

      Here in these photos we see England and the Netherlands slipping into a nightmare world, into oblivion, with America following closely behind.

    • proreason
      October 18, 2009 at 4:38 pm

      Europe defeated Islam when it didn’t have 10 times the military capability as it does today. In those genes is a warrior culture like the world has never seen.

      Any country in Europe, including the Netherlands, could arm itself and defeat all of Islam combined in less that a year.

      It’s just a question of will. And that will was seriously sapped by WWI and WWII.

      Will Europe walk away from the 10 millenia advancement of the human race and condemn their children to lives of barbarism?

      I don’t think so.

      But they sure are acting like it.

      PS: my hunch is that we will see some European leaders with backbones become very vocal and powerful in the next few years. And the cure might be bad, but in this case, it certainly won’t be worse than the disease.

  2. canary
    October 17, 2009 at 6:57 am

    After a year of waiting new vests for troops (after the millions weres sent back) may also not be suitable. This is unacceptable incompetance .

    AP: US investigators fault Army body armor tests
    By RICHARD LARDNER Oct 16 2009

    (AP:WASHINGTON) The Government Accountability Office report says the Army deviated from established testing standards and concludes that several of the designs that passed would have failed had the tests been done properly.

    The Army has ordered about 240,000 of the new type of bullet-blocking plate to be used in ballistic vests, but doesn’t plan to rush the armor into combat.

    In a lengthy response to the GAO report, Defense Department officials reject the call for an outside look. The officials acknowledge there were a few problems during testing of the bullet-blocking plates. But these were minor miscues, they said, that don’t shake their confidence in the overall results.

    Given the military’s opposition to an external review by ballistics experts, the GAO says Congress should decide whether such a step is necessary.

    In a letter sent Friday, Reps. Neil Abercrombie, a Demcrat, and Roscoe Bartlett, a Republican, urged Army Secretary John McHugh to follow the GAO’s recommendations.

    Abercrombie is chairman of the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee; Bartlett is the panel’s top Republican.

    The GAO report is the latest study to call into question the Army’s ability to oversee the production of a key piece of battlefield equipment.

    In January, the Pentagon’s inspector general faulted the Army for not properly overseeing a series of tests on an earlier model of the protective plates at a private ballistics laboratory.

    Stung by the inspector general’s conclusions, Army officials dismissed the private laboratories they’d long relied upon for the tests and said they would do the vital job themselves at a military testing facility northeast of Washington.

    In their letter to McHugh, Abercrombie and Bartlett said the move may have been “premature.” They want him to review why the Army would exclude independent, private laboratories, which are certified by the National Institute of Justice, from the testing.

    The testing at issue took place last year. Companies that passed were awarded contracts potentially worth $8 billion to manufacture an improved plate design.

    On the Net:Army: http://www.army.mil/

    http://news.ino.com/headlines/.....6768817600

  3. canary
    October 17, 2009 at 7:10 am

    UPI: WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday the Bush administration never sent enough troops to Afghanistan to defeat the al-Qaida and the Taliban.

    In an interview with CNN, Clinton said President George W. Bush and his top advisers were unrealistic about Afghanistan from the invasion in late 2001. She said after skimping on the size of the U.S. force in 2001, the administration then dropped the ball by shifting its focus to Iraq.

    Karl Rove, Bush’s former top political adviser, defended the administration earlier this week in an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” He said if military leaders on the ground in Afghanistan had wanted more troops they would have been supplied.

    http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US.....255722528/

    Whatever, but Bush had them under control, Obama and Hillary stepped into control, and taliban and al-quaida grew ten fold. Bold beech.

    • 11ten1775
      October 17, 2009 at 7:40 am

      I don’t recall Hillary pushing for more troops in 2001. She was supportive of Bush’s plan back then. But only Democrats are allowed the benefit of hindsight. Not that we necessarily needed more troops. Honestly, I’m still not convinced we need them now. If they changed the stupid ROE and actually tried to debilitate the Taliban, we could get it done in short order. Sure, we’d have to go back and do it again in a decade or two, but that’s fine. That’s how we need to fight these guys. Back in June, all McChrystal and Nicholson could talk about is drinking tea and eating goat meat with the locals, and look where it got us. The U.S. body count is 28 this month – so far.

    • Liberals Demise
      October 17, 2009 at 9:13 am

      ‘Hearts and Minds’ my ass!
      Samey same mistake as was taken in ‘Nam. You don’t make Peace in the middle of a WAR. Last time I checked we was still having hot lead slung our way.

      Remove the R.O.E. and let the warriors do their jobs. My God…….they don’t want to be there any longer than they have to but playing games F%*&s up the whole ball of wax!

      “Get off your arse Barry and and do something about the Generals’ request. Our warriors lives are depending on it!” (unpresidential)

  4. canary
    October 17, 2009 at 7:20 am

    AP: Obama administration shifting policy on Sudan
    By Matthew Lee Oct 17 2009

    WASHINGTON – In a new effort to engage the government of Sudan, U.S. officials say the White House will shift its policy toward Khartoum, but they warn that the violence and humanitarian abuses in Darfur must stop.

    Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, and the administration’s special Sudan envoy, Scott Gration, are to unveil the policy Monday

    The officials spoke late Friday on condition of anonymity because Congress has not yet been briefed on the matter.

    The announcement is planned to show unity within the Obama administration. Rice and Gration have notoriously clashed over engaging with the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity and war crimes for allegedly masterminding deadly attacks throughout Darfur.

    Instead, the new policy is designed to bring Khartoum into the fold by offering incentives for improved relations for improvements in the situation in Darfur as well as in southern Sudan,

    The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum, claiming discrimination and neglect.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....FkbWluaXM-

    Obama is going to save the world adding to cost problems. America will sound be the neglected, impoverished.

  5. Paul
    October 17, 2009 at 7:53 am

    Nice arms on those Michelle Obama dolls!
    Three new action figures feature the first lady in her signature dresses
    By Laura T. Coffey
    TODAYShow.com contributor
    updated 5:32 p.m. ET Oct. 15, 2009

    Michelle Obama has garnered heaps of media coverage for her fashion sense, her smile, her charm, her buff arms. And now, just in time for the Christmas shopping rush, the magic that is Michelle is being captured in 6-inch-high likenesses made from phthalate-free PVC.

    Three new Michelle Obama action figures — masterminded by the same folks at Jailbreak Toys who created Barack Obama action figures during the presidential campaign — show the first lady wearing some of her signature dresses:

    The purple dress she wore during that memorable “fist bump” moment after her husband clinched the Democratic presidential nomination.
    The red and black dress she wore on election night.
    The black and white dress she wore on “The View” during the campaign.

    http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/.....ite_house/

    Isn’t it so exciting!

    • Liberals Demise
      October 17, 2009 at 9:20 am

      I also enjoyed the ‘doggie’ Obama T shirt and offer to buy an Obama ‘Patriotic’ thong to show your spirit.

      The mental picture made me almost hurl my S.O.S breakfast on the ‘puter.

  6. 11ten1775
    October 17, 2009 at 8:20 am

    New DOD photo rules prompt outcry
    Politico

    Josh Gerstein – Thu Oct 15, 6:29 pm ET

    U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan are retreating somewhat from an effort to ban embedded journalists from publishing photos or video of American soldiers killed in action there, according to ground rules issued Thursday.

    But the new limitations on embeds – put in place after a flap between the Pentagon and the Associated Press over a photo of a wounded soldier – have elicited deep concerns from military journalists and press advocates.

    “It’s punishment for war photographers. They’re saying if you want access, you have to play by our rules. And our rules are this — the public will NOT see dead U.S. soldiers,” the executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Lucy Dalglish, said in an email. “For thorough reporting on Afghanistan, I guess we’re just going to have to rely on unembedded reporters running around on their own — posing a danger to themselves as well as the troops they’re trying to cover. It’s a trade-off. It’s very unfortunate.”

    Ground rules issued Sept. 15 by the U.S. military’s regional command for Eastern Afghanistan imposed a strict ban on any imagery of American personnel killed in the fight.

    “Media will not be allowed to photograph or record video of U.S. personnel killed in action,” the earlier rules said.

    However, after inquiries and protests from news organizations and journalism groups, the command based at Bagram Air Base near Kabul modified the policy on Thursday.

    “Media will not be prohibited from viewing or filming casualties; however, casualty photographs showing recognizable face, nametag or other identifying feature or item will not be published,” the new rules declare.

    “This change better synchronizes [our] ground rules with those of our higher headquarters,” a statement issued by the military public affairs office at Bagram said.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/28348

    Lucy, have you ever considered the idea that the public might not WANT to see dead U.S. soldiers? And it’s great that she makes it clear that reporters are absolutely willing to endanger U.S. troops in order to photograph dead ones. But, you know, it’s a “trade-off.” Much more important to do the bidding of the anti-war leftists – the ones who claim to care the most about our troops but always seem to fall short of not wanting them to die.

    • Paul
      October 17, 2009 at 8:56 am

      What better source for the Taliban and al Qaeda to get great propoganda photos than from our own media. Nothing helps your recruitment like photos of your dead enemy. Thanks “journalists”!

    • Liberals Demise
      October 17, 2009 at 9:28 am

      The world that Jane Fonda use to rule (alone) is getting somewhat crowded with more asshats like this.
      Maybe dingleBarry could make a ‘It’s Bushes fault’ speech at the first annual “American Traitors” get together. He should know everyone there on a first name basis.

  7. Laree
    October 17, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    Sheriff Joe Arpaio, under attack from the Federal Government for doing his job.

    Phoenix Arizona Kidnapping Capitol of the U.S.A. Homeland security playing politics with American’s safety?

    http://youhavetobethistalltogo.....ol-of.html

  8. Rusty Shackleford
    October 17, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    Obama says insurers running bogus and deceptive ads

    From the drooling slaveys at the AP:

    Obama praises Senate committee’s health care vote

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer Darlene Superville, Associated Press Writer – Sat Oct 17, 12:25 pm ET

    WASHINGTON – Pushing back against his critics, President Barack Obama says overhauling the health care system, while helping millions of people, also will test whether policy makers can “serve the national interest despite the unrelenting efforts of the special interests.”

    The administration is trying to build momentum for the president’s overhaul effort after the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 vote this week for a bill that would extend health care coverage to millions of people. One Republican, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, supported the bill, and the measure faces considerable opposition from the health care industry, labor unions and large business organizations.

    “The history is clear: For decades rising health care costs have unleashed havoc on families, businesses and the economy,” the president said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address. “And for decades, whenever we have tried to reform the system, the insurance companies have done everything in their considerable power to stop us.”

    The health insurance industry released a study earlier this week concluding that the Finance Committee bill — one of five competing House and Senate health care measures — would raise premiums significantly for millions of people who already have health coverage.

    The report drew intense criticism from the White House, congressional Democrats and other advocates of the bill who deemed the study a last-ditch effort to sway public opinion against the White House-backed measure.

    Obama said he would not abide “those who would bend the truth or break it to score political points and stop our progress as a country.” He accused the industry of “filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads,” sending money and lobbyists to Capitol Hill and paying for studies “designed to mislead the American people.”

    OK, so let’s talk about the word “crisis”, as in “housing crisis”, or for that matter, studies that mislead the American people, like that globalclimatewarmingchange that refers to a completely slanted “study” where the original data is (strangely) nonexistent, yet you support it. And let’s also talk about the real reason why healthcare costs rise, like frivolous lawsuits and that insurance companies are prohibited from engaging in interstate commerce, things like that.

    And as far as “bending or breaking the truth to score political points”, well. That, Barry, is just too sublime a statement for words.

    And, our progress as a nation stopped the day you set foot in the office. Actually, a little bit before. You criminal.

  9. Paul
    October 17, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    The Obama-Dubya Connection
    Obama is a lot more like Bush 43 than anyone involved—including Obama and Bush 43—would readily admit.
    By Jon Meacham | NEWSWEEK

    The common wisdom—a phrase 41 uses more often than “conventional wisdom”—is that Obama is an heir of 41’s style, particularly in the diplomatic realm. The storyline is clear: Obama is more like George W. Bush’s father than George W. Bush ever was.

    Like Bush 41, Obama seems temperamentally incapable of extremism. Now, since the foregoing sentence will make conservatives’ heads explode, here is a final point likely to drive liberals to distraction: from Guantánamo to the bailout of the financial system to antiterror tactics, Barack Obama is a lot more like George W. Bush (or at least the George W. Bush of his later years in office) than almost anybody involved—including, I suspect, Obama or Bush 43—would readily admit. At their best, both of them have worked to govern as presidents, not as partisans, which is the way good men have always conducted themselves in that office.

    Obama—”The President,” in Bush 41’s formulation—will always be shouted at and about. But remembering that he, like his predecessors, is working within commonly accepted political boundaries may help put the shouting in context.

    So now that Obama’s favorable rating is going down the toilet, the new liberal strategy is to compare him to George W. Bush and see if that works.

    • proreason
      October 17, 2009 at 5:51 pm

      “incapable of extremism”

      Bullshit.

      The guy is the most extreme public figure in US history.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 17, 2009 at 9:19 pm

      Let’s see, he’s “been” Lincoln and the last Kennedy brother. Now he’s a Bush? Guess if he’s more like Bush Sr, he really CAN blame everything on “W”….come to think of it. Why, it’s brilllllllliant!

      (sarcasm)

      Chalk and cheese, mates. Chalk and cheese.

    • pdsand
      October 19, 2009 at 7:38 pm

      I know a great deal of democrats who swear that they are independents. But they’ll never vote for a Republican because…

      I hate to break it to them. You’re not an independent you’re a democrat.

      The same thing applies to Obama. If your motto 24/7 is that you want to discuss the issue and look at the facts before rushing to judgement, but after looking at the facts and discussing the issue you always reach the liberal conclusion, then you’re not a moderate, you’re a liberal. And an extremist one at that.

  10. canary
    October 17, 2009 at 10:49 pm

    FOX NEWS:GretaWire: Kerry Says It’s Too Soon to Send More Troops to Afghanistan Oct 17 2009

    In taped remarks to air Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Sen. John

    Kerry said it would be misguided to have a troop buildup to achieve a mission of “good governance” when the election is not yet finished.

    Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Kabul on Saturday.
    His visit came as Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, resisted international pressure to accept fraud rulings that could force him into a runoff with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

    Due to harsh weather, a runoff may not happen until next spring.

    Three more American service members were reported killed in separate bombings

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ghanistan/

    John Kerry says no more troops til after next Spring, do to weather?. At approx 3 U.S. troops dying a day, that would come to approx. 500 dead American Hero’s. Increase decrease in troops might make ratio go up, even though the WH says there’s only 100 terrorists left.
    The only 100 terrorists left are sure

    • caligirl9
      October 18, 2009 at 2:45 am

      The government is looking at three “solutions” to the Afghan problem … assuming the current administration believes that Al Qaeda needs to be wiped out.

      1. Go big
      2. Go home
      3. Go long (be prepared for a protracted conflict in the region, they’ve been fighting for years)

    • Liberals Demise
      October 18, 2009 at 9:28 am

      Shades of ‘Nam if you ask me.

      This is exactly what happens when the politicians (half a world away from the free fire zone) meddle and tie the hands of our Soldiers and Marines with incompetence, foot shuffling and hedging away from responsibility. Is it any wonder why the spirits of our Warriors is tanking?

      Barack Hussien Obama is an “ABORTION” as our leader and should be bounced out of office A.S.A.P. !!
      (if not sooner)

      Here is Obamas’ banner:
      “Mission : FAILURE”

  11. Petronius
    October 18, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Dow Jones News Wire

    Medical Device Cos Hope to Reduce Senate Bill’s $4B Fee

    Oct. 13, 2009, by Jared A. Favole

    WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Medical device industry leaders expressed hope Tuesday that the $4 billion in annual fees targeting the industry in a key Senate health-care bill would be reduced or eliminated in later negotiations.

    [They said] … that the fee would have devastating effects on business growth.

    The fee, in the form of an annual tax on sales, is “out of line,” Edwards [Lifesciences Corp.] Chief Executive Michael A. Mussallem said multiple times during a press conference. * * *

    Stephen J. Ubl, president of AdvaMed, echoed Mussallem’s sentiments and noted that “the more that policy makers learn about the tax, the less they like it.”

    The Senate Finance Committee passed a health-care bill Tuesday that would lob $4 billion in fees annually on medical device makers, or $40 billion over 10 years. Ubl said the fees will result in one of two things: Lost jobs or additional costs being passed on to consumers.

    AdvaMed’s Ubl said the industry will already be strained by the bill, noting that there are billions of dollars of reductions aimed at the device industry’s main customers –– health-care providers such as hospitals.

    Hospitals and health-care facilities will face cuts under the bill, he said, and will end up looking to cut variable costs such as the reimbursement rates they negotiate with medical device companies. * * *

    http://cs.schwab.com/clicker/c.....aaasrmd5nm

    More evidence (as if any were needed) of the Liberal Death Wish.

    Outside of Liberal circles it is well known that if you tax something you will get less of it.

    Only in Liberal La-La Land would destructive taxes on medical devices and technology, on screening and diagnostics, on medical R&D, and on hospitals be considered “progress.”

    Only a die-hard Liberal could rejoice in the destruction of medical businesses, of medical jobs, and of our retirement funds which are invested in those medical businesses.

    Madness.

  12. Reality Bytes
    October 18, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    Rush Limbaugh WSJ Column for October 16th. I think the 1,247 responses to Rush’s editorial has crashed their site. I tried to comment but it consistently froze. So, I’m posting it here. Who else but RB can put Rush & Muhammad Ali together?

    There’s an old saying in sports, “Nobody Likes a Winner.” OK, I made that up. But still it is true. The New York Yankees, The Dallas Cowboys, John McEnroe; eachas hated as they have been consistently winners over the years.

    Even Muhammad Ali, arguably & self proclaimed “The Greatest of All Time” was reviled not just because he consistently accomplished victory but because he stood for what he believed regardless of the tide of popular opinion against him.

    But if enemies’ hate were the measure of a true champion, there is a new rival to even the Great Ali. Someone who has two decade bond with what the mainstream media & the Washington Elite refer to as “Astro Turf”, “Tea Baggers”, “Angry Mobs with Swastikas” (a.k.a. Taxpaying American Voters).

    His name is Rush Limbaugh.

    So, instead of crucifixion of one’s reputation & inalienable rights, perhaps the media & the ruling elite should study his moves; his strategies in order to understand why he has 15 – 20 million daily listeners. Instead they dismiss him as an “Entertainer”, a “Racist”, a “Fear Monger”. And, by doing so they infuriate further millions of Americans who are wondering just who the Hell is running their country & who are these “Journalist”, these “Activists” vehemently opposed their ideals, their American Way of Life.

    It will be a long time before we see another Muhammad Ali. And, Rush Limbaugh too for that matter. But, unlike the boxer whose body gave up his crown, the mind of Limbaugh continues to box & jab albeit with the shadows of his opponents so long as the leftist populist media & the liberal leadership they support refuse step into the ring of ideas with their foe; who instead feel that throwing rotten stuff at him will win the day. It Hasn’t & It Won’t. As Ali said to Liston, “You can run, but you can not hide!” In the meantime, Americans by the millions continue to find their champion. Who want a clean, honest fight. So far, they’re not getting it….but Washington will soon.

    Gee! Who but Reality Bytes could put Ali & Limbaugh together?!

  13. Rusty Shackleford
    October 18, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    From the crystal ball department at the AP:

    White House says stimulus money still kicking in

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....us_economy

    By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 13 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is considering all options to create jobs, including another stimulus package, while trying to pull the economy out of a deep recession and deal with a record deficit, White House advisers said Sunday.

    With more than half of the $787 billion recovery package yet to be spent, Obama aides said the administration is not ready to commit to additional measures.

    “Everything is on the table,” senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said.

    “You’ve got this huge national deficit and we’ve got to do what we can to bring that down. At the same time, it’s important to stimulate the economy,” Jarrett said. “Let’s wait and see. Let’s let the recovery bill do its job.”

    Unemployment stands at 9.8 percent, with more than 4 million jobs lost this year. The deficit has reached $1.4 trillion and the national debt $11.9 trillion.

    Adviser David Axelrod cited progress on reviving the economy, with expectations for growth in the third quarter this year. But he warned that the government should not make the mistake of ending its recovery initiatives too early at the risk of sending the economy back into recession.

    “That doesn’t mean that we don’t look to the mid- and long-term for deficit reduction,” Axelrod said. “We have a stimulus program in place, an economic recovery program in place, that is not even 50 percent through. We have to see that through. And we’ll see what other measures we need to take.”

    In appearances on the Sunday news programs, the advisers criticized those Wall Street firms that are paying huge amounts in compensation and benefits after accepting taxpayer assistance. Goldman Sachs, for example, has said it has set aside $16.7 billion for compensation so far this year, more than $500,000 per employee. Citigroup is paying $5.3 billion in bonuses to its employees and Bank of America $3.3 billion.

    “I think the American people have a right to be frustrated and angry,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff.

    Oh, we are Mr Axlerod, but not in the way that you might imagine.

    Also, the article fails to note how Dodd, mentioned later in the article, has benefited greatly from payments issued to AIG, etc. in each and every “incentive” payout. He is a great recipient of millions of dollars, according to Michelle Malkin in “Culture Of Corruption” which I believe categorically above this crap written by a hack at the AP.

  14. OneAmericanCitizen
    October 18, 2009 at 6:07 pm

    A Republican Stimulus Package-

    http://www.nj.com/news/index.s.....idate.html

    Breaking Local News from New Jersey
    Republican N.J. Assembly candidate hosts sex-toy parties
    By The Associated Press
    October 16, 2009, 6:00PM

    TRENTON — A lot of small business owners run for the Legislature, but one New Jersey candidate can tout a unique entrepreneurial experience: hosting sex-toy parties.

    Stepfanie Velez-Gentry is the owner of Nookie Parties LLC. She makes a living organizing parties for women and couples where she sells sex toys, lotions, games, lingerie and other erotic items.

    “It’s kind of like a Tupperware party, but with adult novelties,” the 29-year-old mother of two explained.
    Or, as her Web site puts it, “For parties you will always remember and nights you will never forget.”
    “We enhance people’s romances and make people happy. It’s wonderful,” she said. “It makes the moms and dads happy, and then everyone is happy.”

    Velez-Gentry, a Republican from Bellmawr, is running for State Assembly. She started the company in 2007 as a way to help support her family in a tough economy. She said she works with more than 200 people nationwide to set up the parties.

    “My husband is a printer. He’s in fear of losing his job,” she said. “We’re just like everyone else, we live paycheck to paycheck.”

    She is vying for one of two open seat in District 5, which includes Camden and a stretch of middle-class Philadelphia suburbs. Most Republicans view the district as the safest in the state for Democrats, and her two opponents — Donald Norcross, the brother of South Jersey power broker George Norcross, and Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes — are well known.

    Velez-Gentry said the parties have been a great way to meet voters and network. She said she always lets party participants know that she’s running for state office.

    “I received nothing but positive feedback,” she said.

    Camden County Republican Chairman Rick DeMichele saluted her entrepreneurial spirit.
    “I knew what she did what she did before she decided to run,” DeMichele said. “She engages people so easily and really gets out there and takes the approach of one voter at a time. She makes a great candidate.”

  15. canary
    October 19, 2009 at 4:32 am

    PressTV: Pakistan may be aiding Taliban to counter India
    Sat, 17 Oct 2009

    Sources in Canadian government believe that Islamabad is hoping to use the Taliban in a proxy war against India.
    Sources inside the Canadian government have expressed doubts about the sincerity of Pakistan’s attempts to rout out the Taliban insurgency.

    According to a report published Friday in the Canadian newspaper, The Globeand Mail , some Canadian government sources believe the Pakistani Army and intelligence services are much more concerned with countering India, which they consider more important than fighting the insurgency.

    The Canadian sources, which deal with issues related to Pakistan and Afghanistan, maintain that Islamabad is hoping to use the Taliban in a proxy war against India to limit its power and influence in the region, as the relationship between India and Afghanistan has recently improved.

    The report suggests that the Pakistani army will fight the pro-Taliban militancy in the Northwest, while allowing those in Baluchistan — who are based in Mullah Omar’s nexus — to remain and carry out operations in neighboring Afghanistan.

    “The army will fight the Taliban in the Northwest, but leave those in Baluchistan free to mount operations in Afghanistan,” said the report in The Globe and Mail.

    http://www.presstv.ir/detail.a.....=351020401

  16. OneAmericanCitizen
    October 19, 2009 at 6:06 am

    Burning bunnies helps keep people warm and cozy

    STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Forget bunny boiling jealous rages and rapacious butchers. The biggest threats to Peter Rabbit’s Swedish cousins are the cold, the cull and their flammable cadavers.

    The city of Stockholm shoots thousands of wild rabbits spread across the green spaces of the Swedish capital and sends their bodies to be burned as heating fuel, a practice which has enraged animal rights groups.

    City official Mats Freij said Stockholm killed 6,000 wild rabbits last year and has culled 3,000 so far this year, but said a subcontractor decided to use the cadavers as fuel.

    “One should put this in the perspective that we (humans) are actually cremated ourselves and that generates a completely different reaction,” Freij said in response to criticism.

    Animal Rights Sweden spokeswoman Lise-Lott Alsenius questioned whether the practice was humane or ethical and suggested neutering the male rabbits as an alternative method of holding down the population.

    “One at least has to evaluate what the alternatives are to just simply shooting them,” she said.
    Konvex, the company handling the operation, said the rabbits were ground up with the cadavers of other beasts, mainly farm animals such as cows which have been deemed unfit for human consumption, reduced to flammable form and incinerated.

    “Just as with us people … the bodies contain a lot of fat and fat has exactly the same energy content as normal heating oil for instance,” Konvex Chief Executive Leo Virta said.

    Throw in the fat people dying of Obamacare, washed up whales and starved polar bears, voila, the energy crisis is solved!

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_sweden_burning

  17. BillK
    October 19, 2009 at 9:28 am

    More proof that everything is racism, from the so far left they are now web-only Madison, WI Capital Times:

    Shootings at Park Street bar have neighbors concerned

    By Pat Schneider

    It’s a familiar story in Madison. Neighbors of a bar who were leery of it opening in the first place complain that their worst fears are being realized as customers, traffic and noise multiply. The owners say it’s not their patrons who are causing the problems, but people hanging around outside. Disgruntled neighbors are setting them up with a campaign of police calls, they protest.

    That was the picture this summer for R Place on Park, a labor of love for owners Rick Flowers and Annie Weatherby that opened in south Madison in early 2008 and was building a reputation for live music nights led by jazz drummer Flowers.

    And then: Boom! Boom! Boom!

    A series of loud – very loud – gunshots rang out from a parking lot in the rear of R Place at 1821 S. Park St. early on Oct. 10. No one was hurt, but the next day, police recovered a bullet from the living room wall of a house in the same stretch of Beld Street, right behind R Place, where the bar’s most vocal detractors live. A police report says the round struck the wall about four feet above the floor. It appeared to have been fired from a large, .40-caliber weapon.

    It was the fifth reported weapons incident at the bar this year, and the third since May substantiated by police. A man was shot in the thigh in one of the incidents. “Without intervention, it is certain that the potential for injury or loss of life will remain alarmingly high,” a police summary on calls for service to the bar concludes.

    But the issue is not really R Place, says Flowers, the issue is the societal forces and city policies that put unreasonable demands on bars popular with the black community and set them up to fail. …

    http://host.madison.com/ct/new.....002e0.html

    You’ve got to love this and the hand-wringing it must provoke in ultra-liberal Madison:

    Flowers, who is black, says he wishes white people would try to understand the significance of the fact that his bar is the only place in town that caters primarily to people of color.

    When the majority culture cringes at bars that are “too dark,” he says, that fosters policies that limit the number of black bars and puts the few allowed to operate in an impossible situation. Because there is no other “black” bar in Madison, Flowers says, R Place draws not only the mature clientele willing to pay a cover charge to hear live music, but also those who cruise outside but never come in. Because R Place is the focus of nightlife for people of color, he says, if you’ve got a beef with someone who’s black, it’s the place to go to try to get a shot at them.

    “Young people with guns are a national phenomenon,” says Weatherby, who is Flowers’ wife. “And they want a mom-and-pop to resolve it.”

    Funny how other Madison bars don’t have the record of shootings this bar does, and they attract “young people” too…

    • Liberals Demise
      October 19, 2009 at 10:19 am

      “Young people with guns are a national phenomenon.”

      No Mz. Weatherby, the Beatles were a national phenomenon. Young people (of color) with guns who have no scruples are a ’scourge’ and your place is (point blank) their sirens call.

      “No soup for you!!”

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 19, 2009 at 1:33 pm

      the issue is the societal forces and city policies that put unreasonable demands on bars popular with the black community and set them up to fail. …

      Clearly the indoctrination is pure, and deep.

  18. Rusty Shackleford
    October 19, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    Yahoo sports blogger clearly a racist

    McNabb: Not the most situationally aware fellow…

    http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/bl.....nfl,196785

    By Doug Farrar

    He caught a lot of heat last year for not knowing how NFL ties work, though he’s not the only one — heck, even intelligent ex-quarterbacks-turned-announcers get it wrong from time to time. But Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb(notes) must carry the grief alone for his clock-butchering boo-boo in his team’s 13-9 loss to the Oakland Raiders.

    Down 10-3 with 27 seconds left in the first half, McNabb went to the line and called a time out after deciding that he didn’t like what he saw on the Raiders’ side of the ball. Problem was, the Eagles had already used their customary three time-outs in the half, and no amount of bargaining could get them another one Philly was busted for delay of game, the ball was pushed back from the Oakland 15 to the Oakland 20, McNabb took a Richard Seymour(notes) sack on the next play, and the Eagles had to settle for a field goal. Had the Eagles scored a touchdown and kicked the extra point in that drive, they would have had the points needed to tie the Raiders.

    And later in the article:

    Whatever bedeviled McNabb on that particular occasion, he’d best get over it -

    Hm, seems this man is just all about criticizing a black quarterback. Hope he doesn’t ever plan on buying an NFL team, or keeping his job for that matter. It’s not what the NFL is about, you see.

    • proreason
      October 19, 2009 at 1:54 pm

      “even intelligent ex-quarterbacks-turned-announcers”

      Rush never said anything that approached the prejudice in that comment.

      It’s a direct insult to McNabb’s intelligence.

      As if undergoing physical and emotional stress for 3 hours that nobody experiences outside combat might not have an impact on a person’s cognitive abilities.

      I’m not a big McNabb fan, but I’d like to learn about a quarterback who never made a mistake like that. I don’t think that person exists.

  19. canary
    October 19, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    AP: White House advisers say Fox News is not news
    By Ann Sanner Sun Oct 18, 2009

    WASHINGTON – White House advisers pledged on Sunday to book administration officials on Fox News despite claims by the president’s inner circle that the cable network is a GOP mouthpiece whose programming “is geared toward making money.”

    On Sunday, Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, said, “It is not a news organization so much as it has a perspective.”

    Obama avoided “Fox News Sunday” when he visited five Sunday morning news shows last month; three aides carried the administration’s message on Afghanistan, health care and the economy this Sunday to ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC, but not Fox; and a recent White House blog post accused Beck of lying.

    Karl Rove compared Obama’s approach to that of President Richard Nixon, who included journalists on an “enemies list.”

    Rove said on “Fox News Sunday.” “And it’s unhelpful for the country and undignified for the president of the United States to so do.”

    Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said Fox News shouldn’t be treated as a news organization. “And the bigger thing is that other news organizations, like yours, ought not to treat them that way, and we’re not going to treat them that way,” he said.

    Emanuel appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....a_fox_news

  20. canary
    October 19, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    Political: White House plan: Neuter the Chamber
    Lisa Lerer Mon Oct 19, 2009

    “We prefer the approach — particularly in this climate — where the actual people who are on the front lines, running businesses, trying to create jobs, come and advise us on policy,” senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told POLITICO

    But in recent weeks, the Chamber has repeatedly taken shots from within — with companies including Apple and PG&E leaving the group, and Nike quitting the Chamber’s board, to protest its opposition to cap-and-trade legislation that passed the House in late June.

    “They’ve taken a real hit this year,” said a prominent Democratic lobbyist who spoke on background because he has associates at the group. “In the White House and on the Hill, among the people who run things, they are radioactive.”

    “There’s a strong, very conservative ideology there,” said House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). “They’re more like The Heritage Foundation then they are like an economic association.”

    Frank, whose committee is in the midst of marking up regulatory reform legislation, says he’s rarely in touch with the Chamber — a damaging blow for a group known for its aggressive lobbying and fundraising efforts. Last year, the Chamber spent $91 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

    Jarrett dismissed the free-enterprise campaign, saying, “It’s an awful waste of money to launch an ad campaign when you haven’t tried to come in and work constructively with the administration.”

    Last week, Obama slammed the Chamber for “spending millions” to make “completely false” attacks against his consumer financial protection agency proposal. His comments came on the same day as his energy secretary, Steven Chu, said it was “wonderful” that companies had left the Chamber over climate issues.

    And on Friday, when POLITICO asked for comment about the White House’s relationship with the Chamber, senior adviser Jarrett called from Air Force One to talk.

    And that is why the White House is working more directly with individual corporate leaders, Jarrett said.

    Executives from a huge swath of companies have attended breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffees with Jarrett, Obama, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and senior economic adviser Larry Summers in recent months. On June 25, for example, Obama and Jarrett ate lunch with the CEOs of Honeywell, PepsiCo, Avon, IBM, Pfizer and Aon. Six days later, they sat down with executives from Verizon, Nucor, Starbucks and Wal-Mart. And last week, they met with CEOs from Amazon.com, FPL Group, Eastman Kodak and Kraft.

    White House officials say they are open to meeting with the Chamber whenever the group requests a meeting. Indeed, Summers, Jarrett and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have met with Donohue and other association officials several times.

    “We have a very good and constrictive relationship, by contrast, with the Business Roundtable,” said Jarrett.

    CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Honeywell CEO David Cote have met repeatedly with the president

    Josten noted that going straight to CEOs allows the White House to avoid the optics of meeting with lobbyists. Obama’s promise that lobbyists would not run his White House was a major theme of his campaign.

    “They are totally disconnected from the local chambers in my district,” said California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman. “They’re blissfully unaware of any position taken by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politi.....wbA–

    I wonder if NIKE, Coca Cola (liberal), and some of the brands Obama mentions in his books, (NIKE and Coca Cola mentioned in his discriptive)
    paid Obama money for the adverstizing) Verizon bought my cell company out, and it’s been a nightmare dealing with them. Figures.

    • canary
      October 19, 2009 at 4:13 pm

      Obama did commercial for beer companies at his beer summit. If he’s not relected, we’ll still end up having to see the Obama’s mugs too much.

    • Liberals Demise
      October 19, 2009 at 4:32 pm

      “Come into my web” said the spider to the fly.
      “I won’t eat you.”

    • canary
      October 19, 2009 at 4:42 pm

      ATFP: American Task Force on Palenstine – Remarks by National Security Advisor Gen. James L. Jones ATFP Fourth Annual Gala –

      I am deeply honored to represent President Obama at the Fourth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine. ATFP … has partnered with USAID and other US agencies, NGOs and think tanks to help improve life in the West Bank and Gaza… It has worked to bring the Palestinians closer to fulfilling their legitimate aspirations for statehood

      I do want to recognize the honorees, Dr. Fuad Jubran, Prof. Shibley Telhami and Dr. Najat Khelil…Amb. Robert Pelletreau,…as well as the PLO representative to the United States, Maen Areikat, and, of course, Dr. Asali himself.

      Honored guests, the President…On just his second day in office, he appointed one of our most trusted senior officials, Sen. George Mitchell, to be his special envoy for Middle East peace.

      The PA recently took these efforts a step further with its two-year plan to build the institutions of a Palestinian state.

      As the President said a few weeks ago in New York,… The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions to reach a final status agreement on two states: a Jewish state of Israel, and a viable, independent and contiguous Palestine that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and realizes and unleashes the full potential of the Palestinian people.

      I can assure you that President Obama’s dedication to achieve these goals is unshaken, that he is committed, and that he will be relentless in the pursuit

      http://www.americantaskforce.o.....es_l_jones

      Obama has been relentless towards against the Jews & Israel his entire life. Rahm Emanual isn’t a practicing one.

    • canary
      October 19, 2009 at 5:00 pm

      The Wall Steet Journal: Joining the U.N. Human Rights Council was a mistake Obama should correct.
      Opinion John Bolton Oct. 19, 2009 ET Israel, the U.S. and the Goldstone Report

      The U.N.’s Human Rights Council (HRC) voted overwhelmingly on Friday to endorse the recommendations of the lopsidedly anti-Israel Goldstone Report.

      The HRC resolution endorsing the report’s recommendations repeatedly lacerated Israel,…”not a single phrase condemning Hamas as we have done in the report.”

      The U.N. General Assembly created the HRC on March 15, 2006, to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission, which had spent much of its final years concentrating on Israel and the U.S. rather than the world’s real human rights violators.

      The Bush administration voted against establishing this body and declined to join it, believing, correctly, that it would not be an improvement over its predecessor.

      President Barack Obama changed course, and the U.S. won election to the HRC in May. Mr. Obama argued that engagement would be more effective than shunning the HRC and attempting to delegitimize it.

      Twenty-five of the HRC’s 47 members voted for the resolution (including Russia and China), six voted against (Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia, Ukraine and the U.S.), and 11 abstained (Japan, South Korea and several European governments among them)…Five didn’t vote at all, including Great Britain and France.

      It is hard to know just how much real politicking the Obama administration did before this vote, but the loss of key allies is telling.

      Mr. Goldstone’s recommendation to convoke the International Criminal Court is like putting a loaded pistol to Israel’s head—or, in the future, to America’s.

      Mr. Obama has now met the new HRC, same as the old HRC, thus producing a “teachable moment,” a phrase he often uses.

      Although it will be hard for Mr. Obama to swallow, the logical response to Friday’s debacle is to withdraw from and defund the HRC.

      Mr. Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, is the author of “Surrender Is Not an Option: Defending America at the United Nations and Abroad” (Simon & Schuster, 2007).
      (entire article) htp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574480932924540724.html

  21. proreason
    October 19, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Gee, Jake Tapper repeats the definition of a recession that S&L always uses but the MSM ignores:

    VP Biden: For the millions of Americans without jobs, the U.S. economy is in a ‘depression’

    …A recession is generally defined as a downturn in economic activity, usually marked by two or more consecutive quarters of declining GDP, and is less severe than a depression, by economists’ standards….

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/polit.....sion-.html

    I just don’t get it. The MSM repeats with 100% consistency that the current Recession begain in 2007, yet there weren’t 2 consecutive quarters of declining GDP until late 2008.

    But here we have Jake Tapper, a respected member of the MSM, repeating the definition that we all know is true.

    Why, it’s almost like the MSM has willfully decided to ignore what they know to be true….which is that the recession did not start in 2007. And since the recession, as Jake helpfully informs us, actually did start the quarter Obamy was elected, it really doesn’t have much to do with Bush at all, and falls 100% on The Moron.

    Thanks Jake!

  22. Rusty Shackleford
    October 19, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    From a surprised AP:

    Shunned Illinois senator suddenly relevant

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200....._relevancy

    By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer Laurie Kellman, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 23 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – For Democrats determined to get a health care bill, Sen. Roland Burris is like the house guest who couldn’t be refused, won’t soon be leaving and poses a plausible threat of ruining holiday dinner. Suddenly, he can no longer be ignored.

    The Illinois Democrat, appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, says he’ll only vote for a bill to provide health care to millions more Americans as long as it allows the government to sell insurance in competition with private insurers.

    And he says he won’t compromise.

    “I would not support a bill that does not have a public option,” Burris, 72, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “That position will not change.”

    Those words caught the attention of the very Democratic leaders who tried to keep Burris out of the Senate, suggested he resign and have shunned him in unprecedented fashion. Burris is not the only Democrat to insist on creation of a government-run health plan. But he is the one who has the least to lose by defying President Barack Obama and the Democrats who once turned him out in the cold rain.

    But now that he’s a useful tool to the democrats, he’s back in…and of course, with the caveat that he’s so utterly expendable.

  23. proreason
    October 19, 2009 at 6:28 pm

    Oh oh. Now Thomas Lipscomb “a former publishing executive and the founder of Times Books” is saying that Bill Ayers could very well be the author of the boy king’s famous and brilliant “autobiography”.

    “…As a former publishing executive and the founder of Times Books — which originally published Dreams — I can accept that these kinds of frauds occasionally happen.”

    http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/w.....e-press/2/

    http://www.americanthinker.com.....ns_mo.html

    The pajamasmedia article is thorough and detailed.

    Wouldn’t it be a shock if our boy king is caught in a lie about the very thing that led to his annointment.

    Personally, I still rate little Obamy right up there with George Washnington, but in today’s world, with the vast right-wing conspiracy, you never know.

    Here’s Hannity’s interview with Christopher Anderson, who is the author of the friendly book about the Obamy’s, but which contains the telling evidence that Ayers wrote the Moron’s book.

    http://www.breitbart.tv/author.....my-father/

    Check out Anderson’s face at 2:08 in the clip when Hannity tells him he has just called Obamy a liar. It’s hilarious. He suddenly realizes he has made a mistake by going on Hannity’s show.

    • proreason
      October 19, 2009 at 7:07 pm

      After reading the article again, here is the key point.

      The story about Ayers writing the book never could get out of the conservative blogger world….until Anderson wrote an otherwise friendly book that confirmed it.

      Hannity interviewed Anderson Sept 24 and Anderson made the mistake of confiming the point and his sources.

      But Anderson is MAINSTREAM. He is respected by the msm and has never been sued for his over 30 books, and he was NOT trying to damage Obamy.

      So, after Sept 24, the Moron had a big problem.

      Their solution to the big problem was to have Ayers publically proclaim authorship, followed by “chain yanking” articles in the Slimes and elsewhere that scoffed at the wingnuts and bragged about Ayers making conservatives look like dummies again.

      But here’s the kicker. That only happened immediately AFTER the Hannity interview, and the two conservative bloggers that repeated Ayers assertion weren’t even asking him about it. Ayers FORCED the information on them.

      And there is no evidence he had ever said anything like it before.

      The timing demonstrates that Ayers claiming authorship was the strategy to difuse the bomb.

  24. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 12:18 am

    AP: Pakistan cuts deal with anti-American militants
    By Ishtiaq Mahsud And Nahal Toosi Oct 19 2009

    DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistan’s army, in the midst of a major new offensive against Taliban militants, has struck deals to keep two powerful, anti-U.S. tribal chiefs from joining the battle against the government, officials said Monday.

    Taliban renegades Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur will stay out of the current fight in parts of South Waziristan controlled by the Pakistani Taliban.

    “We have a shared goal here, and the shared goal is fighting violent extremism,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday.

    Kelly said he was unaware of an agreement to keep some militant factions out of the fight for now, but other U.S. officials said the strategy is not surprising or necessarily worrisome.

    While a broad offensive that takes on all comers at once might be ideal, it is not practical, U.S. military officials said.

    The army’s offensive in South Waziristan is pitting some 30,000 troops against 11,500 militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban

    The army has conducted three previous offensives in South Waziristan since 2004, all unsuccessful.

    said Khalid Aziz, a former top administrator in the northwest. “It’s like having a patient suffering from multiple diseases — you tend to treat those that are life-threatening first.”

    Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said.. the army “had to talk to the devil” to isolate its main target.

    It is nearly impossible to verify independently what is going on in South Waziristan because the army is blocking access to it and surrounding towns. There are no reporters traveling with the army, and few — if any — local journalists in the area.

    Residents, some fleeing, reported fierce fighting and said Pakistani forces were using artillery and air attacks.

    “There is lots of bombardment: on houses, on mosques, on Islamic boarding schools, on everything,” said Fazlu Rehman

    Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Anne Gearan and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....N0YW5jdXRz

    huh? Pakistan air-bombing mosques and schools, but won’t allow U.S. to fight on their border. do fi has given the U.S. heck over their civilians, won’t allow U.S. military in the area of 11,500 Taliban, (Obombies keep saying there is no Taliban.
    The 7.5 billion dollars Obama just gave Pakistan only lasted 3 days.

  25. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 12:26 am

    AP: Gates: Afghanistan war strategy should come first
    By Lara Jakes Oct. 19, 2009

    ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY JET – The Obama administration needs to decide on a war strategy for Afghanistan without waiting for a government there to be widely accepted as legitimate, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

    Gates’ comments put him at odds with top White House and NATO officials who are balking at ordering more troops and other resources to Afghanistan until the disputed election crisis there is resolved.

    “We’re not just going to sit on our hands, waiting for the outcome of this election and for the emergence of a government in Kabul,” he told reporters en route to Tokyo.

    he said. “We’re going to have to work with this going forward, and I believe the president will have to make his decisions in the context of that evolutionary process.”

    In separate comments over the last two days, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen each said no decision on the future of the war strategy should be made until the legitimacy of the Afghanistan government is assured.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....yYQ–

  26. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 1:15 am

    Sen. Jim Inhofe: Obama’s ‘you’re on your own’ foriegn policy
    September 23, 2009 By Senator Jim Inhofe (excerpts)

    …Now, it seems that a dangerous new strategy for American international relations has taken shape. In stark contrast to Bush, Obama favors a “you’re on your own” approach to foreign policy, leaving our allies and strong supporters of democracy second-guessing America’s intentions.

    In June of this year, Obama let democratic protesters in Iran know that they were on their own after the contested elections there, even as the ayatollah’s police thugs violently assaulted the demonstrators…

    Not a month later, Obama sided with the likes of Hugo Chavez and in effect said “you’re on your own” to democrats in Honduras as they tried to enforce the country’s democratic constitution to prevent a slide into a Venezuelan-style dictatorship. Similarly, Obama’s support for Israel, democracy’s clearest beacon and America’s greatest ally in the Middle East, has been consistently reserved, at best.

    But when Obama turned his back on our European allies by canceling the European-based missile-defense site, his attitude struck especially hard. When the missile-defense site agreement was signed in 2008, Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski said, “this is a great success for Poland.”….

    The European GBI system, would be tested in 2010 and in place to protect Europe and the U.S. against intermediate and long-range ballistic missiles from Iran by 2013…

    White House officials argue that Obama has an alternative method to provide missile-defense coverage for Europe, but the alternative will take five years longer to field, and his 2009 budget cut $1.4 billion, or about 16 percent, of the Missile Defense Agency’s budget….

    Whatever Obama says to the United Nations, his foreign policy is already devastating to this nation’s credibility.

    Hopefully, Obama will realize the error in an approach that turns our back on our allies, while appeasing our enemies…

    U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-OK, is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
    http://inhofe.senate.gov/publi.....da4b4514b9

    This was written prior to Russia’s announcing their nuclear missles. And Obama witnessed 2006 in Russia, they are pointed towards Europe.

  27. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 2:15 am

    Haaretz: European official: Economic boycott of Israel is ‘not justified’
    By DPA Oct 19 2009

    European Commission Vice-President Gunter Verheugen said Sunday that said boycotts of Israeli products were “not justified,” adding that they were an “easy solution” that would do nothing to improve the Middle East Conflict.

    Verheugen said that while the EU could not solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it could offer economic incentives to make it easier for the sides to come to an understanding.

    Acknowledging that many Israelis do not fully trust the EU, Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, said that “Europeans must send a clear message that Israel has a right to exist within secure borders.”

    Verheugen acknowledged that the EU can only offer what he termed “soft power,” but the economic advantages the EU can offer Israel would give the feeling that the Europeans are doing something for the
    country’s economic future.

    http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121864.html

  28. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 2:39 am

    The Washington Post:Talks on Iranian Reactor Deal Show Divisions on Sanctions
    By Glenn Kessler October 18, 2009

    A team of Obama administration officials, joined by officials from France and Russia, will begin negotiating in Vienna on Monday with Iranian diplomats over terms of an unusual deal that could remove a significant amount of Tehran’s low-enriched uranium from the country.

    The administration views the deal — which would convert the uranium into fuel for a research reactor used for medical purposes

    and so the administration proposed that 80 percent of Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile be sent to Russia for conversion into reactor fuel.

    But the negotiations already have highlighted splits between the United States and two of the key players — Russia and China — in the effort to restrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

    “All efforts should be focused on supporting the negotiating process,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, with Clinton at his side. “Threats, sanctions and threats of pressure in the current situation, we are convinced, would be counterproductive.”

    Meanwhile, China signaled impatience with talk of new sanctions. On Thursday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Beijing with Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and declared that his government would seek “close coordination in international affairs” with Iran. “The Sino-Iranian relationship has witnessed rapid development, as the two countries’ leaders have had frequent exchanges, and cooperation in trade and energy has widened and deepened,” Wen said, according to the official New China News Agency.

    France, Germany and Britain — are more willing to press for sanctions if progress is not apparent by the end of the year.

    A secret French Foreign Ministry strategy paper, published this month by the French weekly Bakchich Hebdo and translated by the Web site ArmsControlWonk.com, depicted France as the most eager for substantial sanctions.

    “The United States, which made an unprecedented overture to Iran in the spring, apparently does not intend to review this strategy until the end of the year. Its strategy is a bit more wait-and-see than ours.” Russia and China, it added, “very clearly emphasize dialogue and do not wish to raise the idea of further sanctions.”

    The French document suggested that Paris is concerned the U.S. gambit could lead to endless haggling.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01856.html

  29. canary
    October 20, 2009 at 3:47 am

    AFP:Freed US reporter says he underestimated Taliban
    Sun Oct 18, 2009

    WASHINGTON (AFP) – A New York Times reporter kidnapped by the Taliban in 2008 and held for seven months in Pakistan said late Saturday he had underestimated Taliban’s extremism and the strength of its supporters in Pakistan.

    “Over those months, I came to a simple realization,” the reporter, David Rohde, wrote about his ordeal. “After seven years of reporting in the region, I did not fully understand how extreme many of the Taliban had become.”

    He said that before the kidnapping, he viewed the organization as a form of “Al-Qaeda lite,” a religiously motivated movement primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan.

    But after spending time in captivity, he said he had realized that the goal of the hard-line Taliban was far more ambitious.

    “They wanted to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al-Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world,” the writer noted.

    He said he had known before about the ties between Pakistan?s intelligence services and the Taliban and knew Pakistan had turned a blind eye to many of their activities.

    “But I was astonished by what I encountered firsthand: a Taliban mini-state that flourished openly and with impunity,” Rohde pointed out.

    He said all along the main roads in North and South Waziristan, Pakistani government outposts had been abandoned and replaced by Taliban checkpoints where young militants detained anyone lacking a Kalashnikov rifle and the right Taliban password.

    “We heard explosions echo across North Waziristan as my guards and other Taliban fighters learned how to make roadside bombs that killed American and NATO troops,” the reporter wrote. “And I found the tribal areas — widely perceived as impoverished and isolated — to have superior roads, electricity and infrastructure compared with what exists in much of Afghanistan.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20.....R1c3JlcG9y

    Is the time period for the New York Times sucking up to terrorists over now? We saw this coming. Does this mean the reporter lived with the financially well-off terrorists with. How was the food?

    • canary
      October 20, 2009 at 3:49 am

      oh, the reporter got photo’s and interviews during his 7 month visit.

    • canary
      October 20, 2009 at 3:59 am

      AP: Farrakhan: Don’t be ‘pacified’ by Obama election
      By Erik Schelzig Mon Oct 19, 2009

      MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Minister Louis Farrakhan on Sunday urged his followers not to become complacent by President Barack Obama’s election and to work to repair communities.

      ~~”This can pacify you and lull you to sleep in a dangerous time, making you think that we live in a post-racial America — when the opposite is true,” he said to loud applause.~~

      The Chicago-based Nation of Islam has embraced black nationalism since its founding in the 1930s

      “You may not be pleased with everything he’s saying and doing, but you have to understand that he’s been voted in to take care of the affairs of a nation, and not yours and mine particularly,” Farrakhan said.

      Farrakhan didn’t lay out details in his 2 1/2-hour address, but said members of the Nation of Islam have shown a blueprint for helping people repair their lives.

      The organization has long focused efforts on recruiting in prisons by encouraging inmates to study the movement’s teachings.

      “They’re going to prisons and they make a man and a woman whole, the prostitute gets cleaned up, the drug addict gets changed,” he said. “You see a model in Muslims in the Nation of Islam

      Farrakhan was joined on stage by recently resigned Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton, who has announced a Democratic primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, a white congressman who has represented the mostly black House district for two terms.

      “It was easy for me as a mayor to present a key … to a man who is worthy, to a man who speaks truth, to a man who possesses wisdom, to a man who is courageous in thought and in action,” said Herenton, who was the first elected black mayor of Memphis. “To an anointed man.”

      http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....FraGFuZG9u

  30. BillK
    October 20, 2009 at 10:26 am

    Let the media trashing continue.

    From the “I bet the White House considers them a ‘real news agency’” E! Online:

    Miss California Officials to Carrie Prejean: You Owe Us For Those Boobs!

    By Natalie Finn

    If Carrie Prejean thought she could just take the boobs and run, she was sorely mistaken.

    K2 Productions, which directs the Miss California USA pageant, has countersued the litigious former beauty queen, requesting that she return the $5,200 it gave her for breast-augmentation surgery.

    “Had [Prejean] heeded the guidance of the Gospel of John, who admonished only those who are without sin to cast stones in judgment, she might have avoided this legal battle,” the suit states.

    It really says that.

    “We are saddened by the necessity to file a counter-claim today against Carrie Prejean,” pageant codirector Keith Lewis said in a statement Monday.

    “We are continuing to prepare for our upcoming telecast of the Miss California USA pageant on November 22nd, but the integrity of the Miss California USA organization and the values it represents requires us to respond and present the truth. Our claim is not about financial reward, and all profits awarded will be donated to a charity that promotes the values of our organization.” …

    http://www.eonline.com/uberblo.....arrie.html

    This is actually quite instructive, as not only does the pageant get to trash Miss Prejean again, they also get to throw around Bible quotes in the pithy way the left loves to do without bothering to understand them in any way.

    No shock, but in case there was ever any doubt this case actually was all about Miss Prejean’s religious beliefs, what more proof could you need?

  31. Rusty Shackleford
    October 20, 2009 at 10:49 pm

    The AP tells ‘em what they wanna hear:

    AP source: House Dems trim health bill to $871B

    Yes, you read that right. $871 billion . Must’ve taken them all of a half a minute to find a pen to scribble that (arbitrary) number in there. Read further on down to see why:

    By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer Erica Werner, Associated Press Writer – 47 mins ago

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    WASHINGTON – House Democrats are aiming to scale back the cost of their health care bill to well below President Barack Obama’s preferred price tag by giving the government a strong hand in selling insurance in competition with the private market.

    Obama has sought to spend no more than $900 billion over a 10-year period. The initial cost of the House bill was more than $1 trillion. On Tuesday, House Democratic leaders received a new cost estimate of $871 billion from congressional budget umpires who measured a robust version of a so-called public option for health insurance, according to a Democratic aide.

    The figures were preliminary because no final decision on the design of the public plan had been made, said the aide, who requested anonymity in discussing the bill because the deliberations were private.

    There’s that “transparency” again.

    The House bill with the strong public plan would extend coverage to 96 percent of uninsured Americans and significantly reduce budget deficits.

    A $871 billion bill in the House would be in line with the leading Senate bill, the $829 billion measure approved last week by the Senate Finance Committee.

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other liberal lawmakers have joined Obama in calling for a public insurance program as a way to drive down the costs of insurance

    And forcing everyone on the government-run plan when employers dump patients off because it’s “cheaper” (why does no one get that?)

    Republicans have opposed government-run insurance and vowed to vote against a bill establishing a public option.

    Pelosi assembled Democratic lawmakers Tuesday night to try to sell them on her preferred version of the public plan, which would link payment rates to providers to Medicare rates, plus an additional 5 percent for doctors.

    Wow, FIVE percent? Is that “max” or “min” or just “flat rate”? Betcha made a TON of new BFF’s for your facebook with that, Nancy.

    Moderates have been concerned that those rates are too low and would hurt hospitals and other providers particularly in rural areas.

    So here the AP is slanting the story, trying to convince any conservative readers that the dems are “really in there swingin’ gang” when in reality, they want that public option so bad they can’t stop drooling over it and that they want to eliminate private sector anything, all in the name of “what’s good for you”.

    Of course, the whole intention is to somehow merge the two bills in the “interest of fairness”.

    And there’s Barry, quibbling over 1 trillion vs 900 billion. HelloooOOoooo? PO-TAY-TO, PO-TAH-TO. Blow it out your Kool Menthols.

    blah, blah, blabbity blah blah blah :-p pphhhtttttt

  32. Rusty Shackleford
    October 20, 2009 at 11:35 pm

    Thank goodness something’s going right

    From Reuters:

    Swiss court rejects Polanski bid for release

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....DMQ–

    By Emma Thomasson Emma Thomasson – 2 hrs 56 mins ago

    ZURICH (Reuters) – A Swiss court rejected on Tuesday a bid by film director Roman Polanski for release on bail as the risk was too high he would flee pending extradition to the United States for having unlawful sex with a minor in 1977.

    “According to Swiss law, detention is the rule during the entire extradition proceedings,” the Swiss Federal Criminal Court said in a statement. “The court considered the risk that Roman Polanski might flee if released from custody as high.”

    The 76-year-old Oscar-winning director, who holds dual French and Polish citizenship, was arrested at the request of the United States when he flew into Switzerland on September 26 to receive a lifetime achievement prize at a film festival.

    Polanski’s French lawyer Herve Temime has said his client was depressed and tired and has been moved from jail for medical treatment.

    Temime was not available for comment on Tuesday but Swiss news agency SDA quoted him as saying Polanski would appeal against the decision and offer stronger guarantees to ease concerns he might flee Switzerland.

    The court said in its ruling Polanski had many reasons to run away if released on bail, including the fact he could face a U.S. jail sentence of up to 50 years which would mean a painful separation from his wife and children, aged 11 and 16.

    Time to face the music, Roman. That painful separation is just tough s__t

  33. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 2:57 am

    Another Obama CZAR makes violent laced threats. Obama’s Manufacturing CZAR Ron Bloom a big union thug boss. He says the Obombies kind of agree with Mao (communist murderer) Click on youtube video at below link to watch Bloom speech. thug boss. Obama’s Manufacturing – quote

    CZAR Ron Bloom:

    “We’ve spent along time trying to clan up the messes that others have left us,
    but ‘now we try and create our own messes’…

    ..uh…This is ‘more dangerous’ politically. It’s ‘more difficult’. It has ‘higher risk’. We think it has ‘higher reward’, bu in any event in ‘these cases’ where we can be on the field. You can expect to find us on the field…
    ..uh..generally speaking, we get the joke…
    ..uh.. free market is nonsense !!

    We know that the whole point in the game is a system to beat the market…..
    an ‘adults only game’.

    ..uh…We kind of agree with Mao “Political power comes largely from the
    barrel of a gun.”

    And we get, that if you want a friend, you should get a dog…”"

    video/transcript
    http://www.glennbeck.com/conte.....2133/?ck=1

  34. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 3:13 am

    FOXnews: Gates: Afghan Runoff Won’t Solve Corruption Issues
    Defense secretary says issues of corruption and governance within the Afghan government won’t be solved in the outcome of a presidential election. Oct 21 2009

    AP: TOKYO – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday a runoff election in Afghanistan won’t solve the problem of corruption in that nation’s government.

    Afghan President Hamid Karzai bowed to U.S. pressure on Tuesday and accepted findings of election fraud that invalidated nearly a third of the votes cast for him in August.

    President Barack Obama welcomed Karzai’s decision, saying it offers new hope for a credible government in Kabul as the U.S. and NATO fight Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda.

    Gates, however, sounded more pessimistic about the development when he took questions from reporters at a Tokyo news conference.

    Kitazawa said Japan is considering other unspecified contributions to the war now that it has decided to cancel its naval refueling mission for allies headed to Afghanistan.

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....on-issues/

  35. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 3:21 am

    Oct 21, 2009 AP: Dutch politician Geert Wilders speaks at Temple University in Philadelphia.
    PHILADELPHIA — Amid tight security and a large turnout of protesters, Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders told an assembly of Temple University students that Europe and America must fight an ongoing “stealth jihad” that threatens democracy and free speech.

    “Where Islam sets roots, freedom dies,” Geert Wilders told the students during his 30-minute address organized by a new student group called Temple University Purpose and funded by the California-based David Horowitz Freedom Center, a foundation that promotes conservative scholarship.

    His remarks were met by a mixture of applause and boos, and occasionally gasps — particularly when he stated that “our Western culture is far better than the Islamic culture and we should defend it.”

    He decried as a “disgrace” a resolution co-sponsored by the U.S. and Egypt, and backed by the U.N. Human Rights Council earlier this month, deploring attacks on religions while insisting that freedom of expression remains a basic right. Wilders also criticized President Barack Obama for his efforts to extend a hand to the Islamic world, saying that such appeasement marks “the beginning of the end.”

    If the spread of Islam continues unabated in the Western world, “you might at the end of the day lose your Constitution,” he told the assembly. “Wake up, defend your freedom.”

    He also touched on common themes in his speeches, including calling for an end to Muslim immigration and referring to the Muslim holy book, the Quran, as “an evil book” that promotes violence and intolerance.

    A question-and-answer session was cut short after the tone of the event began to turn nasty, when some in the crowd of several hundred students began shouting jeers. Wilders’ security detail quickly ushered him from the room.

    “In order to improve our understanding of others, we need to learn,” said Alvaro Watson of Purpose, the student group. “We can’t fight for something if we only know one side.”

    Before his remarks at Temple, a public university serving about 34,000 students, Wilders showed his 15-minute anti-Islam film, “Fitna,” which juxtaposes passages from the suras, or chapters, of the Quran with images of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, beheadings, shootings and speeches from clerics advocating violence against non-Muslims.

    “I think it’s completely wrong that someone who promotes racism and intolerance should be given a platform at this university,” said Temple student Josh Rosenthal. “It’s hate speech disguised as free speech.”

    Another student, Joseph Rodrigues, said that being able to voice unpopular opinions is a freedom not to be taken lightly. “I might not like what he said, but I think it’s important that he be allowed to say it,” he said.

    Temple officials issued a statement saying the university “is a community of scholars in which freedom of inquiry and freedom of expression are valued.”

    “We respect the right of our student organizations to invite people who express a wide variety of views and ideas,” the school said in a statement.

    British officials once banned Wilders from visiting for fear it would spark violence. He successfully sued the government and visited Friday.

    Wilders is scheduled to speak at Columbia University in New York on Wednesday.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,568680,00.html

    angels guard Greert Wilder

    • canary
      October 21, 2009 at 3:24 am

      angels protect Geert Wilders.

    • canary
      October 21, 2009 at 3:30 am

      AP: Sarah Palin is going to sit down with Oprah Winfrey. Oct 20, 2009

      Harpo Productions announced Tuesday that the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate will appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Monday, Nov. 16.

      According to Harpo, the interview will be Palin’s first about her new book, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” and it will be the first time Palin and Winfrey will meet.

      Palin’s book was No. 4 on Amazon.com’s best-seller list on Tuesday. It’s slated to be released Tuesday, Nov. 17, the day after Palin’s interview with Winfrey.

      http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....latestnews

      Oprah tends to list authors who publish fake memoirs on her book club list. She recently apologized for attacking him on his show. I think Oprah did it out of fairness, since she recommended Obama’s books, who after having writer’s block, remembered converstations before he was born, and the his other book, written by dozens of people.

  36. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 3:53 am

    FOXNews: New Oklahoma Abortion Law Violates Patient Privacy, Critics Charge
    By Cristina Corbin Oct 20 2009

    Abortion rights advocates are lashing out at a new law in Oklahoma that in less than two weeks will require doctors to release detailed information — which will be posted on a public Web site — about all women who have abortions in the state.

    The Statistical Reporting of Abortions Act has outraged many abortion rights activists who say it is a blatant violation of patient privacy rights and is meant to intimidate women from seeking abortions. The law also prohibits the use of abortion for sex-selection.

    The law does not permit women’s names to be posted, but it does require them to provide answers to 37 questions — including the county where the abortion is performed.

    The law mandates that information identifying patients must be protected.

    But Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Sullivan, the Republican who authored the bill, told Foxnews.com the data will be useful in stepping up education that targets demographics with high rates of unwanted pregnancies.

    “If there’s something that we can do to positively impact that segment of that population — and have a lowering effect on those rates — then we want to be able to look at what policy decisions we can make.”

    Sullivan said the suggestion that women from small communities will be easily identified has been “misrepresented.” He said that of the 77 counties in Oklahoma, only three have abortion providers.

    “If a woman from rural Oklahoma (county) goes to Tulsa (county) and has an abortion, her abortion stats are lumped together with all the other women who went to Tulsa to seek an abortion,” Sullivan said.

    “There’s no way a person can be singled out or identified the way it would be listed.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....8421103:z0

    If people think this is bad, wait til Obama’s executive branch runs everyone’s health care, knows everyone’s bank account, and gives everyone a micro-chip implant. No money, just get your forehead scanned after you wait in line for two hours to get your gallon of milk and loaf of bread for the month.
    People, will go in hospital and they will scan your forehead, and say, oh, we see you have several illnesses, and have met your quota.

  37. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 4:19 am

    INHOFE SEEKS ANSWERS ON PENTAGON MEDIA POLICY FOR GITMO

    October 5, 2009

    WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following recent media reports that brought to light policy changes for the media covering Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Gitmo), U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today sent a letter to President Obama requesting clarification from the administration. It appears that the administration has changed its media policy towards Gitmo in a way that prohibits members of the press visiting Gitmo from reporting on both the military commission hearings and the detention facility on the same trip. Instead, reporters are forced to take separate trips when covering the two venues.

    “Restricting journalists from reporting on both the military commission hearings at Gitmo and the detention facility at Gitmo will directly impact worldwide press access and ultimately result in less transparency,” Inhofe said. “News organizations are cutting costs at every available opportunity therefore this new policy requiring journalists to take separate trips when reporting on both venues at Gitmo will likely result in less media coverage. For an Administration that has promised to be the most transparent, I believe there needs to be clarification regarding the policy change, why it has changed, and who authorized the change.”

    The Inhofe letter also seeks explanation for why reporters who routinely cover Gitmo have been given little, if any, notice about upcoming media trips to cover the commission hearings.

    http://inhofe.senate.gov/publi.....;Issue_id=

    Just caught this on FOX with Bret.
    The ACLU agreed it’s not right, concerned for prisoners living conditions, Inhofe was worried about American’s living conditions with Gitmo prisoners

  38. BillK
    October 21, 2009 at 11:17 am

    From the Orlando Sentinel:

    Oprah Winfrey gets ‘world exclusive’ with Sarah Palin

    Sarah Palin wants to sell some books. She is giving an interview to Oprah Winfrey that will air Monday, Nov. 16.

    Winfrey has the golden touch when it comes to pushing books.

    The Winfrey folks called the interview a “world exclusive.” It will be Palin’s first interview to promote her book, “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

    And people said this meeting would never happen! What do you think about this?

    The interview will air during the important November ratings period, so Palin should help Winfrey, too.

    In the first three weeks of the new season, Winfrey’s ratings are up 15 percent from the same time last year. She is averaging 7.4 million viewers.

    That’s how the book business works, folks.

    The interview will be Palin’s first appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Winfrey was a staunch supporter of Barack Obama in last year’s presidential election. Former Alaska Gov. Palin was John McCain’s running mate. …

    http://blogs.orlandosentinel.c.....palin.html

    Note how the media once again treats Palin as trash and pushes this as a move solely to sell books.

    First of all, as if there’s anything wrong with that.

    Second of all, given her book, which hasn’t even been released, is currently the #2 selling book at Amazon (and is the #1 non-fiction title) I don’t think she needs Oprah’s “help.”

    Perhaps more troubling is whether Sarah’s walking straight into another Katie Couric-style ambush; we’ll see.

  39. Rusty Shackleford
    October 21, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    Unemployment rises—unexpectedly

    From the AP:

    23 states report higher unemployment in September

    By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer, WASHINGTON – Unemployment rose in 23 states last month as the economy struggled to create jobs in the early stages of the recovery.

    While layoffs have slowed, companies remain reluctant to hire. Forty-three states reported job losses in September, while only seven gained jobs, the Labor Department said Wednesday.

    Examining these two sentences by the most rudimentary of logic, one can determine that they are contradictory. One says, “struggled to create jobs” which implies that jobs are being created where the next sentence, “layoffs have slowed–companies reluctant to hire” clearly state that jobs are still being lost. Slow layoffs still means layoffs, not “job creation” as the first, tempering sentence would like to have you believe.

    And the money statement:

    Some of the states that lost jobs still saw their unemployment rates decline, as discouraged workers gave up looking for work. People who are out of work but no longer looking for jobs aren’t counted as officially unemployed.

    That trend was evident nationwide in September, as nearly 600,000 people dropped out of the work force, the department reported earlier this month.

    The U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, a 26-year high, from 9.7 percent. Some economists estimate it would have topped 10 percent if there had been no change in the labor force.

    There were some bright spots in Wednesday’s report. The Midwest region, hit hard during the recession by job losses in manufacturing, saw its unemployment rate drop for the second straight month, to 9.8 percent from 10 percent in August. It was the only region where the unemployment rate declined.

    The Midwest benefited from sharp drops in unemployment in Indiana and Ohio. Indiana’s jobless rate fell to 9.6 percent, from 9.9 percent in August and 10.7 percent in June.

    Indiana added 4,400 jobs, the most of any state, due to gains in the manufacturing and service sectors.

    • proreason
      October 21, 2009 at 1:45 pm

      fyi, 600,000 dropping out of the workforce is about .4 percent of the workforce, so “some economists” must not be able to do simple math. 9.8 + .4, last time I checked, “topped” 10. So I’d like to meet the “some economists” who disagree.

      and fyi fyi, the workforce also adds over 200,000 job seekers each month just because the country is growing.

      But hey, those 4,400 jobs in Indiana are amazing. If we can do that only 10,000 more times, the 30 million people in the country who are unemployed or “not unemployed” but “discouraged” would all have jobs.

      Maybe that’s why the “recovery” is still in the “early stages”

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 21, 2009 at 1:57 pm

      Wait til the gubbmint, in its current iteration, starts calling the perpetually unemployed as “employed” because, by their logic, that is how they spend the majority of their time. Not looking for work, mind you, but living on the street and struggling for the rest of their lives. Thus, this is how they occupy their time, hence, their “occupation”….

  40. Rusty Shackleford
    October 21, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    Der Fuhrer punishes the evil capitalists again

    The AP:

    Administration plans big pay cuts at bailout firms

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....DMQ–

    By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Martin Crutsinger, Ap Economics Writer – 2 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – The Obama administration plans to order companies that received huge government bailouts last year to sharply cut the compensation of their highest paid executives, according to a person familiar with the decision.

    The seven companies that received the most assistance will have to cut the annual salaries of their 25 highest-paid executive by an average of about 90 percent from last year, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it has not been announced.

    This person said Wednesday that the Treasury Department will announce the deep pay cuts within the next few days.

    Kenneth Feinberg, the special master at Treasury appointed by Obama to handle compensation issues at the seven firms getting exceptional assistance from the government’s $700 billion financial bailout package, is making the pay decisions.

    Special Master? Vass ist das, bitte? Yawhol, Herr Feinberg.

    The seven companies are: Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.

    Total compensation for the top executives at the seven firms will decline, on average, by about 50 percent, according to the person familiar with the administration’s decision.

    At the financial products division of AIG, the giant insurance company which has received taxpayer assistance valued at more than $180 billion, no top executive will receive more than $200,000 in total compensation, the person familiar with Feinberg’s plan said. The administration also will warn AIG that it must fulfill a commitment to significantly reduce the $198 million in bonuses promised to employees in its financial services division, the arm of the company whose risky trades caused its downfall.

    The pay restrictions for all seven companies will require any executive seeking more than $25,000 in special benefits — things such as country club memberships, private planes and company cars — to get permission for those perks from the government.

    Tom Wilkinson, a GM spokesman, said the auto company was “currently in discussions with Mr. Feinberg’s office regarding executive compensation. We will have further information once those discussions have concluded.”

    Gina Proia, a spokeswoman for GMAC, said the finance company has “been working on a proposal that aims at embodying the principles set forth for compensation along with balancing the need to retain critical talent necessary to execute our turnaround. Until we receive notification about that plan, we have no further comment.”

    And yet, Der Fuhrer said, “I don’t want to run auto companies, and I don’t want to run banks,” Mr. Obama said. “I’ve got two wars I’ve got to run already–I’ve got more than enough to do.” http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2.....9228.shtml

    This is Hitler Lite. A master of lying now and with all the deeply embedded accomplices at his side and ready to fight for their little corner of the Fourth Reich.

    He DOES want to run things and he DOES want total control and every day that passes, more and more of this behavior gives it away. I’m surprised the AP even reported it.

    National Socialists to the core.

    • proreason
      October 21, 2009 at 5:26 pm

      There you go again.

      He doesn’t want to “run” things. He just wants to set salaries and a few other things like bankruptcy settlements, mpg mandates, the types of cars they can build, the health insurance for auto workers, the minimum wage, the members of the Board of Directors, the emission standards, lending interest rates, lending qualification standards, the types of procedures doctors can prescribe, the prices of prescription drugs, the criteria of insurance plans, the types of food you can eat, and a few hundred other little things like that.

      So stop exagerating Rusty. You could become one of those wingnut guys I read about.

  41. proreason
    October 21, 2009 at 5:54 pm

    Young Obama-care supporters run screaming in pain when the provisions are explained. From Dick Morris:

    NEW FRONT ON OBAMACARE: THE YOUNG

    …But voters under 30 are a different story. The polling showed that they start off supporting Obamacare more than any other age group:

    SUPPORT/OPPOSE OBAMA’S HEALTH PLAN

    <30 30-49 50-64 65+

    Support 58 43 42 31

    Oppose 30 47 46 54

    But, it turns out their strong 2:1 support for the program is based on an almost total ignorance of what it calls for.

    After we read them (in the poll) a fair and unbiased description of the program, their support faded.

    Here’s what we read to them:

    The health care bill, pushed by President Obama and the Democrats, would require everyone to buy health insurance or pay a fine for failing to do so.

    People could keep their current insurance if their employer provided it and agreed to continue it. Insurance companies would be required to insure all applicants regardless of pre-existing conditions. People would be offered subsidies to buy insurance if their household incomes were below $70,000 a year and if their insurance cost more than 8% of their incomes ($5600 for a $70,000 a year family). The program will cost one trillion over ten years.

    This plain vanilla rendition of what Obama proposes had a startling impact! Voters under 30, who had approved of the plan by 58-30 before they heard the description, now backed it by only 55-40, a loss of 13 points!

    Then we read voters a list of all the arguments pro and con on the bill. We alternated the arguments to be sure that nobody could see any bias in the poll. After the arguments, the views of all other age groups were largely unchanged. But people under 30 now said they opposed the bill by 43-45 – a mega-shift of 30 points!…

    http://www.dickmorris.com/blog...../#more-655

    To summarize, 22% of young people shift from supporting Obamacare to opposing it just becasue they are read an unbiased list of arguments for and against it.

    My god, what if they actually learned everything about what this administration plans to do to them.

  42. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    AP: Analysis: Schwarzenegger reversals erode trust
    By Juliet Williams Oct 21 2009

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger… threatened a mass veto if legislative leaders didn’t agree to a comprehensive water deal, then backed down

    He mocked lawmakers over the summer for wasting time debating bills about cows’ tails, honey labeling and a blueberry commission, then approved all three.

    Questions about whether Schwarzenegger was a reliable negotiating partner arose shortly after he took office in 2003, when he lost the trust of a key political constituency, education lobbyists. They charged him with reneging on a promise made behind closed doors to repay billions of dollars he wanted to borrow from schools to balance the state budget.

    he denied making the promise, but the disagreement was resolved only after education groups filed a lawsuit.

    Schwarzenegger also infuriated city and county leaders earlier this year by opting to borrow about $2 billion in tax revenue from local governments, requiring the suspension of a law he had championed to prevent such raids. Local governments responded by suing the state to get the money back.

    In September, Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill to honor Vietnam veterans with a day of remembrance, saying lawmakers should have other priorities.

    weeks later, Schwarzenegger not only signed it but held a photo-friendly ceremony at a Marine Corps base in Southern California to promote his action.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....odw–

  43. BillK
    October 21, 2009 at 6:49 pm

    Let’s destroy banks further!

    From an overjoyed Associated Press:

    House Committee Votes to Bring National Banks Under State Regulations

    The House Financial Services Committee voted Wednesday to let states regulate large national banks when it comes to protecting consumers from fraud and abuse unless federal regulators intervene.

    The measure, approved by voice vote, is a blow to the banking industry, which doesn’t want to have to comply with myriad state laws that are often tougher than federal regulations.

    Democratic Reps. Melvin Watt of North Carolina and Dennis Moore of Kansas offered the measure as an amendment to a broader bill that would establish a new federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers. The committee was on track to pass that bill later Wednesday or Thursday.

    Democrats are casting Watt’s amendment as a compromise because it would allow federal regulators to exempt banks from state laws on a case-by-case basis. But otherwise, federally chartered banks would have to comply with state rules when it comes to such matters as interest rates and fees associated with credit cards and mortgages.

    The vote was the latest clash between Democrats, who are pushing for tough new rules for Wall Street after last year’s economic crisis, and the financial industry, which says their proposals would be too onerous and would result in increased costs.

    Rep. Melissa Bean of Illinois, an influential moderate Democrat, was expected to fight the measure on the floor. Bean, who was unable to attend Wednesday’s vote because her family was sick with the flu, says subjecting national banks to state laws is impractical.

    “Rolling back this 140-year-old precedent of federal rules to a system of 50 different state regimes increases costs for training and compliance, which gets passed to consumers,” Bean said in a statement released ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

    The financial industry, which also opposes creation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, had gained traction in recent weeks after Democrats agreed to spare most banks and credit unions from additional agency examinations. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....gulations/

    After all, once the banks all go out of business, the federal government will need to step in and take them over… right?

  44. BillK
    October 21, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    This is just fun, from left-leaning web site TMZ.com:

    Rev. Jesse to MSNBC: It’s Jackson If You’re Nasty

    During an important discussion on income inequality, an anchor for MSNBC got her Reverends mixed up — introducing Rev. Jesse Jackson as Rev. Al Sharpton.

    Contessa Brewer ended up blaming the identity crisis on the teleprompter — but by the look on Rev. Jackson’s face … the damage was done.

    http://www.tmz.com/2009/10/21/.....you-nasty/

  45. BillK
    October 21, 2009 at 7:17 pm

    The latest results of the Obama economic “plan,” from the Associated Press:

    Oil hits $82 per barrel as dollar plunges

    By Mark Williams

    Oil prices hit new highs for the year Wednesday just as the dollar fell to new lows against the euro, showing how much the weak U.S. currency has come to dominate energy markets.

    Benchmark crude for December delivery rose $2.25 to settle at $81.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices hit $82 at one point.

    Gasoline futures spiked and Brent crude rose $2.45 to settle at $79.69 on the ICE Futures exchange.

    The run-up in prices came within minutes of a government report showing that crude supplies in the United States are growing and that refiners are producing very little gasoline because consumers aren’t using as much.

    “The dollar obviously is the overriding factor,” PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said. “It’s not about demand I can tell you that.”

    Refiners are shutting down plants, a combination of little demand and rising crude prices that wipe out profit margins.

    That can have real consequences at the pump. The government reported Wednesday that gasoline supplies fell by more than 2 million barrels last week.

    There is usually a lag between the direction of crude bought and sold on Nymex and the price that people pay for gasoline to fill up their cars.

    Crude began to rise on Oct. 7, when a barrel cost less than $70. Prices moved higher for eight days in a row, nearly reaching $80.

    Average retail gasoline prices started ticking higher one week later and a gallon has increased every day since, up about 12 cents in one week to $2.596 on Wednesday, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. …

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/.....&.v=13

    But that’s OK – remember gasoline is evil to the left…

  46. BillK
    October 21, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    Add Wal-Mart to the list of companies that criminals should target because their employees must be docile sheep.

    From the Ocala, Florida Star-Banner:

    Wal-Mart fires employee for chasing after thief

    By Jackie Alexander

    Josh Rutner said he was just doing his job as a Wal-Mart “asset protection officer” earlier this month when he chased a knife-wielding theft suspect across the store parking lot.

    The man, later identified as Marc Ash, was arrested by Ocala police and the merchandise was recovered.

    The next day, Wal-Mart fired Rutner.

    Rutner said it boiled down to doing what was right or following policy. For him, it was an easy choice.

    “I couldn’t let him get away,” Rutner said. “That’s wrong.”

    But Michelle Bradford, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman, said the store’s no-chase policy is clear.

    “We take the safety and security of our customers and associates very seriously,” she said. “There are specific instructions as to what an associate can and can’t do during a shoplifting episode.”

    According to Ocala police reports and Rutner’s account, the trouble happened at the Wal-Mart on Southwest 19th Avenue Road near the Paddock Mall. Ash picked up a pack of golf balls, valued at $42.98, and put them in his pants.

    Ash then took the golf balls to another section, left them, and ate deli chicken without paying, Rutner said.

    Rutner said he watched Ash put the golf balls back in his pants and head out the front of the store.

    After radioing for assistance, Rutner and two other employees tackled the man outside the food center doors.

    Rutner worked for Wal-Mart for nearly four months, he said. He’d done plenty of stops before.

    He wasn’t expecting Ash to pull a knife, slash at his face and take off running, Rutner said.

    “I felt now that he was a danger to the public and the city,” he said. “If he’d pull a knife on two security guards, he’d pull a knife on anyone.”

    Rutner attempted to hit the man with a shopping cart, he said.

    Customer Franchesca J. Marie told authorities she followed Ash into the parking lot from inside her car. She told him to stop and to put down the knife, which officials say she then picked up and threw in the middle of the road.

    Police arrested Ash, who was charged with robbery with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault.

    Rutner returned to work the next day.

    “I was doing my normal routine,” he said. “Nobody said anything.”

    Around lunch time, he was called into a manager’s office. A corporate representative from Arkansas was waiting.

    “They said this is a non-rehirable offense,” he said. “At the age of 65, I can’t even come back and become a greeter.”

    Bradford, the Wal-Mart spokeswoman, declined to comment on Rutner’s potential for rehiring.

    Rutner said he knew Wal-Mart policy prohibits employees from going after suspects armed with a weapon, but there was no time to think about the consequences.

    Rutner turned in his keys, security codes and badge.

    “I didn’t get hurt. They got their merchandise,” he said. “And yet I got fired.” …

    http://www.ocala.com/article/2...../1402/NEWS

    It’s a sad commentary on our society that these businesses don’t realize they’re creating an environment where criminals now know they can do anything without threat of actual consequences.

    Not unlike the country at large.

  47. Rusty Shackleford
    October 21, 2009 at 7:41 pm

    Those Europeaons may not be so stupid after all:

    This article first appeared on June 8, 2009. But it is just as pertinent now.

    From the WSJ:

    Across Europe, Left-Leaning Parties See Clout Faltering

    By DAVID GAUTHIER-VILLARS in Paris and MARCUS WALKER in Berlin

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....:b24929118

    PARIS — The economic recession should have meant easy votes for Europe’s left-wing movements, longtime critics of unchecked capitalism.

    Yet as Europe goes to the polls, left-leaning parties across the continent are looking likely to falter. That’s true both for those in government, such as in the U.K. and Spain, and in the opposition — such as France, Germany and Italy.

    France’s Socialist Party is trying hard to rally voters ahead of Sunday’s European parliamentary elections. “Let’s unite with all the French who contest free market, unfair policies that aim at deregulating everything,” party leader Martine Aubry urged at a pre-election rally.

    Sound familiar?

    Yet less than 20% of voters say they plan to cast their ballot for the Socialist Party, according to recent surveys. That would be a weak performance considering France’s main opposition party got 29% of the votes in the last European parliamentary elections.

    In Germany, the Social Democrats are expected to get only around 26% on Sunday, consistent with their low opinion-poll ratings ahead of Germany’s national elections in September. Italy’s center-left Partito Democratico is expected to get a similar percentage.

    One reason is that as Europe tipped into recession, the right moved left — appropriating some of the left’s long-standing economic policies, including nationalizations and bailouts.

    Not sure how to interpret that statement: “the right moved left”. Seems to me that the left moved right and is seeing that government-run everything is not the utopia we all read about in the Heinlein sci-fi classics.

  48. canary
    October 21, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    YahooNews:Report: Secret Service strained to protect Obama
    Oct 21 2009

    An internal congressional report questioning the ability of the Secret Service to continue fulfilling its duties was leaked to the Boston Globe. The report says the Secret Service is strained by a drastic increase in threats to President Obama, coupled with deep budget cuts. Some are speculating that the agency may need to relinquish all or part of its roles in protecting the country’s financial machinery in order to focus resources on the protection of the president and other high-profile leaders.

    The report, issued in August by the Congressional Research Service, claimed that if “an evaluation of the service’s two missions” were to be done at this time, there’s a good possibility that “it might be determined that it is ineffective…to conduct its protection mission and investigate financial crimes.” Additionally, an anonymously quoted government official said that many inside the halls of Congress and within the Secret Service itself are questioning whether or not the agency’s effectiveness wouldn’t be enhanced by transferring some of its responsibilities regarding the investigation of financial crimes over to the Treasury Department.

    Talking Points Memo noted that Ronald Kessler, the author of a recently released book on the Secret Service’s protection of U.S. presidents, recently said that threats against President Obama are up 400 percent from the number of threats levied against former President George W. Bush, while the size of the agency’s staff has only increased by 5.3 percent.

    The Southern Poverty Law Center says that the U.S. has seen a 35 percent rise in hate groups in recent years, and few doubt that the discontent stirred up over the election of an African-American president is fueling the rise in threats. But, could the influx of modern technology also be to blame?

    As the cost of computer technology has fallen (and accessibility to high-speed Internet service has spread), more and more people are spending more and more time online. Accordingly, these people are doing what people often do on the Internet: sending emails, communicating in chat rooms and on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, watching YouTube videos, etc. According to results of a recent study by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, these activities seem to be enhancing the scope of extremist groups’ reach:

    With over 200 million users, online bigots have to date outpaced efforts to remove them. Some sites have thousands of friends, thus enabling the message of hate to spread virally…This user-generated material increases the viral spread of extremism online and aids in increasing the social acceptability of hate in mainstream discourse. By creating an environment where users are equal participants in the Web, all editorial functions are removed and expressions of hate can easily flow unchallenged.

    In other words, extremists once confined to small sects can now congregate on the Internet anonymously and distribute propaganda to millions of people in mere seconds. People with extreme views can also now communicate direct threats to individuals quicker and more easily than they have previously, thanks to the immediacy of email and chat rooms.

    The Secret Service, presently housed under the bureaucratic umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security, was initially established in 1865 to help combat the rise in counterfeiting that took place in that era. The protection of national leaders didn’t become a full-time responsibility until William McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Congress passed a law in 1917 making any threat against the president a federal crime, and the responsibility of investigating such threats often falls upon the Secret Service. Along with protecting presidents, the agency’s role in policing financial shenanigans was expanded when the 20th century’s technological revolution led to a rise in electronic financial transactions.

    It should be noted in all of this, however, that the Secret Service has issued a response in which the agency denied any decreased capacity to carry out its missions, saying that the Boston Globe’s report was “not accurate and lacks a good deal of information.”

    – Brett Michael Dykes is a contributor to the Yahoo! News Blog.

    LESS SECURITY WATCHING OVER “OUR MONEY”? What propaganda and potential corruption this could bring.

    If the Obama JackAss needs an increase in Security $$$, it is because of more Magazine interviews, partys, photo-ops, going on Letterman, Coppenhagen, overdose of campaigning, unnecessarily meeting with AhMadMen, celebrities who are high profile. White House Internet Lotteries to see the President. Obama JackAss has a circle of CZARs, human traffikers, former crooks, union thugs, that is more violent than any other President in history. I’m telling ya, Obama plans on making our National Parks his homes. We’ll be starving paying for his thugs protecting him.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/.....ldA–

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 22, 2009 at 10:29 am

      Well, at least he’s not skipping out of the West Wing, ditching the SS to jump in the limo, cover himself with a blanket, stop at the basement elevator to a prominent DC hotel for a “booty call” .

      At least.

  49. canary
    October 22, 2009 at 2:52 am

    Obama gives credit to John Kerry for his becoming president.

    AP: Kerry plays key roles for Obama on Afghanistan, Syria, invokes Kennedy’s advice
    “Do the Work” By LAURIE KELLMAN Oct 21 2009

    WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kerry has ascended to the unofficial role of President Barack Obama’s global adviser on key issues that could reshape the nation’s image around the world.

    “Obviously, Sen. Kerry is somebody who has a broad range of experience and an in-depth knowledge of issues, ranging form energy and climate change to health care to foreign policy,” said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “I think it’s that experience and insight that (Obama) certainly greatly values.”

    “I’m here because of you,” Obama wrote Kerry on the January day he was sworn in as the nation’s first black president. The note is framed and hangs on Kerry’s Senate office wall.

    And now, Obama is leaning on Kerry to help shape his foreign policy.

    “I really tried to be the utility, you know, hitter or fielder at the time,” the 65-year-old senator, his voice hoarse and hip sore after an overnight flight home, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press in his Senate office.

    http://www.startribune.com/politics/65270282.html

    Both Obama & Kerry have apologized to the world for America they hate. Both accepted awards they did not deserve. Both are anti-military and fakes.

    Priceless photo troops took and sent Kerry asking for help
    http://www.keepaustincorporate.....essage.jpg

  50. canary
    October 22, 2009 at 3:06 am

    AP: Woman in W.Va. torture case now says she lied

    COLUMBUS, Ohio – An attorney for a black woman who claimed torture by a white group in West Virginia says his client fabricated the story to get back at a boyfriend who had beaten her up.

    Megan Williams’ attorney, Byron Potts, said at a news conference Wednesday that Williams came forward because she no longer wants to live a lie. Potts encouraged West Virginia authorities to re-evaluate the case.

    Williams told authorities in 2007 that she had been beaten, raped, forced to eat animal feces and taunted with racial slurs for days. She now lives in Columbus.

    Seven white men and women were convicted in the case, and most are serving long prison terms.

    Prosecutors in West Virginia have dismissed Williams’ new claim, and lawyers for the defendants aren’t discussing their plans.

    Oct 21 2009
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....n_tortured

  51. BannedbytheTaliban
    October 22, 2009 at 10:45 am

    Another propaganda piece from USAToday:

    Obama’s campaigners now push his agenda

    By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
    WASHINGTON — For some of President Obama’s most loyal supporters, the campaign never ended.

    In northeastern Ohio, Amy Diamond is back organizing the same counties for the president that she did for candidate Obama. In Texas, more paid staffers work for the president now than before the election, says Luke Hayes, the state director of Organizing for America, the successor organization to Obama for America.

    It’s all part of a systematic effort to maintain the loyalty of Obama’s vast network of volunteers and to leverage the enthusiasm his campaign generated into support for his agenda.

    Nearly a year after the election, Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird, two veterans of Obama’s 2008 grass-roots organizing effort, have almost completed their effort to reconstitute the national network that fueled the president’s historic win.

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....ange_N.htm

    Again, Mrs. Pelosi and the USA Today, you are not ‘grass-roots’ if you are a paid agitator. And where is the money coming from to pay these people?

  52. sheehanjihad
    October 22, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Here’s another example of AP forgetting to show what religion the Father was….but was quick to point out his daughter was becoming too “Westernized”….so he ran her and her friend over with his Jeep. Must be one of those radical Wiccans….

    Here;s the AP feed:

    Police in a Phoenix suburb are looking for a father suspected of running down his daughter because she was becoming too “Westernized” and was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values.

    Police say 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki of Glendale allegedly ran his daughter down Tuesday at an Arizona Department of Economic Security parking lot in Peoria.

    The victim, 20-year-old Noor Faleh Almaleki of Surprise, remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

    A second woman, 43-year-old Amal Edan Khalaf, also of Surprise, suffered non-life threatening injuries. Police say the women are roommates.

    • Gila Monster
      October 22, 2009 at 9:05 pm

      Here’s a link to the story SJ posted;

      http://tinyurl.com/ylbj3hg

      They mention that Faleh is of “Iraqi descent” but nothing more.
      Well…., we have to play “guess that party affiliation” so we may as well play “guess that religion”.
      If this a**hat had been a fundamentalist Christian, the AP would have plastered it in the headline and every paragraph thereafter.

  53. canary
    October 22, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    Former VP Dick Cheney blasts Obama, and Rahm Emanuel for lying on CNN. ‘Jim Jones’ asked the Bush administration ‘not to release’ they gave a 3 month study on the war situation prior to handing the office over to Obama.

    chicagotribune.com: AP: Former Vice President Dick Cheney accuses Obama of ‘dithering’ over the strategy for the war in Afghanistan Oct 21 2009

    WASHINGTON (AP) — …”Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries,” Cheney said while accepting an award from a conservative national security group, the Center for Security Policy.

    Cheney disputed remarks by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel that the Bush administration had been adrift concerning the war in Afghanistan and that the Obama administration had to start from the beginning to develop a strategy for the 8-year-old war.

    To the contrary, Cheney said, the Bush administration undertook its own review of the war before leaving office and presented its findings to Obama’s transition team.

    “They asked us not to announce our findings publicly, and we agreed, giving them the benefit of our work and the benefit of the doubt,” Cheney said. The strategy Obama announced in March bore a “striking resemblance” to what the Bush administration review had found,

    Emanuel told CNN on Sunday…

    “When you go through all the analysis, it’s clear that basically we had a war for eight years that was going on, that’s adrift, that we’re beginning at scratch, and just from the starting point, after eight years,” Emanuel said.

    Cheney said the Obama administration seems to be pulling back and blaming others for its own failure to implement the strategy it had embraced earlier in the year.

    “The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger,” the former vice president said.

    Cheney criticized Obama’s decision to drop plans begun in the Bush administration for missile defense interceptors in Poland and a radar site in the Czech Republic, calling the move “a strategic blunder and a breach of good faith.”

    “Our Polish and Czech friends are entitled to wonder how strategic plans and promises years in the making could be dissolved just like that with apparently little if any consultation,” he said. “President Obama’s cancellation of America’s agreements with the Polish and Czech governments is a serious blow

    Cheney said those who try to placate Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and accede to his wishes will get nothing in return but trouble.

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....8635.story

  54. canary
    October 22, 2009 at 7:31 pm

    LiveScience.com: Why Extremist Views Dominate
    Oct 22, 2009

    For many people – more than you might think – public and political dialogue seems dominated by extreme views that don’t resonate.

    A new study suggests a possible reason: People with extreme views seem more willing to share their opinions than others, but only if they believe, even falsely, that their views are popular.

    the research looked at only a narrow topic range and involved just college students

    Students who held extreme views on the use of alcohol on campus were more likely than others to voice their views. The key to their bold approach, scientists found, was that they tended to believe their views actually represented a majority, when that was not in fact the case.

    That situation can set up a self-feeding cycle that promotes the voicing of extreme views on one side of an issue and causes moderate and even extremists on the other side to stay relatively quiet.

    college students who were extremely pro-alcohol were more likely to express their opinions than others, even though most students surveyed were moderate in their views

    The studies were done at Stanford, where alcohol use is prohibited in common areas of all freshman dorms.

    The average students’ own views were near the mid-point of the scale, but most rated the typical Stanford student as more pro-alcohol than themselves.

    “There’s this stereotype that college students are very pro-alcohol, and even most college students believe it,” Morrison said. “Most students think of themselves as less pro-alcohol than average.”

    they were then asked how willing they would be to discuss their views on alcohol use with other Stanford students.

    In general, students who were the most pro-alcohol were the most likely to say they wanted to express their views, compared to those with moderate or anti-alcohol views.

    Then researchers added a twist, giving participants fake data that indicated that other Stanford students held relatively conservative, anti-alcohol views. When extremely pro-alcohol students viewed this data, they were less likely to say they were willing to discuss alcohol usage with their fellow students.

    “It is only when they have this sense that they are in the majority that extremely pro-alcohol students are more willing to express their views on the issue,” Morrison said.

    Interestingly, however, students who had more extreme anti-alcohol views still did not desire to express them, even after seeing the data that suggested a majority of their fellow students agreed with them.

    “Their views that they are in the minority may be so deeply entrenched that it is difficult to change just based on our one experiment,” Morrison said…

    The findings suggest possible parallels in politics, Morison figures.

    She cites a hypothetical community that tends to be moderate politically, but leans slightly liberal. People with more extreme liberal views in the community may be more likely than others to attend publicly visible protests and display bumper stickers espousing their liberal views, because they think the community supports them.

    “Everyone else sees these extreme opinions being expressed on a regular basis and they may eventually come to believe their community is more liberal than it actually is,” Morrison said. “The same process could occur in moderately conservative communities.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/livesc.....uZw–

    I am outspoken, but don’t fall in this category. I don’t think everyone agrees with me. I feel alone. I just take opportunity in all situations to fit what the Obama army is doing wrong, hoping people might wake-up. I don’t care to fit-in.

  55. Liberals Demise
    October 22, 2009 at 8:14 pm

    I found this quite disturbing and thought it might be of interest to our community as there are Veterans and wives of active Veterans in the fray. It seems our Commander in Chief isn’t briefed or is just plain stupid. Please read…..

    From: Otis Willie – The American War Library (yahoo Military Groups)

    To:
    undisclosed-recipients

    Remarks by the president at signing of the veterans health care budget reform and transparency act
    http://www.whitehou se.gov/the_ press_office/ Remarks-by- the-President- at-Signing- of-the-Veterans- Health-Care- Budget-Reform- and-Transparency -Act/

    {EXCERPT} THE WHITE HOUSE

    Office of the Press Secretary ____________ ________ For Immediate Release October 22, 2009 East Room

    2:27 P.M. EDT

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. Good afternoon. Before we begin, I’d actually like to say a few words about something that is of interest to the broader public. Obviously how we treat our veterans is hugely
    important, but I just want to make a quick comment about the decision made public today by Ken Feinberg on executive compensation.

    I’ve always believed that our system of free enterprise works best when it rewards hard work. This is America. We don’t disparage wealth; we don’t begrudge anybody for doing well. We believe in success. But it does offend our values when
    executives of big financial firms — firms that are struggling — pay themselves huge bonuses, even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat.

    And that’s why last summer, we gave Ken Feinberg and his team the task of making an independent judgment on the executive pay packages for firms that received extraordinary assistance from the federal government. He was faced with the
    difficult task of striking the proper balance between standing up for taxpayers and returning a measure of stability to our financial system. Under these competing interests, I believe he’s taken an important step forward today in curbing
    the influence of executive compensation on Wall Street while still allowing these companies to succeed and prosper.

    But more work needs to be done, which is why I urge the Senate to pass legislation that will give company shareholders a voice on the pay packages awarded to their executives. And I also urge Congress to continue moving forward on financial
    reform that will help prevent the crisis we saw last fall from happening again.

    Now, in just a few days — a few weeks — we will be observing Veterans Day. We’ll pause again to pay tribute to all those who have worn America’s uniform. We reflect on their sacrifices and those of their families — citizens who’ve done
    their duty and who have fulfilled their responsibilities to their nation. As a nation, we’ll pledge to fulfill our responsibilities to our veterans, because our commitment to our veterans is a sacred trust, and upholding that trust is a
    moral obligation.

    On that day, on Veterans Day, after all the parades and all the solemn ceremonies, a lot of veterans may ask: Does America really mean it? Will America keep its promise, not simply with words, but with deeds?

    Since taking office, my administration has worked hard with many of you to make sure that America fulfills our obligations to our veterans and their families. With Secretary Ric Shinseki in the lead, we’re building a 21st century VA: We’re
    harnessing technologies to cut the red tape and backlogs. We’re investing in mobile clinics to reach rural areas. We’re moving towards a single lifetime electronic health record for everyone in uniform. We’re making it a top priority to end
    homelessness among our veterans.

    We dramatically increased funding for veterans health care: more care for women’s veterans, for our wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injuries. For 500,000 “Priority 8″
    veterans, we’re restoring VA health care coverage.

    All told, we have made the biggest commitment to veterans — the largest percentage increase in the VA budget — in more than 30 years. (Applause.) And this includes funding the post-9/11 GI Bill — making sure it works as intended so our
    newest veterans and their families have the chance to pursue their education and live out their dreams.

    So we’re keeping our promises. We’re making real progress for our vets — like those with us today, including Maryland Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown, the highest-ranking elected official in the nation who has served a tour of duty in
    Iraq. Thank you, Colonel Brown. (Applause.)

    But we’re here today because a problem that’s gone on for far too long — the delays and uncertainty that often plague funding for veterans’ health care. Over the past two decades, the VA budget has been late almost every year, often by
    months.

    At this very moment, the VA is operating without a budget, making it harder for VA medical centers and clinics to deliver the care our vets need. The hardworking folks at the VA know this. I was there at headquarters this spring. Michelle
    was there — if I’m not mistaken, Ric — just this Tuesday. It’s frustrating for them and it’s frustrating for our vets who pay the price when budgets are delayed: the new doctors, nurses, and critical staff that aren’t hired; the new
    medical equipment that isn’t purchased; the construction of new facilities and clinics that isn’t started; the new programs for medical care that are delayed.

    This is inexcusable. It’s unacceptable. It’s time for it to stop. And that’s just what we’ll do with this landmark legislation — the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act.

    I want everybody to know today is a victory for all the veterans’ organizations who are represented on this stage who fought for years for reform. (Applause.) They deserve a huge congratulations. (Applause.) Today is a tribute to those who
    led the fight in Congress: Senator — and World War II vet — Danny Akaka, and Representative Bob Filner — thank you for your leadership. (Applause.)

    All the leaders who made this possible, starting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who made this commitment to veterans organizations when she became Minority Leader. (Applause.) I was told some people didn’t believe Nancy when she made that
    promise. (Laughter.) Nancy keeps her promises, and I want all our vets to remember that.

    Senator Tim Johnson — for his great work in the Senate. (Applause.) Somebody who has been fighting for veterans since he entered into Congress and is just tireless on this issue — Chet Edwards. Please give Chet a big round of applause.
    (Applause.) The other members of Congress who worked so hard: Michael Michaud — (applause) — Phil Hare — Phil is right here. (Applause.) Harry Brown — Harry Brown did great work on this. (Applause.) And so many others. This is a
    reminder of what’s possible when we come together, Democrats and Republicans, to do right by our veterans.

    And let me say that I take special pride in this legislation because as a senator I was a proud co-sponsor of this legislation. I served on the Veterans Affairs Committee. In the campaign last year, you all remember, I made a promise to
    pass it. And today as President, I’m fulfilling that promise and I’m going to sign it into law. (Applause.)

    With this legislation we’re fundamentally reforming how we fund health care for our veterans. With advance appropriations, veterans’ medical care will be funded a year in advance. For the VA, this means timely, sufficient and predictable
    funding from year to year. For VA hospitals and clinics, it means more time to budget, to recruit high-quality professionals, and to invest in new health care equipment.

    And most of all, for our veterans it will mean better access to the doctors and nurses and the medical care that they need: specialized care for our wounded warriors with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries, and the staffing
    to welcome back to the VA those half-million “Priority 8″ vets.

    In short, this is common-sense reform. It promotes accountability at the VA. It ensures oversight by Congress. It is fiscally responsible by not adding a dime to the deficit. And it ensures that veterans’ health care will no longer be held
    hostage to the annual budget battles in Washington. (Applause.)

    Of course, as we all know, keeping faith with our veterans is work that is never truly done. Today’s veterans expect and deserve the highest-quality care — as will tomorrow’s veterans, especially our men and women serving in Iraq and
    Afghanistan. And should they ask this Veterans Day, will America back up its words with deeds — because of everyone in this room, because of this reform legislation, the answer will be, yes, the United States of America will keep our
    promise to our veterans. We will fulfill our responsibilities. We will uphold our obligations to all who serve. And that’s why I am thrilled to be signing this legislation into law right now.

    Thank you very much. God bless you. (Applause.)

    Uh…….Mr. president? NO WHERE did you state when and where!
    After the high fives and ass slapping (football) where oh where was the meaning? Veterans have heard this BULLSHIITE from your type for Y-E-A-R-S and still we get gubbamint health care from shoddy. 2 bit schisters that have NO IDEA what the costs are to the men, women and families. Nancy Pelosi promises?

    YOU MAKE ME SICK!!
    LD
    Cpl. of Marines
    ‘71 – ‘76

    • canary
      October 23, 2009 at 1:24 am

      Thanks for pointing this out. I keep up with this.

      How nice for Obama’s confession, because he has ignored requests since he took office, holding up the budget, after his campaign lies. Obama has fought against the VA. The Vietnamese dude from Hawaii Obama picked to head the VA has done nothing. Only conservative Republicans.
      The electronic records and equipment is done.

      Obama: “I was told some people didn’t believe Nancy when she made that
      promise. (Laughter.) Nancy keeps her promises, and I want all our vets to remember that.”

      Why are they laughing??? Guess what Pelosi did! She has given some job slots for temporary jobs as “aids” in D.C. No pay for moving and travel expensives to D.C. NO guarantee as to hours or days they will work, or how long the jobs will be available. Mighty white of her.

      What Obama wants is carte blanch to every piece of information on our soldiers.

    • canary
      October 23, 2009 at 2:15 am

      With the exception of Obama thanking Dan Akaka (Democrat Hawaii), he did not thank the list of individuals the VA gave ’special thanks to’.

      Richard Burr – Republican North Carolina
      Olympia Snowe- Republican Maine
      Tim Johnson- Republican Illinoise
      Jim Inhofe- Republican Oklahoma
      Kent Conrad- Democrat North Dakota (voted with Republicans against Health Care Public Option)

    • canary
      October 23, 2009 at 2:29 am

      Note Rusty’s news article below on Health Care Option, where Senator Kent Conrad – Democrat N.D. where once again Obama and Democrat’s “secret party” left Conrad out. Prehaps Conrad should change ‘party’s”

  56. Rusty Shackleford
    October 22, 2009 at 10:53 pm

    Here it comes AGAIN, the PUBLIC OPTION

    The AP:

    Negotiators mull public option in health care bill

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....DMQ–

    By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – 11 mins ago

    WASHINGTON – Senior Senate Democrats at work with White House officials on health care legislation are strongly considering a requirement for the federal government to sell insurance in direct competition with private industry, officials said Thursday, with individual states permitted to drop out of the system.

    Liberals in Congress long have viewed such an approach, called a public option, as an essential ingredient of the effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system, and President Barack Obama has said frequently he favors it. But he has also made clear it is not essential to the legislation he seeks, a gesture to Democratic moderates who have opposed it.

    Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said in separate interviews they had been told the plan was drawing interest in the private negotiations unfolding in an ornate room in the Capitol down the hall from the Senate chamber.

    The final decision is up to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who led a delegation of Democrats to the White House late in the day to discuss health care with Obama.

    “I’m not part of those discussions. What I’m hearing is that this is the direction of the conversation,” said Conrad, who supports an alternative approach under which nonprofit co-ops would compete with private industry.

    “I keep hearing there is a lot of leaning toward some sort of national public option, unfortunately, from my standpoint,” Nelson said.

    The White House declined to comment.

    Reid’s office did likewise, and the Nevada Democrat left the White House without talking with reporters.

    Several officials said no final decisions had been made about including the so-called public option into the legislation. In the extraordinarily complicated atmosphere surrounding health care, one possibility seemed to be that the idea of a public option was being given wide circulation to see whether it could attract enough support to survive on the Senate floor.

    If not, it surely would be jettisoned beforehand, with liberals urged to accept something less or risk defeat of health care legislation. There is little margin for error among Obama’s allies in the Senate as they confront nearly unanimous Republican opposition.

    Democratic moderates are skeptical of allowing the government to sell insurance, concerned that it would mark an unwarranted federal intrusion into the private marketplace. And even if they agreed, it would raise questions of payment rates for doctors, hospitals and other providers.

    Conrad, for example, has said repeatedly he could not accept a plan with payments tied to Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly, because rates in North Dakota are too low to give doctors an incentive to treat additional patients.

    The public option issue has been one of the most vexing of the yearlong effort by Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress to remake the nation’s health care system.

    Legislation taking shape in the House is also expected to include a public option, although it is unlikely states will be allowed to opt out.

    I seem to recall that the boy told us that he was abandoning the “public” option.

    Unfortunately, ladies and gentleman, this is a game of rhetoric and bait and switch with the real bill being agreed upon, not in public, but behind closed doors with the republicans and anyone who opposes a public option locked out of the proceedings. This is a ramrod bill and they are going to stick it to the American people just like they’ve stuck everything else to us.

    They are using deception and subterfuge to get what they want through the government. It has to have the appearance of legitimacy or it will tip their hand. The hand that wants the power over everything.

    They are not satisfied with just a foot in the door. They want you to take the whole vacuum cleaner, the attachment set and the shampooer as well. And they aren’t going to leave until you are forced to take it all.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 23, 2009 at 10:04 am

      And fortunately, Pelosi is finding “it ain’t all that easy”

      From Politico:

      Exclusive: Pelosi lacks votes for most sweeping public option

      Speaker Nancy Pelosi counted votes Thursday night and determined she could not pass a “robust public option” — the most aggressive of the three forms of a public option House Democrats have been considering as part of a national overhaul of health care.

      Pelosi’s decision—coupled with a significant turn of events yesterday during a private White House meeting—points to an increasingly likely compromise for a “trigger” option for a government plan.

      Administration officials have been telling POLITICO for weeks now that this the most likely compromise because it can probably satisfy liberals—albeit only reluctantly and after many vent frustration and some even threaten to walk away from the bill.

      This would clear the way for backers to sneak a limited public option through the Senate by attracting moderate Democrats and then to win President Barack Obama’s signature.

      Obama told Democratic leadership at the White House Thursday evening that his preference is for the trigger championed by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) – a plan that would allow a public plan to kick in if private insurers don’t expand coverage fast enough, a top administration official told POLITICO. It’s also sign Obama is interested in maintaining a sense of bipartisanship around the health reform plan.

      At that meeting, Obama did not sign on to a plan being floated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to include a different variation of the public option in the Senate bill – a plan that would create a national public plan but allow states to “opt-out.” Reid now believes he can get 60 votes to bring a bill with that plan to the floor by breaking an expected GOP filibuster – and then secure the 51 votes needed to pass it.

      But Pelosi’s vote-counting didn’t go as well in the House. There has been a flurry of rumors that a robust government option remains viable. But top House Democrats privately concede that is wishful thinking that ignores the power of moderate Democrats in this debate.

      It still appears to me that the boy is going to force insurers to punish policy-holders into making it appear that the insured are the bad guys in all this. Therefore, by making the insurance companies play by rules that are already hog-tying them, they will be forced to raise premiums on existing policy-holders, forcing them to cry uncle.

      Then, the boy will feign frustration, and say,”Well, I tried it yourway….I’ve no choice but to do itmy way”

      See, it’s all an act and intended for him to get his way, while all the while, appearing to be the good guy. The only thing this clown is good for is that he’s a master manipulator, starting with his youth and how he crafted a niche for himself based not on doing good, mind you, but on self-preservation so he wouldn’t get his ass kicked.

  57. Rusty Shackleford
    October 23, 2009 at 10:56 am

    See? Even NATO “gets it”.

    NATO moves toward more troops for Afghan war

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....fghanistan

    By LARA JAKES, Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 18 mins ago

    BRATISLAVA, Slovakia – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that NATO allies are moving toward sending more troops and civilian aid to Afghanistan.

    Gates said he was “heartened” by allies’ commitment to the 8-year-old war even as the Obama administration mulls whether to order tens of thousands more U.S. troops to the fight.

    The Pentagon chief cited a long-term commitment by NATO partners to remain in Afghanistan until the conflict is successfully resolved.

    At a meeting of 28 NATO defense ministers in Bratislava, Gates said he did not seek specific promises of military assistance, and none was given. He described, however, “a renewed determination to see this through.”

    “There were a number of allies who indicated they were thinking about, or were moving toward, increasing either their military or their civilian contributions, or both,” Gates said at a news conference. “And I found that very heartening.”

    He praised NATO nations for already doubling the number of troops they have sent to Afghanistan over the last 15 months. “People really have been stepping up to this,” Gates said.

    Gates also sought to assure allies that the United States also will remain in the fight, despite the Obama administration’s ongoing indecision over a war strategy.

    “We’re not pulling out,” He said. “I think that any reduction is very unlikely.”

    He said President Barack Obama would consider specific plans for moving forward over the next two to three weeks.

    Yup, Zippy is on top of things. I’m sure he has more important things to do than “run banks or car companies”. See, when he’s accused of running banks and car companies, he says “I don’t want to run things, I have two wars to run..I have plenty to do” but then, when he is told he’s not really involved with the wars, that he’s busy “running car companies and banks” (which he is) he then accuses FOX of lying.

    It’s like talking to a five-year-old.

  58. canary
    October 23, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    AP: Pilots flew Northwest jet 150 miles past airport
    By Joan Lowy Oct 23 3009

    WASHINGTON – Federal investigators are scrambling to determine what happened aboard a Northwest Airlines jetliner whose crew flew 150 miles past its destination while air traffic controllers, other pilots and even a flight attendant back in the cabin tried to get their attention.

    Wednesday night, the airliner with more than 140 passengers aboard zoomed past Minneapolis at 37,000 feet at what was supposed to be the end of a flight from San Diego.

    On the ground, police and FBI agents prepared for the worst, and the Air National Guard put fighter jets on alert at two locations as the drama unfolded.

    Pilots from two other planes in the vicinity were finally able to reach the pilots using a different radio frequency

    By that time, the Airbus A320 was over Eau Claire, Wis., and the pilots had been out of communication with air traffic controllers for over an hour.

    two pilots working with Minneapolis controllers finally got through just before the plane turned around

    After re-establishing contact with the plane, controllers asked the pilot in charge to execute a series of turns to show he was in control of the aircraft, Church said.

    “Controllers have a heightened sense of vigilance when we’re not able to talk to an aircraft. That’s the reality post-9/11,” he said.

    The flight attendants “did say there was a delay and we’d have to orbit or something to that effect before we got back. They really didn’t say we overflew Minneapolis. … They implied it was just a business-as-usual delay,” said Heidtke, a consultant with a supercomputer consulting company based in Bloomington, Minn.

    The pilots’ explanation that they were distracted by shop talk “just doesn’t make any sense,” said Bill Voss

    In January 2008, two pilots for go! airlines fell asleep for at least 18 minutes during a midmorning flight from Honolulu to Hilo, Hawaii. The plane passed its destination and was heading out over open ocean

    AP Airlines Writer Joshua Freed and AP Writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Dave Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_.....NmbGV3bm8-

    Gee. I sure hope both Air Force1 pilots are getting enough sleep with all those party’s they keep taking Obama too. ;)

  59. canary
    October 23, 2009 at 7:21 pm

    Rusty, the full article mentioned a possibility the pilots were actually asleep, as their excuse makes no sense. The article goes more indepth to the failed attempts to contact the pilots, whose names were not listed. Maybe the pilots names were hard to spell like Ahmadman’s

    • Steve
      October 23, 2009 at 7:31 pm

      I think Rusty’s point is that this does not have much to do with media bias — or even politics.

      Which is what this thread and the whole site is supposed to be about.

    • canary
      October 23, 2009 at 7:51 pm

      Oh? I’ll stick to NFL and McNab

    • Rusty Shackleford
      October 23, 2009 at 8:41 pm

      Steve is correct.

      Wasn’t trying to pick on anyone so I figured a simple question would be best.

      Although…I will say, 99% of the time the MSM has no idea what’s it’s talking about when it comes to anything requiring technical merit. Or even day-to-day mundane things, like making toast.

      So biased reporting on anything is to be expected. I daren’t get into any sort of debate about NW’s flight ops, crew-scheduling, duty day, etc. My guess is that they suffer the same slings and arrows as the pilots where I work and train them on the A320.

      Mostly, I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt until the full investigation is complete. What this all has to do with politics is absolute zero. Media bias? Maybe…but…..doesn’t fit our usual regimen and canary usually finds those interesting factoids that are often VERY relevant so I was a bit lost. Figured I had missed something that everyone else knew about and I was the lone ranger.

      However, given that these days airplanes have been used as guided missiles I suddenly see the relevance. My working knowledge about procedures though prevented me from seeing that.

      Sorry it escaped me. One of my obtuse moments, no doubt.

    • Steve
      October 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm

      I certainly don’t mean to pick on anyone, either. (Least of all Canary, who posts so much great stuff.)

      It’s just that the “Selected News” thread can’t be for any and all news — or it will simply get too long and it will bog down the whole site.

      So we have to keep it to stuff that fits our mission — which is (primarily) to expose the nefarious media.

  60. canary
    October 23, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    YahooNews: WH releases official Obama family photo; high-profile week for first lady Oct 23 2009

    This week the White House released the much-anticipated official Obama family photo on its Flickr page. The portrait was taken in the Green Room of the White House on September 1 by famed Vanity Fair photographer Annie Leibovitz, notable for her decades of work capturing the images of rock stars and Hollywood’s elite as well as for her multimillion-dollar fortune’s recent collapse…

    Michelle Obama style-watchers may want to note she’s not in a sleeveless dress: The bare arms in her solo official portrait caused a minor stir when it was released last February.

    The portrait adds to a flurry of Michelle Obama publicity this week. On Wednesday she hosted a “healthy kids fair” for approximately 100 Washington D.C.-area schoolchildren on the South Lawn of the White House. During the event, part of her ongoing effort to educate children about the importance of proper diet and exercise, the first lady wowed onlookers by swiveling a Hula-Hoop 142 times before it finally hit the ground. Not quite done there, Mrs. Obama also took off her shoes to run an obstacle course with hurdles.

    Also on the agenda: tackling the 10 questions segment of “The Jay Leno Show” on Friday night. The rapid-fire “Ten @ Ten” questions — … which has been tanking in the ratings of late.

    Also this week, a new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that the American people view Michelle much more favorably than they do her husband or Vice President Joe Biden,…

    Approval numbers for the president, meanwhile, have been sliding; the USAToday/Gallup poll notes that Obama is viewed favorably by 55 percent of respondents, down from 68 perecent just after the election. Insiders were quick to note when Laura Bush raised her profile during the last days of her husband’s embattled term; similarly, her successor’s PR efforts are getting noticed.

    – Brett Michael Dykes is a contributor to the Yahoo! News Blog

    If Laura Bush had been spokesman for a maybe too quiet Bush, he’d have rated better. The few times I saw her do interviews, she would tell of the things Bush was doing; concrete things he was doing for the environment, cell stem research (no need for embryo’s), etc. Celebrity Michelle can’t hold a candle to the work Laura Bush did as first lady.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/.....vZg–

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