By Nicholas Contompasis
I feel that Barrack Obama is not really Barrack Obama. He’s Barrack Davis the son of now deceased Frank Marshall Davis the well known “married at the time” communist poet. If you know anything about the President’s birth certificate problem, you will know that it’s still an issue but not for the reason everyone thinks.
To put it simply, I think it’s to protect the marriage and children of Frank Davis his biological father. This flurry over his birth certificate is just a misinterpretation as to why they are hiding the real certificate. It was a family secret that was intended to stay secret but unfortunately Mr. Obama’s life turned public, thus the problem. Also, it wouldn't look good if your father was a known and closely watched communist living in Hawaii.
Now, on to the President and his connection to the Super Bowl ad two years ago which had all of the pro-abortionists going crazy. A few years ago the President stated that he admired his mother for making the very same decision Tim Tebow’s mother did. So, Barrack’s mother was impregnated by a married man and she simply chose to have the baby who is now our President.
Barrack Obama once stated “I don’t want my daughters to be ‘victimized’ with a child and I am alive because my mother took the contrary view”, thus, the same decision as Tim’s mother.
Donald Trump is smart in pushing this birth certificate issue because it will show the truth about what Obama wants for America. His mentoring with Davis in his formative years twisted his feelings about the country he was raised in.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Bill Gross Says U.S. Debt Has Little Value, Echoes Buffett - "Don't Tell the ChiComs"
"One must beg the question, why would anyone buy our debt?".
N.P. Contompasis
By Bill Gross Co-CIO of PIMCO
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said Treasuries “have little value” because of the growing U.S. debt burden.
The U.S. has unrecorded debt of $75 trillion, or close to 500 percent of gross domestic product, counting what it owes on its bonds plus obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Gross wrote in his monthly investment outlook. The U.S. will experience inflation, currency devaluation and low-to- negative interest rates after accounting for consumer-price gains if it doesn’t reform its entitlement programs, he said.
Pimco “has been selling Treasuries because they have little value within the context of a $75 trillion total debt burden,” Gross wrote in the report published on Newport Beach, California-based company’s website. Congress “must make ‘debt’ a four-letter word.”
The comment echoes Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who recommended avoiding long-term fixed-income bets in U.S. dollars because the currency’s purchasing power will drop. Treasuries have handed investors a 0.1 percent loss this quarter, adding to a 2.7 percent decline in the final three months of 2010, based on Bank of America Merrill Lynch data.
President Barack Obama’s government has increased the U.S. publicly traded debt to a record $9.05 trillion, leading Gross to compare the nation to Greece, which had its credit ratings cut two steps by Standard & Poor’s on March 29.
“We are out-Greeking the Greeks,” he wrote.
Inflation Risk
Gross said in an interview March 11 that he eliminated government-related debt from his Total Return Fund because investors aren’t being adequately compensated for the risk of quickening inflation.
Buffett has shortened the maturities of Omaha, Nebraska- based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s bond holdings as the Federal Reserve eased monetary policy to stimulate the economy, according to regulatory filings.
“I would recommend against buying long-term fixed-dollar investments,” Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire, said March 25 in New Delhi. “If you ask me if the U.S. dollar is going to hold its purchasing power fully at the level of 2011, 5 years, 10 years or 20 years from now, I would tell you it will not.”
Consumer Prices
Treasuries were little changed today, with benchmark 10- year notes yielding 3.44 percent as of 6:52 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. The 3.625 percent note maturing in February 2021 traded at 101 1/2.
The Fed said in November it would pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy by purchasing Treasuries to sustain the economic expansion.
The difference between yields on 10-year notes and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, a gauge of trader expectations for consumer prices over the life of the debt, has widened to 2.46 percentage points from 1.82 percentage points six months ago. The 10-year average is 2.0 percentage points.
Treasury 10-year notes pay 1.34 percent after subtracting consumer-price increases, the so-called real yield. That’s down from last year’s high of 2.39 percent in December.
Pimco’s record $236.9 billion Total Return Fund gained 7 percent in the past year, beating 82 percent of its competitors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company is a unit of insurer Allianz SE in Munich.
N.P. Contompasis
By Bill Gross Co-CIO of PIMCO
March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said Treasuries “have little value” because of the growing U.S. debt burden.
The U.S. has unrecorded debt of $75 trillion, or close to 500 percent of gross domestic product, counting what it owes on its bonds plus obligations for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Gross wrote in his monthly investment outlook. The U.S. will experience inflation, currency devaluation and low-to- negative interest rates after accounting for consumer-price gains if it doesn’t reform its entitlement programs, he said.
Pimco “has been selling Treasuries because they have little value within the context of a $75 trillion total debt burden,” Gross wrote in the report published on Newport Beach, California-based company’s website. Congress “must make ‘debt’ a four-letter word.”
The comment echoes Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who recommended avoiding long-term fixed-income bets in U.S. dollars because the currency’s purchasing power will drop. Treasuries have handed investors a 0.1 percent loss this quarter, adding to a 2.7 percent decline in the final three months of 2010, based on Bank of America Merrill Lynch data.
President Barack Obama’s government has increased the U.S. publicly traded debt to a record $9.05 trillion, leading Gross to compare the nation to Greece, which had its credit ratings cut two steps by Standard & Poor’s on March 29.
“We are out-Greeking the Greeks,” he wrote.
Inflation Risk
Gross said in an interview March 11 that he eliminated government-related debt from his Total Return Fund because investors aren’t being adequately compensated for the risk of quickening inflation.
Buffett has shortened the maturities of Omaha, Nebraska- based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s bond holdings as the Federal Reserve eased monetary policy to stimulate the economy, according to regulatory filings.
“I would recommend against buying long-term fixed-dollar investments,” Buffett, chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire, said March 25 in New Delhi. “If you ask me if the U.S. dollar is going to hold its purchasing power fully at the level of 2011, 5 years, 10 years or 20 years from now, I would tell you it will not.”
Consumer Prices
Treasuries were little changed today, with benchmark 10- year notes yielding 3.44 percent as of 6:52 a.m. in London, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. The 3.625 percent note maturing in February 2021 traded at 101 1/2.
The Fed said in November it would pump $600 billion into the U.S. economy by purchasing Treasuries to sustain the economic expansion.
The difference between yields on 10-year notes and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, a gauge of trader expectations for consumer prices over the life of the debt, has widened to 2.46 percentage points from 1.82 percentage points six months ago. The 10-year average is 2.0 percentage points.
Treasury 10-year notes pay 1.34 percent after subtracting consumer-price increases, the so-called real yield. That’s down from last year’s high of 2.39 percent in December.
Pimco’s record $236.9 billion Total Return Fund gained 7 percent in the past year, beating 82 percent of its competitors, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company is a unit of insurer Allianz SE in Munich.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is Under House Arrest
"Sent by Twitter from Syria and translated from Arabic to English by me."
Submitted 26 March 2011 - 09:46 AM civilians in Syria by Admin Today at 8:16 am killed Farouq al-Shara and the development of Bashar al-Assad is under house arrest and a war of extermination against civilians in Syria ... Andenne - Arabs and Wikileaks - through a telephone conversation with the officer in the Division of Political Security. This source confirmed to us that Faruq al-Shara was assassinated at the hands of Maher al-Assad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is under house arrest and de facto authority, however, Maher Assad, brother of Syrian President and the Commander of the Republican Guard. It is expected in the coming days (today or tomorrow) to be declared a military coup in Syria, especially after the defection of some of the military leaders and their refusal to participate in this war by targeting civilians. The source confirmed that they had received direct orders from high command to kill the demonstrators and a big focus on the Sunni community because they have this community what is happening now in Syria, the source added that the Republican Guard under the leadership of Maher al-Assad is preparing for the complete annihilation of the demonstrators in all the provinces were brought elements fighter from neighboring countries ( declined to give these countries), and this is a campaign of genocide under the name of maintaining security and considering that these demonstrators tool to stir up trouble !!!!! She said our sources from within Syria that have been killed more than 400 people at the hands of the Republican Guard and security forces in all Syrian governorates.
Submitted 26 March 2011 - 09:46 AM civilians in Syria by Admin Today at 8:16 am killed Farouq al-Shara and the development of Bashar al-Assad is under house arrest and a war of extermination against civilians in Syria ... Andenne - Arabs and Wikileaks - through a telephone conversation with the officer in the Division of Political Security. This source confirmed to us that Faruq al-Shara was assassinated at the hands of Maher al-Assad and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is under house arrest and de facto authority, however, Maher Assad, brother of Syrian President and the Commander of the Republican Guard. It is expected in the coming days (today or tomorrow) to be declared a military coup in Syria, especially after the defection of some of the military leaders and their refusal to participate in this war by targeting civilians. The source confirmed that they had received direct orders from high command to kill the demonstrators and a big focus on the Sunni community because they have this community what is happening now in Syria, the source added that the Republican Guard under the leadership of Maher al-Assad is preparing for the complete annihilation of the demonstrators in all the provinces were brought elements fighter from neighboring countries ( declined to give these countries), and this is a campaign of genocide under the name of maintaining security and considering that these demonstrators tool to stir up trouble !!!!! She said our sources from within Syria that have been killed more than 400 people at the hands of the Republican Guard and security forces in all Syrian governorates.
Soros Fingerprints on Libya Bombing
Borrowed from Fox News - Thank You
By Aaron Klein
Philanthropist billionaire George Soros is a primary funder and key proponent of the global organization that promotes the military doctrine used by the Obama administration to justify the recent airstrikes targeting the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.
The activist who founded and coined the name of the doctrine, "Responsibility to Protect," sits on several key organizations alongside Soros.
Also, the Soros-funded global group that promotes Responsibility to Protect is closely tied to Samantha Power, the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights.
Power has been a champion of the doctrine and is, herself, deeply tied to the doctrine's founder.
According to reports, Power was instrumental in convincing Obama to act against Libya.
The Responsibility to Protect doctrine has been described by its founders and proponents, including Soros, as promoting global governance while allowing the international community to penetrate a nation state's borders under certain conditions.
By Aaron Klein
Philanthropist billionaire George Soros is a primary funder and key proponent of the global organization that promotes the military doctrine used by the Obama administration to justify the recent airstrikes targeting the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya.
The activist who founded and coined the name of the doctrine, "Responsibility to Protect," sits on several key organizations alongside Soros.
Also, the Soros-funded global group that promotes Responsibility to Protect is closely tied to Samantha Power, the National Security Council special adviser to Obama on human rights.
Power has been a champion of the doctrine and is, herself, deeply tied to the doctrine's founder.
According to reports, Power was instrumental in convincing Obama to act against Libya.
The Responsibility to Protect doctrine has been described by its founders and proponents, including Soros, as promoting global governance while allowing the international community to penetrate a nation state's borders under certain conditions.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Leader of the Libyan Rebels Spent 20 Years Living Next Door to the CIA - Hmm
New Libyan rebel leader spent much of past 20 years in suburban Virginia
BY CHRIS ADAMS
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- The new leader of Libya's opposition military spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled - even in his late-60s - to return to the battlefield in his homeland, according to people who know him.
Khalifa Hifter was once a top military officer for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but after a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s, Hifter switched to the anti-Gadhafi opposition. In the early 1990s, he moved to suburban Virginia, where he established a life but maintained ties to anti-Gadhafi groups.
Late last week, Hifter was appointed to lead the rebel army, which has been in chaos for weeks. He is the third such leader in less than a month, and rebels interviewed in Libya openly voiced distrust for the most recent leader, Abdel Fatah Younes, who had been at Gadhafi's side until just a month ago.
At a news conference Thursday, the rebel's military spokesman said Younes will stay as Hifter's chief of staff, and added that the army - such as it is - would need "weeks" of training.
According to Abdel Salam Badr of Richmond, Va., who said he has known Hifter all his life - including back in Libya - Hifter, whose name is sometimes spelled Haftar, Hefter or Huftur, was motivated by his intense anti-Gadhafi feelings.
"Libyans - every single one of them - they hate that guy so much they will do whatever it takes," Badr said in an interview Saturday. "Khalifa has a personal grudge against Gadhafi.... That was his purpose in life."
According to Badr and another friend in the U.S., a Georgia-based Libyan activist named Salem alHasi, Hifter left for Libya two weeks ago.
alHasi, who said Hifter was once his superior in the opposition's military wing, said he and Hifter talked in mid-February about the possibility that Gadhafi would use force on protesters.
"He made the decision he had to go inside Libya," alHasi said Saturday. "With his military experience, and with his strong relationship with officers on many levels of rank, he decided to go and see the possibility of participating in the military effort against Gadhafi."
He added that Hifter is very popular among members of the Libyan army, "and he is the most experienced person in the whole Libyan army." He acted out of a sense of "national responsibility," alHasi said.
"This responsibility no one can take care of but him," alHasi said. "I know very well that the Libyan army especially in the eastern part is in desperate need of his presence."
Omar Elkeddi, a Libyan expatriate journalist based in Holland, said in an interview that the opposition forces are getting more organized than they were at the beginning up the uprising. Hifter, he said, is "very professional, very distinguished," and commands great respect.
Since arriving in the United States in the early 1990s, Hifter lived in suburban Virginia outside Washington, D.C. Badr said he was unsure exactly what Hifter did to support himself, and that Hifter primarily focused on helping his large family.
BY CHRIS ADAMS
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- The new leader of Libya's opposition military spent the past two decades in suburban Virginia but felt compelled - even in his late-60s - to return to the battlefield in his homeland, according to people who know him.
Khalifa Hifter was once a top military officer for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but after a disastrous military adventure in Chad in the late 1980s, Hifter switched to the anti-Gadhafi opposition. In the early 1990s, he moved to suburban Virginia, where he established a life but maintained ties to anti-Gadhafi groups.
Late last week, Hifter was appointed to lead the rebel army, which has been in chaos for weeks. He is the third such leader in less than a month, and rebels interviewed in Libya openly voiced distrust for the most recent leader, Abdel Fatah Younes, who had been at Gadhafi's side until just a month ago.
At a news conference Thursday, the rebel's military spokesman said Younes will stay as Hifter's chief of staff, and added that the army - such as it is - would need "weeks" of training.
According to Abdel Salam Badr of Richmond, Va., who said he has known Hifter all his life - including back in Libya - Hifter, whose name is sometimes spelled Haftar, Hefter or Huftur, was motivated by his intense anti-Gadhafi feelings.
"Libyans - every single one of them - they hate that guy so much they will do whatever it takes," Badr said in an interview Saturday. "Khalifa has a personal grudge against Gadhafi.... That was his purpose in life."
According to Badr and another friend in the U.S., a Georgia-based Libyan activist named Salem alHasi, Hifter left for Libya two weeks ago.
alHasi, who said Hifter was once his superior in the opposition's military wing, said he and Hifter talked in mid-February about the possibility that Gadhafi would use force on protesters.
"He made the decision he had to go inside Libya," alHasi said Saturday. "With his military experience, and with his strong relationship with officers on many levels of rank, he decided to go and see the possibility of participating in the military effort against Gadhafi."
He added that Hifter is very popular among members of the Libyan army, "and he is the most experienced person in the whole Libyan army." He acted out of a sense of "national responsibility," alHasi said.
"This responsibility no one can take care of but him," alHasi said. "I know very well that the Libyan army especially in the eastern part is in desperate need of his presence."
Omar Elkeddi, a Libyan expatriate journalist based in Holland, said in an interview that the opposition forces are getting more organized than they were at the beginning up the uprising. Hifter, he said, is "very professional, very distinguished," and commands great respect.
Since arriving in the United States in the early 1990s, Hifter lived in suburban Virginia outside Washington, D.C. Badr said he was unsure exactly what Hifter did to support himself, and that Hifter primarily focused on helping his large family.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Reverse Terrorism
"From afar, for the most part, the people across the Middle East are offering themselves to the sharpshooters of their masters. They are sacrificing their young hopeless lives for the mere chance, now with the aid of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, that the world will finally see the tortuous inhuman environment they've lived with for decades. Can you imagine how desperate one must be to go out into the streets unarmed against modern mechanized armies? This form of reverse terrorism goes far beyond passive resistance. It illustrates in its purist form man's desire to be free.
With that said, unfortunately we must remember this is the Middle East where nothing is what it appears to be." - N.P. Contompasis
With that said, unfortunately we must remember this is the Middle East where nothing is what it appears to be." - N.P. Contompasis
Donald Trump’s Gets Support With Birth Certificate Strategy
By Jonathan Strong - The Daily - Thank you
“Of course I’d release it. In two seconds I’d release it. If I decide to run, I’ll absolutely release it,” Donald Trump said in an interview with The Daily Caller Thursday, referring to his own birth certificate. “I have it right on my desk. I have it right here, right now, right this minute. I am literally looking at it. Because, based on this I said, ‘do me a favor, get me my birth certificate.’ I have my original birth certificate right here.”
Donald Trump has been thinking a lot about birth certificates lately. Indeed, he has made questions about Barack Obama’s birth certificate a pivotal part of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. And it appears to be working. One recent poll has Trump running fifth in the GOP field, just two points behind former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“There’s a very clear niche in the Republican primary,” said longtime political consultant Roger Stone. “It’s a brilliant base-building move. There’s a very active, fervent subset of voters interested in this.” Stone, who has worked for Trump in years past, says he has no paid role in Trump’s current campaign, though he does allow that the two continue to “talk politics from time to time.”
Republican pollster John McLaughlin agrees that Trump’s remarks may be part of a larger, and potentially effective, campaign strategy. “Just like Obama won the nomination as the most anti-Bush candidate, the Republican nomination is going to be won by the most anti-Obama candidate,” McLaughlin said. “He’s positioning himself to be the most
aggressive candidate against Obama. If you want to win a primary that’s the way you win a primary.”
For his part, Trump denies that raising questions about Obama’s birth certificate has anything to do with his own political ambitions. “No. Not at all. Not at all,” he said.
With that said, Trump launches into a passionate and detailed discussion of the subject. “We’ve studied it very closely. His family doesn’t even know what hospital he was born in. You know that, right? Do you know that? This is all fact. This is all in the records.”
The publicly-released records of Obama’s birth include a “short-form” certification of live birth created in 2007, a document adequate to apply for a U.S. passport. Yet, as Trump points out, Obama has never released his hospital-produced, “long form” birth certificate. “Here’s the thing: why doesn’t he release his birth certificate?” Trump asked. “If they have it, why don’t they release it?”
Asked if he believes Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, as contemporaneous newspaper announcements suggest, Trump repeated the same line several times: “I want to see his birth certificate.”
Told that the current governor of Hawaii, Democrat Neil Abercrombie, has claimed he remembers Obama’s birth, Trump scoffed. “Well, I think it’s pretty unusual that … a governor currently sitting is going to think back to 50 years and say ‘I remember when he was born.’ Pretty unusual, right? He must have a pretty good memory.”
“I hope he was born in this country,” Trump said. “But the word ‘hope’ is not good enough because if he’s president, he has to be born in the country.”
Lines like this are unlikely to win Trump the endorsement of the New York Times editorial page. But according to consultants Stone and McLaughlin, they may help with primary voters. “It’s a brilliant stratagem in a multi-candidate field,” Stone said. “He just needs a plurality.”
Voters with questions about Obama’s birth could provide that margin. A poll conducted in last month by Public Policy Polling found that 51 percent of likely Republican primary voters don’t believe Obama was born in the United States. Twenty-one percent said they were unsure, while 28 percent said they firmly believe he was born here. Stone said he’s seen other private polls that show about one-third of primary voters feel “very strongly” about the issue.
So far, Obama and his political machine have done an effective job of controlling the issue in the mainstream press, and many think the president has deliberately avoided releasing his birth certificate so he could use the issue to paint conservatives as crazy.
John McLaughlin says that tactic worked well in 2008, but since Obama is far less popular now, and facing much greater scrutiny as a sitting president, questions about his birth certificate are hurting him. “To not put it out now, it’s like, ‘why won’t you put it out?’” McLaughlin said, adding that he personally believes Obama was born in Hawaii.
At this point, Donald Trump and Barack Obama have at least one thing in common: Both claim to have an original birth certificate, yet neither has publicly released one. Asked if he would release his now, before officially announcing for president, Trump doesn’t hesitate. “Nooo,” he said. “Why would I release it to you? I’ve never even heard of you.”
“Of course I’d release it. In two seconds I’d release it. If I decide to run, I’ll absolutely release it,” Donald Trump said in an interview with The Daily Caller Thursday, referring to his own birth certificate. “I have it right on my desk. I have it right here, right now, right this minute. I am literally looking at it. Because, based on this I said, ‘do me a favor, get me my birth certificate.’ I have my original birth certificate right here.”
Donald Trump has been thinking a lot about birth certificates lately. Indeed, he has made questions about Barack Obama’s birth certificate a pivotal part of his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. And it appears to be working. One recent poll has Trump running fifth in the GOP field, just two points behind former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
“There’s a very clear niche in the Republican primary,” said longtime political consultant Roger Stone. “It’s a brilliant base-building move. There’s a very active, fervent subset of voters interested in this.” Stone, who has worked for Trump in years past, says he has no paid role in Trump’s current campaign, though he does allow that the two continue to “talk politics from time to time.”
Republican pollster John McLaughlin agrees that Trump’s remarks may be part of a larger, and potentially effective, campaign strategy. “Just like Obama won the nomination as the most anti-Bush candidate, the Republican nomination is going to be won by the most anti-Obama candidate,” McLaughlin said. “He’s positioning himself to be the most
aggressive candidate against Obama. If you want to win a primary that’s the way you win a primary.”
For his part, Trump denies that raising questions about Obama’s birth certificate has anything to do with his own political ambitions. “No. Not at all. Not at all,” he said.
With that said, Trump launches into a passionate and detailed discussion of the subject. “We’ve studied it very closely. His family doesn’t even know what hospital he was born in. You know that, right? Do you know that? This is all fact. This is all in the records.”
The publicly-released records of Obama’s birth include a “short-form” certification of live birth created in 2007, a document adequate to apply for a U.S. passport. Yet, as Trump points out, Obama has never released his hospital-produced, “long form” birth certificate. “Here’s the thing: why doesn’t he release his birth certificate?” Trump asked. “If they have it, why don’t they release it?”
Asked if he believes Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961, as contemporaneous newspaper announcements suggest, Trump repeated the same line several times: “I want to see his birth certificate.”
Told that the current governor of Hawaii, Democrat Neil Abercrombie, has claimed he remembers Obama’s birth, Trump scoffed. “Well, I think it’s pretty unusual that … a governor currently sitting is going to think back to 50 years and say ‘I remember when he was born.’ Pretty unusual, right? He must have a pretty good memory.”
“I hope he was born in this country,” Trump said. “But the word ‘hope’ is not good enough because if he’s president, he has to be born in the country.”
Lines like this are unlikely to win Trump the endorsement of the New York Times editorial page. But according to consultants Stone and McLaughlin, they may help with primary voters. “It’s a brilliant stratagem in a multi-candidate field,” Stone said. “He just needs a plurality.”
Voters with questions about Obama’s birth could provide that margin. A poll conducted in last month by Public Policy Polling found that 51 percent of likely Republican primary voters don’t believe Obama was born in the United States. Twenty-one percent said they were unsure, while 28 percent said they firmly believe he was born here. Stone said he’s seen other private polls that show about one-third of primary voters feel “very strongly” about the issue.
So far, Obama and his political machine have done an effective job of controlling the issue in the mainstream press, and many think the president has deliberately avoided releasing his birth certificate so he could use the issue to paint conservatives as crazy.
John McLaughlin says that tactic worked well in 2008, but since Obama is far less popular now, and facing much greater scrutiny as a sitting president, questions about his birth certificate are hurting him. “To not put it out now, it’s like, ‘why won’t you put it out?’” McLaughlin said, adding that he personally believes Obama was born in Hawaii.
At this point, Donald Trump and Barack Obama have at least one thing in common: Both claim to have an original birth certificate, yet neither has publicly released one. Asked if he would release his now, before officially announcing for president, Trump doesn’t hesitate. “Nooo,” he said. “Why would I release it to you? I’ve never even heard of you.”
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Egypt Makes Protesting and Union Strikes Against the Law
The Egyptian government on Wednesday passed a law criminalizing protests and strikes. Under the new law, anyone organizing or calling for a protest will be sentenced to jail and/or a fine of LE500,000.
The new law will be enforced as long as the current Emergency Law is in place, said the cabinet in a statement on Wednesday. The Emergency Law has been in force since 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat.
The new law will apply to anyone inciting, urging, promoting or participating in a protest or strike that hampers or delays work at any private or public establishments.
Since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak on 11 February, Egypt has witnessed nationwide labor strikes and political protests. Among those protesting have been university students, political activists, railway workers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, journalists, pensioners, and the police force.
The new law will be enforced as long as the current Emergency Law is in place, said the cabinet in a statement on Wednesday. The Emergency Law has been in force since 1981 following the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat.
The new law will apply to anyone inciting, urging, promoting or participating in a protest or strike that hampers or delays work at any private or public establishments.
Since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak on 11 February, Egypt has witnessed nationwide labor strikes and political protests. Among those protesting have been university students, political activists, railway workers, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, journalists, pensioners, and the police force.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Libya
"Let's not mince words, we are not in Libya for humanitarian reasons. We are there for the benefit of our European allies access to Libyan oil. Anything else is pure bullshit." - N.P.Contompasis
CAUGHT ON TAPE: A SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan to Destroy the Country, JP Morgan, Crash the Stock Market, and Redistribute Wealth in America
"There are plans by these people to disrupt our country this year. They will be working in the shadows to destroy America, with designs on recreating a socialist society. All of America must be on guard, we as a people have never been more vulnerable, so you must resist any attempts to cause disruption in America." N.P.Contompasis
By Henry Blodget
A former official of one of the country's most-powerful unions, SEIU, has a secret plan to "destabilize" the country.
The plan is designed to destroy JP Morgan, nuke the stock market, and weaken Wall Street's grip on power, thus creating the conditions necessary for a redistribution of wealth and a change in government.
The former SEIU official, Stephen Lerner, spoke in a closed session at a Pace University forum last weekend.
The Blaze procured what appears to be a tape of Lerner's remarks. Many Americans will undoubtedly sympathize with and support them. Still, the "destabilization" plan is startling in its specificity, especially coming so close on the heels of the financial crisis.
Lerner said that unions and community organizations are, for all intents and purposes, dead. The only way to achieve their goals, therefore--the redistribution of wealth and the return of "$17 trillion" stolen from the middle class by Wall Street--is to "destabilize the country."
Lerner's plan is to organize a mass, coordinated "strike" on mortgage, student loan, and local government debt payments--thus bringing the banks to the edge of insolvency and forcing them to renegotiate the terms of the loans. This destabilization and turmoil, Lerner hopes, will also crash the stock market, isolating the banking class and allowing for a transfer of power.
Lerner's plan starts by attacking JP Morgan Chase in early May, with demonstrations on Wall Street, protests at the annual shareholder meeting, and then calls for a coordinated mortgage strike.
Lerner also says explicitly that, although the attack will benefit labor unions, it cannot be seen as being organized by them. It must therefore be run by community organizations.
Lerner was ousted from SEIU last November, reportedly for spending millions of the union's dollars trying to pursue a plan like the one he details here. It is not clear what, if any, power and influence he currently wields. His main message--that Wall Street won the financial crisis, that inequality in this country is hitting record levels, and that there appears to be no other way to stop the trend--will almost certainly resonate.
A transcript of Lerner's full reported remarks is below, courtesy of The Blaze. We have heard the tape, but we have not independently verified that the voice is Lerner's. You can listen to the tape here.
Here are the key remarks:
Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also. And if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge - the big banks and everything - what they want is stability.
There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.
For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that's totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up
If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.
Students have a trillion dollar debt
We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn't be paying anything...
We have to think much more creatively. The key thing... What does the other side fear the most - they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went down
The folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy:
• How do we bring down the stock market
• How do we bring down their bonuses
• How do we interfere with there ability to be rich...
So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street. And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don't want to give any details because I don't know if there are any police agents in the room.
The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas
• that we are not broke there is plenty of money
• they have the money - we need to get it back
• and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us
And so we need to take on those folks at the same time. And that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city. Then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus. There is going to be a ten state mobilization to try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense
Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.
Read more here http://www.businessinsider.com/seiu-union-plan-to-destroy-jpmorgan
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
A Closer Look at Obama's Attack on Libya
By Nicholas Contompasis
"So, by using Obama's reckless logic of volunteering our US Military for a UN attack against Libya without Congressional approval, you could some day see these same UN forces on the streets of America, bombing and killing US cities and Americans without Congressional approval. President Obama has crossed the line our Forefathers feared."
"So, by using Obama's reckless logic of volunteering our US Military for a UN attack against Libya without Congressional approval, you could some day see these same UN forces on the streets of America, bombing and killing US cities and Americans without Congressional approval. President Obama has crossed the line our Forefathers feared."
Monday, March 21, 2011
Minister Louis Abdul-Haleem Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. – “Who the Hell Do You Think You Are?” – 3:33 P.M. March 21st 2011
By Nicholas Contompasis
Dave knew why the President had dragged his feet in helping the European coalition attack Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Libya, and it wasn’t because he was indecisive. It was because he knew the President had personally seen the millions of petrodollars that came in from Gaddafi to Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam while in Farrakhan’s headquarters in Chicago. A lot of that cash was redirected to a personal slush fund for the Senator, now President, and Farrakhan knew it. Farrakhan had the President by the balls, and one comment from Calypso-Louie and the jig would literally be up.
Dave knew there would be problems with the action against Libya and that it could expose the President's loyalty to a known terrorist. It could be construed as aiding and abetting a terrorist, along with violating the human rights of the Libyan people. He knew this made the President nervous and it showed every time he was on the tube. Any connection to Gaddafi’s money and the President would be an impeachable offense. The President’s past was getting to close too the surface and he couldn’t stop it from bubbling into the media, especially when his old Black-Muslim buddy in Chicago was spouting off over the weekend with threats of “who the hell do you think you are Barack Hussein Obama?”
Hillary Clinton was looking more like Superwomen after the past three weeks of infighting with the President. She knew what she was dealing with. Hillary had already been briefed on Obama’s past, two years ago, and knew he had many Achilles heals that could hamper him from making decisions, and this was one of them. She knew that when these moments would occur it would be very beneficial to her future political ambitions if she capitalized on the event.
But, Dave didn’t have time for this political intrigue; he had bigger fish to fry. From most of the intel he was receiving from around the world, in his thirty plus years at the agency, he had never seen such chaos and disorder. It was as though the entire third world was unraveling. There were always moving parts, but now there were more of them and moving faster than the speed of light. What was even more troubling was Africa and the Middle East. It literally was imploding in front of his very eyes, and he knew George was out there in the middle of it all carrying out his off-the-grid mission of God knows what.
Dave was running all of this through his mind when he set his late afternoon coffee down in the console of his BMW and pulled over after noticing someone was following him in a white rental van with the obvious advertisements on the sides. They had been there for almost 12 miles as he drove deeper into the rolling Virginia countryside from Langley. He was armed with two extra clips, something he had started doing since Obama took office. He didn’t need this shit right now. After exhuming George's dummy last week he felt he was being watched, but by whom? If the company knew that he was aware of George's operations, which the boys upstairs wanted hush-hush, would they go extreme on his ass by taking him out. That was inconceivable to his logical mind, but it wouldn’t be the first time his logical mind was wrong as three lead projectiles pierced his rear window with the sounds of dull thuds, penetrating his passenger-side floor.
Time to go, as he took off with the quickness the best the Bavarian Motor Works had to offer as the 779th day of the Obama Presidency was out of town again.
"This is an excerpt from Now the Eagle http://nowtheeagle.blogspot.com/ a novel by Nicholas Contompasis about the Obama Administration. This is fiction. It should not in any way be considered factual. We hope you enjoy this daily fictitious tongue-in-cheek novel of the Obama Presidency. The author has taken the liberty to use these fictitious, factual events and individuals to express his concerns and fears of this Administration."
Sunday, March 20, 2011
NPR Smears Michelle Malkin After Her Cousin Goes Missing
Posted by Jim Hoft on Sunday, March 20, 2011
NPR smeared Michelle Malkin today in a tasteless comedy segment. The channel aired a comedy sketch that suggested that Michelle was obsessed with Obama’s background and faith. Of course, this is not true at all.
What is true is that Michelle Malkin is working tirelessly to locate her missing cousin in Seattle.
Michelle’s cousin Marizela Perez has been missing since March 5.
NPR felt this was a good time to attack the popular conservative.
Gently Hew Stone reported:
This morning on NPR’s popular comedy show, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, a segment aired where a contestant had to choose which of three strange news stories was actually true. One of the (false) options concerned conservative commentator Michelle Malkin. The NPR show joked that, after Malkin had advertised her belief that President Obama is a “secret Muslim” and that she believes other “secret Muslims” are “taking over this country,” she found, to her dismay, that her own grandfather was a Muslim.
First of all, while the humor of this segment was based on the idea that Malkin must be a hypocrite with a Muslim relative (which even the show acknowledged was untrue), the setup was based on the premise as I described it above, which the narrator clearly presented as factual.
I’ve followed Malkin’s blog and columns for years now, and she has never said that President Obama is a Muslim, nor does she believe that Muslims, “secret” or otherwise, are somehow “taking over this country.” While she does report on multiethnic strife in many areas of the world, including ours, as a result of political correctness and lack of assimilation, nothing she has ever written comes close to the bizarre, mean caricature aired this morning on NPR.
But NPR’s mistake goes far beyond mere slander. Their joke targeted the family of a specific conservative at a time when that specific conservative’s family is suffering a tragedy. Quite a coincidence. It’s been two weeks since Malkin’s cousin Marizela Perez went missing, possibly the victim of a kidnapping. Malkin has used her media presence tirelessly since then to help find her young relative. Either NPR and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me are not nearly as well-informed in their news awareness as they’d like us to believe, or they cruelly decided to go ahead with a particularly tasteless joke.
Ironically, just before this segment aired, they made fun of Gilbert Gottfried getting fired for his tasteless jokes about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Pot, meet kettle.
Remember: Your tax dollars are helping to pay for this garbage.
NPR smeared Michelle Malkin today in a tasteless comedy segment. The channel aired a comedy sketch that suggested that Michelle was obsessed with Obama’s background and faith. Of course, this is not true at all.
What is true is that Michelle Malkin is working tirelessly to locate her missing cousin in Seattle.
Michelle’s cousin Marizela Perez has been missing since March 5.
NPR felt this was a good time to attack the popular conservative.
Gently Hew Stone reported:
This morning on NPR’s popular comedy show, Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, a segment aired where a contestant had to choose which of three strange news stories was actually true. One of the (false) options concerned conservative commentator Michelle Malkin. The NPR show joked that, after Malkin had advertised her belief that President Obama is a “secret Muslim” and that she believes other “secret Muslims” are “taking over this country,” she found, to her dismay, that her own grandfather was a Muslim.
First of all, while the humor of this segment was based on the idea that Malkin must be a hypocrite with a Muslim relative (which even the show acknowledged was untrue), the setup was based on the premise as I described it above, which the narrator clearly presented as factual.
I’ve followed Malkin’s blog and columns for years now, and she has never said that President Obama is a Muslim, nor does she believe that Muslims, “secret” or otherwise, are somehow “taking over this country.” While she does report on multiethnic strife in many areas of the world, including ours, as a result of political correctness and lack of assimilation, nothing she has ever written comes close to the bizarre, mean caricature aired this morning on NPR.
But NPR’s mistake goes far beyond mere slander. Their joke targeted the family of a specific conservative at a time when that specific conservative’s family is suffering a tragedy. Quite a coincidence. It’s been two weeks since Malkin’s cousin Marizela Perez went missing, possibly the victim of a kidnapping. Malkin has used her media presence tirelessly since then to help find her young relative. Either NPR and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me are not nearly as well-informed in their news awareness as they’d like us to believe, or they cruelly decided to go ahead with a particularly tasteless joke.
Ironically, just before this segment aired, they made fun of Gilbert Gottfried getting fired for his tasteless jokes about the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Pot, meet kettle.
Remember: Your tax dollars are helping to pay for this garbage.
Prepare for a Euro Zone Divided in Two
Borrowed from the Wall Street Journal - Than you
By IRWIN STELZER
Twenty-seven divided by two equals 17, with 10 left over. That's the new Euromath.
Sooner or later, the euro-zone financial crisis will be over. Greek, Irish, Portuguese and probably Spanish creditors will have neatly trimmed hair, the banks will have had to shore up their inadequate capital, German exporters will continue to cash the profits from the euro their southern partners have obligingly weakened, and the eurocracy will have found other reasons to meet. But Europe will not be the same.
It will be changed in two very important ways. First, the 27-nation European Union will have fractured into separate groups of 17 and 10. Second, the economies of the Gang of 17 will be centrally managed by a Franco-German coalition, while the nations among the 10 "leftovers" will fight a losing battle to effect the policies of the EU of which they are paid-up members. Peaceful coexistence between the 17 and the 10 is no sure thing.
The 17 euro-zone countries have made the direction in which they are heading very clear. The felt need to prevent defaults by its overly indebted members is leading to a more pervasive system of central economic management. The 17 are to have access to Germany's balance sheet, in return for which Germany is quite properly demanding a say in how they manage their economic affairs. Not only their budgets, but all the factors that affect their international competitiveness: methods of wage bargaining; the generosity of their welfare states, including the timing and terms of retirement; regulations concerning access to various occupations; and, most of all, tax rates.
The European Union is effectively being split into separate groups of 17 and 10.
It's not on for Greece to borrow money from the stronger euro-zone countries while operating loss-making, nationalized transport systems; or for euro-countries to index retirement benefits to wage rates rather than retail prices, with Germany the payer of last resort; or for one member to maintain corporate tax rates at half the level of the group average. It has become clear that a one-size-fits-all interest rate must be accompanied by more uniform fiscal and related economic policies. Joy unbounded in Paris as the long-sought French goal of a 17-nation euro-zone "economic government" comes closer to realization, marginalizing EU institutions.
The nations outside of the euro zone, the left-over 10, maintain their own national currencies, and retain control over their own interest rates. The value of their currencies can fluctuate, allowing depreciation if they are over-valued, and appreciation if inflation threatens. Their central banks can raise or lower interest rates in response to changing economic conditions. And to some extent they are free to follow the more liberal economic policies they prefer, rather than hew to the line set by the more anti-free-market euro-zone 17.
Those differences between the 17 and the 10 are creating a threat to the cohesion of the 27-member European Union. The euro-zone countries are developing rules for coordinated economic management without consulting the excluded group of 10. Next step: apply some of those rules to the 27-nation EU to prevent non-euro countries from gaining a competitive advantage over euro-zone members, as France and others complain Britain has done by allowing the pound to float, countenancing a less regulated labor market, and keeping regulation of financial services to an essential minimum.
The excluded 10 are well aware of their exclusion from meetings that set policies that will affect them. "It really rankles that they [Denmark and Sweden] can't get into important policy meetings," reports the Economist. Add Britain to the increasingly rankled as Brussels makes it more costly to employ part-time workers and weaves a new web of regulations around the U.K. financial services sector, and you have a core group that just might decide that exclusion from euro-zone
summits makes membership in the EU less attractive. After all, majority voting allows the bloc of 17 to dominate rule-making in the EU.
France has a solution for the under-represented, non-euro countries: get rid of your national currencies adopt the euro, and get to have a say—a tiny one compared to Germany and ours, but a say nevertheless—in the rules being drafted to implement the new European-wide system of economic management. That has little appeal for many members of the excluded 10. Britain's economic reasons for refusing to buy a seat at the table by surrendering its own currency are rooted in basic differences from euro-zone countries—a more interest-rate sensitive economy, greater reliance on financial services, the need for a currency that adjusts to changing economic conditions. These remain as powerful a deterrent to membership as when they were first developed by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and the current shadow chancellor, Ed Balls.
Meanwhile, Sweden points out that its economy is the fastest growing in the EU, Danish voters believe they are not Ireland because the krone is not the euro, and euro members Greece and Ireland are wondering whether friends-in-need should have to pay usurious interest rates to their friends-in-deed.
The American colonies went to war to break away from Britain, and fought under the banner, "Taxation without representation is tyranny." The excluded 10 will have to decide just how long they want to tolerate marginalization before deciding that regulation without representation is equally tyrannical.
By IRWIN STELZER
Twenty-seven divided by two equals 17, with 10 left over. That's the new Euromath.
Sooner or later, the euro-zone financial crisis will be over. Greek, Irish, Portuguese and probably Spanish creditors will have neatly trimmed hair, the banks will have had to shore up their inadequate capital, German exporters will continue to cash the profits from the euro their southern partners have obligingly weakened, and the eurocracy will have found other reasons to meet. But Europe will not be the same.
It will be changed in two very important ways. First, the 27-nation European Union will have fractured into separate groups of 17 and 10. Second, the economies of the Gang of 17 will be centrally managed by a Franco-German coalition, while the nations among the 10 "leftovers" will fight a losing battle to effect the policies of the EU of which they are paid-up members. Peaceful coexistence between the 17 and the 10 is no sure thing.
The 17 euro-zone countries have made the direction in which they are heading very clear. The felt need to prevent defaults by its overly indebted members is leading to a more pervasive system of central economic management. The 17 are to have access to Germany's balance sheet, in return for which Germany is quite properly demanding a say in how they manage their economic affairs. Not only their budgets, but all the factors that affect their international competitiveness: methods of wage bargaining; the generosity of their welfare states, including the timing and terms of retirement; regulations concerning access to various occupations; and, most of all, tax rates.
The European Union is effectively being split into separate groups of 17 and 10.
It's not on for Greece to borrow money from the stronger euro-zone countries while operating loss-making, nationalized transport systems; or for euro-countries to index retirement benefits to wage rates rather than retail prices, with Germany the payer of last resort; or for one member to maintain corporate tax rates at half the level of the group average. It has become clear that a one-size-fits-all interest rate must be accompanied by more uniform fiscal and related economic policies. Joy unbounded in Paris as the long-sought French goal of a 17-nation euro-zone "economic government" comes closer to realization, marginalizing EU institutions.
The nations outside of the euro zone, the left-over 10, maintain their own national currencies, and retain control over their own interest rates. The value of their currencies can fluctuate, allowing depreciation if they are over-valued, and appreciation if inflation threatens. Their central banks can raise or lower interest rates in response to changing economic conditions. And to some extent they are free to follow the more liberal economic policies they prefer, rather than hew to the line set by the more anti-free-market euro-zone 17.
Those differences between the 17 and the 10 are creating a threat to the cohesion of the 27-member European Union. The euro-zone countries are developing rules for coordinated economic management without consulting the excluded group of 10. Next step: apply some of those rules to the 27-nation EU to prevent non-euro countries from gaining a competitive advantage over euro-zone members, as France and others complain Britain has done by allowing the pound to float, countenancing a less regulated labor market, and keeping regulation of financial services to an essential minimum.
The excluded 10 are well aware of their exclusion from meetings that set policies that will affect them. "It really rankles that they [Denmark and Sweden] can't get into important policy meetings," reports the Economist. Add Britain to the increasingly rankled as Brussels makes it more costly to employ part-time workers and weaves a new web of regulations around the U.K. financial services sector, and you have a core group that just might decide that exclusion from euro-zone
summits makes membership in the EU less attractive. After all, majority voting allows the bloc of 17 to dominate rule-making in the EU.
France has a solution for the under-represented, non-euro countries: get rid of your national currencies adopt the euro, and get to have a say—a tiny one compared to Germany and ours, but a say nevertheless—in the rules being drafted to implement the new European-wide system of economic management. That has little appeal for many members of the excluded 10. Britain's economic reasons for refusing to buy a seat at the table by surrendering its own currency are rooted in basic differences from euro-zone countries—a more interest-rate sensitive economy, greater reliance on financial services, the need for a currency that adjusts to changing economic conditions. These remain as powerful a deterrent to membership as when they were first developed by then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown and the current shadow chancellor, Ed Balls.
Meanwhile, Sweden points out that its economy is the fastest growing in the EU, Danish voters believe they are not Ireland because the krone is not the euro, and euro members Greece and Ireland are wondering whether friends-in-need should have to pay usurious interest rates to their friends-in-deed.
The American colonies went to war to break away from Britain, and fought under the banner, "Taxation without representation is tyranny." The excluded 10 will have to decide just how long they want to tolerate marginalization before deciding that regulation without representation is equally tyrannical.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Breaking News - Cairo Now Backs Hamas - Israel in Jeopardy
Exclusive Report March 19, 2011
Borrowed from the DEBKAfile Thank you
Israeli civilians living around the Gaza border woke up Saturday, March 19, to the most massive mortar attack in years – 50 rounds fired in 15 minutes. Two civilians were injured and substantial damage caused to property. Hamas unusually claimed responsibility, emboldened by the support it has won from a new ally, the new rulers of Cairo, which have now lined up with Syria and Iran.
The Netanyahu government has not informed the Israeli public about the ominous new winds blowing in fromCairo although they are already in motion: Cairo has given Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip de facto recognition, is about to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and is forging new understandings with Damascus and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad radicals based there.
The Egyptian military which has taken over in Cairo also turned a blind eye to at least two or three Iranian arms ships which, prior to the capture of the A.S. Victoria last week, made it through the Israeli sea blockade and delivered weapons, including C-704 shore-to-sea missiles at El Arish. Hamas will be free to go out and collect them through the reopened Rafah crossing.
It is now obvious that Cairo's permission for two Iranian warships to transit the Suez Canal on Feb. 22, knowing that at least one was laden with weapons for extremists, was in line with the new Egyptian policy.
Israel had earlier allowed two Egyptian mechanized infantry brigades to enter Sinai and deploy along its Mediterranean coast, although this opened up the demilitarization clause of the 1979 peace treaty. Israel expected these troops to guard the gas pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan and block the Iranian arms deliveries to Hamas. But this did not happen.
This week, spokesmen on behalf of the pipeline company announced that Egyptian gas was again flowing. It was not. After Israel appealed to the White House and the heads of the Senate and House foreign relations committees to intercede with Egypt, just a trickle of gas reached the pipeline on the pretext that the pipeline needed testing after it was blown up by Hamas on Feb. 5.
The Egyptian charade is ably supported by the Israeli government and its defense spokesmen, who keep on assuring everyone that nothing has changed in Egyptian-Israeli peace relations.
According to DEBKAfile's Cairo sources, the live wire behind the Egyptian policy U-turn is the new foreign minister Nabil Alaraby. Only two weeks on the job, the first tasks he set himself were to lift the Egyptian-Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip, reopen the Fatah crossing to free passage of people and goods, downgrade relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, and open a new page with Syria.
During the two days US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent in Cairo (March 15-16), the Egyptian Supreme Military Council sent the Mahabharat (Secret Service) chief Gen. Mourad Mwafi to Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad received him for a long conversation Friday, March 19, on the third day of his visit.
Thursday, the Egyptian general met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. He was not put off by Meshaal's participation in the Iran-backed Islamist radical summit in Khartoum in the first week of March and its approval of two missions – to bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Cairo and to step up terrorist attacks on Israel.
So far, Israeli forces have had no success in tracking down the Hamas perpetrators of the vicious murders of five family members at Itamar on March 11. Considering the precipitous downturn in Israel's political and military situation and the ostrich-like reactions of its leaders, it looks very much as though Hamas is now dictating Israel's security agenda. Hamas, backed to the hilt by Iran, Syria and now Egypt, feels it can safely intensify its warfare on Israel without being slapped down.
Borrowed from the DEBKAfile Thank you
Israeli civilians living around the Gaza border woke up Saturday, March 19, to the most massive mortar attack in years – 50 rounds fired in 15 minutes. Two civilians were injured and substantial damage caused to property. Hamas unusually claimed responsibility, emboldened by the support it has won from a new ally, the new rulers of Cairo, which have now lined up with Syria and Iran.
The Netanyahu government has not informed the Israeli public about the ominous new winds blowing in fromCairo although they are already in motion: Cairo has given Hamas rule of the Gaza Strip de facto recognition, is about to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and is forging new understandings with Damascus and the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad radicals based there.
The Egyptian military which has taken over in Cairo also turned a blind eye to at least two or three Iranian arms ships which, prior to the capture of the A.S. Victoria last week, made it through the Israeli sea blockade and delivered weapons, including C-704 shore-to-sea missiles at El Arish. Hamas will be free to go out and collect them through the reopened Rafah crossing.
It is now obvious that Cairo's permission for two Iranian warships to transit the Suez Canal on Feb. 22, knowing that at least one was laden with weapons for extremists, was in line with the new Egyptian policy.
Israel had earlier allowed two Egyptian mechanized infantry brigades to enter Sinai and deploy along its Mediterranean coast, although this opened up the demilitarization clause of the 1979 peace treaty. Israel expected these troops to guard the gas pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan and block the Iranian arms deliveries to Hamas. But this did not happen.
This week, spokesmen on behalf of the pipeline company announced that Egyptian gas was again flowing. It was not. After Israel appealed to the White House and the heads of the Senate and House foreign relations committees to intercede with Egypt, just a trickle of gas reached the pipeline on the pretext that the pipeline needed testing after it was blown up by Hamas on Feb. 5.
The Egyptian charade is ably supported by the Israeli government and its defense spokesmen, who keep on assuring everyone that nothing has changed in Egyptian-Israeli peace relations.
According to DEBKAfile's Cairo sources, the live wire behind the Egyptian policy U-turn is the new foreign minister Nabil Alaraby. Only two weeks on the job, the first tasks he set himself were to lift the Egyptian-Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip, reopen the Fatah crossing to free passage of people and goods, downgrade relations with Israel and the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, and open a new page with Syria.
During the two days US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spent in Cairo (March 15-16), the Egyptian Supreme Military Council sent the Mahabharat (Secret Service) chief Gen. Mourad Mwafi to Damascus. Syrian President Bashar Assad received him for a long conversation Friday, March 19, on the third day of his visit.
Thursday, the Egyptian general met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal. He was not put off by Meshaal's participation in the Iran-backed Islamist radical summit in Khartoum in the first week of March and its approval of two missions – to bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Cairo and to step up terrorist attacks on Israel.
So far, Israeli forces have had no success in tracking down the Hamas perpetrators of the vicious murders of five family members at Itamar on March 11. Considering the precipitous downturn in Israel's political and military situation and the ostrich-like reactions of its leaders, it looks very much as though Hamas is now dictating Israel's security agenda. Hamas, backed to the hilt by Iran, Syria and now Egypt, feels it can safely intensify its warfare on Israel without being slapped down.
Gaddafi's Secret Meeting With UN General Secretary for Tuesday in Tunis Exposed
By Yasmine Ryan
March 19th, 2011.
Muammar Gaddafi has sent a top diplomat to Tunisia in what was supposed to be a secret visit.
Ali Treki, Libya's former foreign minister, is staying at the same hotel where Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, is booked when he arrives on Tuesday.
When Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tunisia, uncovered Ali Treki's visit to Tunis, the Libyan diplomat responded with a burst of rage.
Treki, who was president of the UN General Assembly until September, berated the Al Jazeera team when they filmed him in the lobby of the Regency Hotel in Gammarth, a suburb north of Tunis, on Saturday afternoon.
"You animal, stop shooting," Treki told Samir Gharbiah, Al Jazeera's cameraman, as his security personnel attempted to block Al Jazeera from filming.
Security staff at the hotel, at the request of Treki, tried to destroy Al Jazeera's camera, and to confiscate the footage of Treki. They manhandled Gharbiah and producer Youssef Gaigi, pushing them out into the hotel carpark.
They refused to allow the Al Jazeera team to leave and physically prevented Moshiri from getting in the car, holding the journalists captive in the parking lot for nearly an hour.
It was only after the Tunisian police intervened that Moshiri and her team were freed, tapes in hand. The hotel’s manager apologised and tried to insist that no mention be made of the Regency in any reports about the incident, saying that it dampen the UN Secretary-General’s willingness to stay at the hotel during his coming visit.
Gaigi said the hotel manager’s change of stance came only after Al Jazeera had contacted the interior ministry.
"I believe he was under pressure from different people." Gaigi said.
Word had already spread on Twitter, and around 30 Libyan protesters arrived to demonstrate against the hotel's treatment of the journalists.
Apparently backing away from its support for Treki once the protesters arrived, the hotel permitted the protesters to raise the pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag that has been adopted by the Libyan opposition.
Gaddafi appointed Treki as his UN envoy on March 4, after Libya's previous representatives to the UN, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shelgham, and Ibrahim Dabbashi, distanced themselves from Gaddafi and played an instrumental role in passing Resolution 1970.
The US refused to allow Treki to travel to New York to take up the post. Treki must present himself in person to the Secretary-General in order to be accredited as his country's new ambassador.
In the meantime, Gaddafi has no representative at the UN, meaning he has no legal way to lobby support against block any resolutions concerning Libya.
March 19th, 2011.
Muammar Gaddafi has sent a top diplomat to Tunisia in what was supposed to be a secret visit.
Ali Treki, Libya's former foreign minister, is staying at the same hotel where Ban Ki-Moon, the UN Secretary-General, is booked when he arrives on Tuesday.
When Nazanine Moshiri, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tunisia, uncovered Ali Treki's visit to Tunis, the Libyan diplomat responded with a burst of rage.
Treki, who was president of the UN General Assembly until September, berated the Al Jazeera team when they filmed him in the lobby of the Regency Hotel in Gammarth, a suburb north of Tunis, on Saturday afternoon.
"You animal, stop shooting," Treki told Samir Gharbiah, Al Jazeera's cameraman, as his security personnel attempted to block Al Jazeera from filming.
Security staff at the hotel, at the request of Treki, tried to destroy Al Jazeera's camera, and to confiscate the footage of Treki. They manhandled Gharbiah and producer Youssef Gaigi, pushing them out into the hotel carpark.
They refused to allow the Al Jazeera team to leave and physically prevented Moshiri from getting in the car, holding the journalists captive in the parking lot for nearly an hour.
It was only after the Tunisian police intervened that Moshiri and her team were freed, tapes in hand. The hotel’s manager apologised and tried to insist that no mention be made of the Regency in any reports about the incident, saying that it dampen the UN Secretary-General’s willingness to stay at the hotel during his coming visit.
Gaigi said the hotel manager’s change of stance came only after Al Jazeera had contacted the interior ministry.
"I believe he was under pressure from different people." Gaigi said.
Word had already spread on Twitter, and around 30 Libyan protesters arrived to demonstrate against the hotel's treatment of the journalists.
Apparently backing away from its support for Treki once the protesters arrived, the hotel permitted the protesters to raise the pre-Gaddafi Libyan flag that has been adopted by the Libyan opposition.
Gaddafi appointed Treki as his UN envoy on March 4, after Libya's previous representatives to the UN, Abdurrahman Mohamed Shelgham, and Ibrahim Dabbashi, distanced themselves from Gaddafi and played an instrumental role in passing Resolution 1970.
The US refused to allow Treki to travel to New York to take up the post. Treki must present himself in person to the Secretary-General in order to be accredited as his country's new ambassador.
In the meantime, Gaddafi has no representative at the UN, meaning he has no legal way to lobby support against block any resolutions concerning Libya.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Iran Unveils Flying Saucer - No Joke!
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran unveiled a home-made unmanned flying saucer as well as a light sports aircraft in an exhibition of strategic technologies.
The unmanned flying saucer, named "Zohal", was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
Zohal, designed and developed jointly by Farnas Aerospace Company and Iranian Aviation and Space Industries Association (IASIA), can be used for various missions, specially for aerial imaging.
The flying machine is equipped with an auto-pilot system, GPS (Global Positioning System) and two separate imaging systems with full HD 10 mega-pixel picture quality and is able to take and send images simultaneously.
Zohal uses a small, portable navigation and monitoring center for transmission of data and images and can fly in both outdoor and indoor spaces.
The second project unveiled in the exhibition was a light sports plane. The plane designed and developed by Dorna Aerospace Company is a full composite sports plane and complies with the Standard Test Method (ASTM).
It is the third ISA-class model introduced to the world and can be used for private flights, aerial patrolling and surveillance.
The unmanned flying saucer, named "Zohal", was unveiled in a ceremony attended by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
Zohal, designed and developed jointly by Farnas Aerospace Company and Iranian Aviation and Space Industries Association (IASIA), can be used for various missions, specially for aerial imaging.
The flying machine is equipped with an auto-pilot system, GPS (Global Positioning System) and two separate imaging systems with full HD 10 mega-pixel picture quality and is able to take and send images simultaneously.
Zohal uses a small, portable navigation and monitoring center for transmission of data and images and can fly in both outdoor and indoor spaces.
The second project unveiled in the exhibition was a light sports plane. The plane designed and developed by Dorna Aerospace Company is a full composite sports plane and complies with the Standard Test Method (ASTM).
It is the third ISA-class model introduced to the world and can be used for private flights, aerial patrolling and surveillance.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
"Nancy" Boehner Funds Obamacare Again, Trashes Tea Partiers
Borrowed from The Conservative Post - Thank you
I guess it was too much for conservatives to expect an entrenched Washington insider like Nancy Boehner to get the message that we conservatives, and the Tea Partiers, were sending them in the last election… that business as usual is no longer acceptable in DC.
Yesterday, Obama & Harry Reid, ate Boehners lunch again when the hapless GOP leadership passed another short-term CR, with puny spending cuts, that continues to fully fund Obamacare. Now, I don’t know why I ever trusted Nancy Boehner when he pledged to defund Obamacare… he’s had two opportunities to put up or shut up, and he’s failed twice. Even Schmucky Schumer sees Nancy Boehner as another all talk blowhard.
This from the Daily Caller: Schumer taunts Boehner again: Democrats saved you from the Tea Party
Top ranking Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer doubled down on his call for House Republican Speaker John Boehner to ditch the Tea Party after Democrats helped pass a short-term federal funding bill that would have failed without their support because of defections within the GOP.
“Speaker Boehner wouldn’t have been able to pass this short-term measure without Democratic votes, and he won’t be able to pass a long-term one without Democratic votes either,” Schumer said in a statement. “It’s time for him to abandon the Tea Party, and forge a bipartisan compromise.”
Fifty-four House Republicans, many of them Tea Party-backed freshman, voted against a stopgap measure Tuesday that would fund the government for three weeks while the parties negotiate a long-term deal. The proposal included $6 billion in cuts, but did not touch funding for the health care law and other programs that some in the caucus said needed to be included to get their approval.
Schumer said Mondaythat Boehner “should consider leaving the Tea Party behind” because they “are unwilling to accept anything short of the extreme cuts in the House budget, even if it risks a shutdown.”
Note to Schmucky…. there is no “Tea Party” and Boehner was never with the Tea Partiers in the first place, so he’s had no problems turning his back on us. In fact inside sources are claiming that Nancy Boehner is trashing Tea Partiers and Conservatives as “Extremists”.
Excuse me? When you hapless “moderates” cuts a measly $6 billion, when we have a $1,600,000,000,000 yearly deficit, and then have the gaul to come to us and tell us that we should be happy, and that’s the best you can do… how pathetic! If it’s “extreme” to simply demamnd the government live within their means, and stay the hell out of our lives and medical decision, then color me extreme I guess!
It is becoming increasingly clear that a gutless Nancy Boehner is NEVER going to take Obama on, and defund Obamacare in a meaningful way. He’ll take the easy route, and pass a defunding bill separate of any of the budget legislation, a bill he knows will go no where, and claim that he’s heard us… give us a break Nancy, we’re not a stupid as you think!
Author: Scott Miller
I guess it was too much for conservatives to expect an entrenched Washington insider like Nancy Boehner to get the message that we conservatives, and the Tea Partiers, were sending them in the last election… that business as usual is no longer acceptable in DC.
Yesterday, Obama & Harry Reid, ate Boehners lunch again when the hapless GOP leadership passed another short-term CR, with puny spending cuts, that continues to fully fund Obamacare. Now, I don’t know why I ever trusted Nancy Boehner when he pledged to defund Obamacare… he’s had two opportunities to put up or shut up, and he’s failed twice. Even Schmucky Schumer sees Nancy Boehner as another all talk blowhard.
This from the Daily Caller: Schumer taunts Boehner again: Democrats saved you from the Tea Party
Top ranking Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer doubled down on his call for House Republican Speaker John Boehner to ditch the Tea Party after Democrats helped pass a short-term federal funding bill that would have failed without their support because of defections within the GOP.
“Speaker Boehner wouldn’t have been able to pass this short-term measure without Democratic votes, and he won’t be able to pass a long-term one without Democratic votes either,” Schumer said in a statement. “It’s time for him to abandon the Tea Party, and forge a bipartisan compromise.”
Fifty-four House Republicans, many of them Tea Party-backed freshman, voted against a stopgap measure Tuesday that would fund the government for three weeks while the parties negotiate a long-term deal. The proposal included $6 billion in cuts, but did not touch funding for the health care law and other programs that some in the caucus said needed to be included to get their approval.
Schumer said Mondaythat Boehner “should consider leaving the Tea Party behind” because they “are unwilling to accept anything short of the extreme cuts in the House budget, even if it risks a shutdown.”
Note to Schmucky…. there is no “Tea Party” and Boehner was never with the Tea Partiers in the first place, so he’s had no problems turning his back on us. In fact inside sources are claiming that Nancy Boehner is trashing Tea Partiers and Conservatives as “Extremists”.
Excuse me? When you hapless “moderates” cuts a measly $6 billion, when we have a $1,600,000,000,000 yearly deficit, and then have the gaul to come to us and tell us that we should be happy, and that’s the best you can do… how pathetic! If it’s “extreme” to simply demamnd the government live within their means, and stay the hell out of our lives and medical decision, then color me extreme I guess!
It is becoming increasingly clear that a gutless Nancy Boehner is NEVER going to take Obama on, and defund Obamacare in a meaningful way. He’ll take the easy route, and pass a defunding bill separate of any of the budget legislation, a bill he knows will go no where, and claim that he’s heard us… give us a break Nancy, we’re not a stupid as you think!
Author: Scott Miller
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Economic Disaster That Could Have Been Averted
"The irresponsible fluctuation by the Federal Reserve of their monetary policy, that started in the winter of 2004, has led us to continuous Quantitative Easing, or in other words the devaluation of our currency and others around the world. Due to their lack of knowledge and understanding of our world economy and the monster they created, many will die and feel the hardships connected to this deleveraging process. If restraint was exercised at the beginning of this period much of this could have been averted." - Nicholas Contompasis
Monday, March 14, 2011
Japan Earthquake - The SuperMoon is Coming on March 18th 2011 - Will You Be Ready?
On March 19, the moon's orbit will make its closest approach to Earth in 18 years while at the same time be in full phase. Such a coincidence has been named a "SuperMoon" by astrologer Richard Nolle. As entertainingly chronicled by John Metcalfe over at TBD, Nolle predicts all kinds of weather and natural hazard mayhem, including strong earthquakes, around the time of the Supermoon.
So the questions that emerge are: 1) Is there any legitimate science linking the Supermoon and extreme natural hazards? and, 2) Did the upcoming Supermoon play a role in this morning's horrific earthquake in Japan, the fifth most powerful on record?
AccuWeather's Astronomy blogger Mark Paquette, in a post on March 1, stopped short of rejecting the idea Supermoons and natural hazards are linked, writing:
There were SuperMoons in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. These years had their share of extreme weather and other natural events. Is the Super Moon and these natural occurences a coincidence? Some would say yes; some would say no. I'm not here to pick sides and say I'm a believer or non-believer in subjects like this...
He noted that one of his readers pointed out that the last extreme supermoon occurred on January 10, 2005, right around the time of the 9.0 Indonesia earthquake.
Metcalfe's TBD piece documents all sorts of coinciding extreme weather events that have occurred around past Supermoons.
Hurricane Katrina made land on the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, which was 10 days after the SuperMoon for that month. The 1938 New England hurricane happened on Sept. 21, three weeks after a SuperMoon. Australia's Hunter River experienced mass flooding and property destruction in February 1955, two whole months before and after bookending SuperMoons
Surely appreciating that correlation does not equal causation and the pitfalls of developing theories on anecdotal evidence, Metcalfe then mocks the notion of making too much of these coincidences, sarcastically commenting: "I could just pick harmless events that happened around SuperMoons and use them to formulate a theory stating that nobody should ever pay astrologers for readings again."
He also cites a news article from Australia on the impending "Moonageddon" which quotes astronomist Pete Wheeler as follows:
"There will be no earthquakes or volcanoes," Mr Wheeler told news.com.au, "unless they are to happen anyway".
"(The Earth will experience) just a lower than usual low tide and a higher than usual high tide around the time of the event, but nothing to get excited about."
For the record, I've never encountered any legitimate science that shows any credible causal link between moon proximity and phase and meteorological or geological events.
Nevertheless, here we are just eight days away from the SuperMoon witnessing one of the worst natural calamity's in decades.
AccuWeather's Paquette, whereas he was agnostic in his March 1 blog, writes today "I am starting to believe!"
"I believe that the Earth may have already felt some of the supermoon's effects. It could be a huge coincidence that this earthquake was not influenced by the supermoon. But in my totally unscientific opinion, having no hard evidence to back it up, it doesn't seem like just coincidence to me."
But the Bad Astronomy blog, which aims to debunk scientific misconceptions, completely rejects any link between the SuperMoon and the Japan quake. Author Phil Plait, an astronomer, states emphatically:
I do hope I can help mitigate the panic and worry that can happen due to people blaming this earthquake on the so-called "supermoon" -- a date when the Moon is especially close to the Earth at the same time it's full. So let me be extremely clear:
Despite what a lot of people are saying, there is no way this earthquake was caused by the Moon.
The idea of the Moon affecting us on Earth isn't total nonsense, but it cannot be behind this earthquake, and almost certainly won't have any actual, measurable affect on us on March 19, when the full Moon is at its closest.
The post then walks through very well laid out scientific arguments for why the Supermoon and the Japan earthquake are not related. It also explains why the Supermoon is highly unlikely to cause extreme weather, stating: "[Weather] is caused by an incredibly complex interaction between the Earth's rotation, the heat input from the Sun, the way the oceans and seas absorb and radiate heat, and a million other factors. If the Moon contributes in any way, it is very, very small compared to these other massive factors."
I found the piece extremely convincing and highly recommend reading it. Suffice to say, I'm not on the SuperMoon causing natural chaos bandwagon.
Conspiracy
"The more illogical a political agenda, more reason to suspect Conspiracy, for illogical thought is the fingerprint of deceit." - Nicholas Contompasis
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Events Like This Make Me Scream to the Heavens - Muslim Terrorists Kill Israeli Family and Slash the Throat of an Infant
By Nicholas Contompasis
"Events Like This Make Me Scream to the Heavens - Muslim Terrorists Kill Israeli Family and Slash the Throat of an Infant"
By Yair Altman
Terrorist stabs five family members to death in settlement of Itamar early Saturday; three children, including baby girl, among victims. Paramedic describes horrific sight, toys next to pools of blood.
Horror in Samaria: A terrorist infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, early Saturday and stabbed five family members to death.
The shocking attack occurred around 1 am as the terrorist entered the family home and murdered three children aged 11, 3, and a baby girl along with their parents. The victims were apparently sleeping as the killer came in.
Itamar residents reported that shots were heard in the area; the terrorist managed to flee the scene.
Three other children at the home, a 12-year-old girl and her two brothers, aged 6 and 2, were able to escape to a nearby house and inform their neighbors of the attack.
The terrorist who carried out the massacre cut the fence surrounding Itamar and entered the home of the victims through the window, an initial probe of the murder showed. Authorities could not immediately discount the possibility that more than one attacker was involved in the murder.
"Events Like This Make Me Scream to the Heavens - Muslim Terrorists Kill Israeli Family and Slash the Throat of an Infant"
By Yair Altman
Terrorist stabs five family members to death in settlement of Itamar early Saturday; three children, including baby girl, among victims. Paramedic describes horrific sight, toys next to pools of blood.
Horror in Samaria: A terrorist infiltrated the West Bank settlement of Itamar, southeast of Nablus, early Saturday and stabbed five family members to death.
The shocking attack occurred around 1 am as the terrorist entered the family home and murdered three children aged 11, 3, and a baby girl along with their parents. The victims were apparently sleeping as the killer came in.
Itamar residents reported that shots were heard in the area; the terrorist managed to flee the scene.
Three other children at the home, a 12-year-old girl and her two brothers, aged 6 and 2, were able to escape to a nearby house and inform their neighbors of the attack.
The terrorist who carried out the massacre cut the fence surrounding Itamar and entered the home of the victims through the window, an initial probe of the murder showed. Authorities could not immediately discount the possibility that more than one attacker was involved in the murder.
Hackers Just Released What They Say Is A Damning Trove Of Emails About Bank Of America And Its Mortgage Practice
By Katya Wachtel
Hacker group Anonymous (aka OperationLeaks on Twitter) just released what they say is a trove of damning documents on Bank of America.
You can find them here: bankofamericasuck.com
Remember, at this point, we can't verify whether they are legitimate or not, but Gawker's Adrien Chen, who has sources within Anonymous, suggest there's something real to the leaks.
We haven't dissected them in full yet, but from all the chatter that went on in the lead up to the release, they appear to deal with BofA's mortgage practices, and certain interactions with GMAC Mortgage, a lender and loan servicer.
From what we've seen so far, the chain begins with emails/messages/tweets sent between the former banker to the Anonymous hacker crew.
The ex-banker tells Anonymous that what he/she sends will be enough to,
[C]rack their armor, and put a bad light on a $700 mil cash deal they need to pay back the government while ruining their already strained relationship with GMAC, one of their largest clients. Trust me... it'll piss them off plenty.
Then the hacker say, send what you have over. The banker sends these:
My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group (soon to be rebranded as QBE First by Australian Reinsurance Company QBE according to internal communication sent to all Balboa associates) is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need.
Balboa Insurance Group, and it’s largest competitor, the market leader Assurant, is in the business of insurance tracking and Force Placed Insurance (aka Lender Placed Insurance, FOH, LPI, etc). What this means is that when you sign your name on the dotted line for your loan, the lienholder has certain insurance requirements that must be met for the life of the lien. Your lender (including, amongst others, GMAC, Aurora Loan Services [a subsidiary of Lehman Bros Holdings], IndyMac Federal Bank [a subsidiary of OneWest Bank], Saxon, HSBC, PennyMac [a collection agency started by former Countrywide Home Loans executive Stan Kurland after CHL and Balboa were sold to BAC], Downey Savings and Loans, Financial Freedom, Select Portfolio Services, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and the now former owners of Balboa Insurance themselves…Bank of America) then outsources the tracking of your loan with them to a company like Balboa Insurance.
Balboa makes some money by charging these companies to track your insurance (the payment of which is factored into your loan). If you do not meet the minimum insurance requirements set by your lienholder, Balboa Insurance places a force placed insurance policy on your loan. You are sent a letter telling you that you do not have insurance, and your escrow account is then adjusted for the inflated premium of a full coverage policy placed by Balboa’s insurance tracking group, run by Steven Ramsthel, Sr Vice President of Loan Tracking Operations & Customer Care at Balboa Insurance Group.
The hacker group, which is unconnected but sympathetic to Wikileaks, want to expose "corruption and fraud" at BofA with its document drop, and says emails from an ex-employee of the bank will prove mortgage fraud.
Anonymous said late Sunday evening, "By the way this is part 1 of the Emails" and that the emails "will not be Readable" and to go through the groups tweets for the "Tools to understand it..."
Those tools according to Anonymous, are:
SOR = System of Record
Rembrandt/Tracksource = Insurance tracking systems
DTN = Document Tracking Number. A number assigned to all incoming/outgoing documents (letters, insurance documents, etc)
"You will be seeing SOR, Rembrandt and DTN in the emails," the hackers said.
OperationLeaks has been teasing followers for days now with tweets that it received documents about BofA from a disgruntled employee.
The most telling tweet was this one:
He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents.. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame
On Sunday, Anonymous said, in a series of tweets:
I Got a email from a person claiming he worked at BoA and was demoted then fired after telling a SVP he seen something wrong in the system. He told me that they made him out to be a terrorist bomber trying to bomb BoA and said he was threatening Employees on Facebook...All Lies he tells his side of the story and drops some BoA Emails along with it.
Up until now, everyone assumed that whatever secret document drop, dropped on BofA, would come from Wikileaks. But that threat seems to have fizzled, at least temporarily.
Hacker group Anonymous (aka OperationLeaks on Twitter) just released what they say is a trove of damning documents on Bank of America.
You can find them here: bankofamericasuck.com
Remember, at this point, we can't verify whether they are legitimate or not, but Gawker's Adrien Chen, who has sources within Anonymous, suggest there's something real to the leaks.
We haven't dissected them in full yet, but from all the chatter that went on in the lead up to the release, they appear to deal with BofA's mortgage practices, and certain interactions with GMAC Mortgage, a lender and loan servicer.
From what we've seen so far, the chain begins with emails/messages/tweets sent between the former banker to the Anonymous hacker crew.
The ex-banker tells Anonymous that what he/she sends will be enough to,
[C]rack their armor, and put a bad light on a $700 mil cash deal they need to pay back the government while ruining their already strained relationship with GMAC, one of their largest clients. Trust me... it'll piss them off plenty.
Then the hacker say, send what you have over. The banker sends these:
My name is (Anonymous). For the last 7 years, I worked in the Insurance/Mortgage industry for a company called Balboa Insurance. Many of you do not know who Balboa Insurance Group (soon to be rebranded as QBE First by Australian Reinsurance Company QBE according to internal communication sent to all Balboa associates) is, but if you’ve ever had a loan for an automobile, farm equipment, mobile home, or residential or commercial property, we knew you. In fact, we probably charged you money…a lot of money…for insurance you didn’t even need.
Balboa Insurance Group, and it’s largest competitor, the market leader Assurant, is in the business of insurance tracking and Force Placed Insurance (aka Lender Placed Insurance, FOH, LPI, etc). What this means is that when you sign your name on the dotted line for your loan, the lienholder has certain insurance requirements that must be met for the life of the lien. Your lender (including, amongst others, GMAC, Aurora Loan Services [a subsidiary of Lehman Bros Holdings], IndyMac Federal Bank [a subsidiary of OneWest Bank], Saxon, HSBC, PennyMac [a collection agency started by former Countrywide Home Loans executive Stan Kurland after CHL and Balboa were sold to BAC], Downey Savings and Loans, Financial Freedom, Select Portfolio Services, Wells Fargo/Wachovia, and the now former owners of Balboa Insurance themselves…Bank of America) then outsources the tracking of your loan with them to a company like Balboa Insurance.
Balboa makes some money by charging these companies to track your insurance (the payment of which is factored into your loan). If you do not meet the minimum insurance requirements set by your lienholder, Balboa Insurance places a force placed insurance policy on your loan. You are sent a letter telling you that you do not have insurance, and your escrow account is then adjusted for the inflated premium of a full coverage policy placed by Balboa’s insurance tracking group, run by Steven Ramsthel, Sr Vice President of Loan Tracking Operations & Customer Care at Balboa Insurance Group.
The hacker group, which is unconnected but sympathetic to Wikileaks, want to expose "corruption and fraud" at BofA with its document drop, and says emails from an ex-employee of the bank will prove mortgage fraud.
Anonymous said late Sunday evening, "By the way this is part 1 of the Emails" and that the emails "will not be Readable" and to go through the groups tweets for the "Tools to understand it..."
Those tools according to Anonymous, are:
SOR = System of Record
Rembrandt/Tracksource = Insurance tracking systems
DTN = Document Tracking Number. A number assigned to all incoming/outgoing documents (letters, insurance documents, etc)
"You will be seeing SOR, Rembrandt and DTN in the emails," the hackers said.
OperationLeaks has been teasing followers for days now with tweets that it received documents about BofA from a disgruntled employee.
The most telling tweet was this one:
He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents.. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame
On Sunday, Anonymous said, in a series of tweets:
I Got a email from a person claiming he worked at BoA and was demoted then fired after telling a SVP he seen something wrong in the system. He told me that they made him out to be a terrorist bomber trying to bomb BoA and said he was threatening Employees on Facebook...All Lies he tells his side of the story and drops some BoA Emails along with it.
Up until now, everyone assumed that whatever secret document drop, dropped on BofA, would come from Wikileaks. But that threat seems to have fizzled, at least temporarily.
Obama – George Preston - Rest in Peace - 4:30 A.M. Sunday March 13th 2011
The act of hypocrisy by liberal congressmen draping themselves in our Constitution and Bill of Rights, the documents they consistently ignore, have done everything they could to derail Congressman Peter King’s hearing on a radical Muslim movement in America this week.
With that hearing as a backdrop, one of President Obama’s aids came back from the Headquarters for the Joint Chiefs with instructions for him to fire P. J. Crowley for insinuating that the military was mishandling Bradley Manning, who was being detained for releasing hundreds of thousands of military and State Department top secret messages. Not only was this directive provocative but it was fueled with an observation made by the aid of a new framed map of Egypt behind Admiral Mullen’s desk. Thus, reminding the President whose court he was playing on.
Meanwhile, on the sprawling lawns of Arlington National Cemetery at 2:30 A.M. Dave and Jimmy risked their reputations and high-level jobs to exhume the body of George Preston, the now deceased C.I.A. agent who seemed to still have answers for these two grave robbers.
They both felt awkward doing what would normally be done by subcontractors, but Dave got such push-back from his superiors to obtain a DNA verification of George’s remains, that he felt he’d better do it himself. The reaction of his superiors was very troubling to Dave since it was likened to touching the electrified third rail of a commuter track. Why would they deny such a mundane request, he thought, which led to a hundred more questions that Dave had no answers to.
Dave knew that the answers to his questions now literally lay beneath his feet in the hallowed grounds of this national cemetery that was being patrolled every three hours, so there was no time to waste.
Two shovels and two very in-shape men made a quick dig of it as they hit the casket after two hours. The two men looked at each other as they pried open the new military issued casket. Jimmy with his razor quickly slit what looked like a plastic body-bag and like a McDonald’s Happy Meal revealed its prize.
What lay within that bag answered everything that Dave could question. There was no need for doing DNA testing on a dummy. He now knew that George was still alive, operational and that the Joint Chiefs were operating an off-the-grid program to derail the global radical Muslim movement. Dave felt good that George, his old buddy, was still alive and still tearing up Eastern Africa. He knew that if anyone could connect the Administration to this movement it would be George as the 771st day of the Obama Presidency was rapidly digging its own grave.
"This is an excerpt from Now the Eagle http://nowtheeagle.blogspot.com/ a novel by Nicholas Contompasis about the Obama Administration. This is fiction. It should not in any way be considered factual. We hope you enjoy this daily fictitious tongue-in-cheek novel of the Obama Presidency. The author has taken the liberty to use these fictitious, factual events and individuals to express his concerns and fears of this Administration."
Saturday, March 12, 2011
On Monday Evidence is to be Released That Bank of America Committed Fraud With Its Home Mortgages
No wonder Ben Bernanke and his pals created a panel at the Federal Reserve to inform Americans this past week, that there has been absolutely NO FRAUD committed by the Banks and Mortgage industry. (Despite the fact that the Obama Administration is moving forward with cases of fraud by JP Morgan, to protect those in our military).
No wonder the 50 US State Attorney's are trying to rush through a shitty excuse of a bill to 'get the Banks off the hook,' before the shit hits the fan.
No wonder the SEC and AG Eric Holder are letting another big time player go without even a slap on the wrist this week. That's right, Dick Fuld and the other executives of Lehman Brothers are getting away with FRAUD on a epic scale, and as was said in Matt Taibbi's article: "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail." But that may be about to change, so hold on to your seats people.
From Zero Hedge:
We urge readers to check into http://hbgary.anonleaks.ch/ first thing Monday - after all this is the portal that released the original damning HBGary evidence, and brought down the firm within weeks. If it can do the same with Bank of America, Monday may just soon be a national holiday.
After Julian Assange crashed and burned in his threat to release documents that expose fraud at Bank of America, many thought he had been only bluffing, and that BofA is actually clean. Not so fast. A member of the hacker collective Anonymous, which singlehandedly destroyed "hacker defense" firm HB Gary, who goes under the handle OperationLeakS "is claiming to be have emails and documents which prove "fraud" was committed by Bank of America employees, and the group says it'll release them on Monday" reports Gawker. As to the contents of the possible disclosure: ""He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame." If indeed this makes the case against BofA' foreclosure practices stronger, it certainly explains why the banking consortium is scrambling to arrange a settlement, and also why Bank of America recently split off its $2 trillion in mortgages into "good bank" and "bad bank" entities.
It is unclear whether this will be yet another climax-free build up, but Anonymous has certainly proven their mettle by putting HBGary effectively out of business with one masterful hack. Those I've spoken to in Anonymous are convinced there's something to this. Anonymous has a proven track record with leaks, and Bank of America has been in their crosshairs since they cut off payments to Wikileaks in December. If it's real, it could be big. Keep your eye on anonleaks.ch: It should hit Monday.
No wonder the 50 US State Attorney's are trying to rush through a shitty excuse of a bill to 'get the Banks off the hook,' before the shit hits the fan.
No wonder the SEC and AG Eric Holder are letting another big time player go without even a slap on the wrist this week. That's right, Dick Fuld and the other executives of Lehman Brothers are getting away with FRAUD on a epic scale, and as was said in Matt Taibbi's article: "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail." But that may be about to change, so hold on to your seats people.
From Zero Hedge:
We urge readers to check into http://hbgary.anonleaks.ch/ first thing Monday - after all this is the portal that released the original damning HBGary evidence, and brought down the firm within weeks. If it can do the same with Bank of America, Monday may just soon be a national holiday.
After Julian Assange crashed and burned in his threat to release documents that expose fraud at Bank of America, many thought he had been only bluffing, and that BofA is actually clean. Not so fast. A member of the hacker collective Anonymous, which singlehandedly destroyed "hacker defense" firm HB Gary, who goes under the handle OperationLeakS "is claiming to be have emails and documents which prove "fraud" was committed by Bank of America employees, and the group says it'll release them on Monday" reports Gawker. As to the contents of the possible disclosure: ""He Just told me he have GMAC emails showing BoA order to mix loan numbers to not match it's Documents. to foreclose on Americans.. Shame." If indeed this makes the case against BofA' foreclosure practices stronger, it certainly explains why the banking consortium is scrambling to arrange a settlement, and also why Bank of America recently split off its $2 trillion in mortgages into "good bank" and "bad bank" entities.
It is unclear whether this will be yet another climax-free build up, but Anonymous has certainly proven their mettle by putting HBGary effectively out of business with one masterful hack. Those I've spoken to in Anonymous are convinced there's something to this. Anonymous has a proven track record with leaks, and Bank of America has been in their crosshairs since they cut off payments to Wikileaks in December. If it's real, it could be big. Keep your eye on anonleaks.ch: It should hit Monday.
Three Separate Volcanic Eruptions in Russia, Japan and Indonesia Just After the 8.9 Quake in Japan on March 11, 2011 - Have You Heard About this?
Russian Volcano Blows After 8.9 Quake in Japan http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=pl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwiadomosci.dziennik.pl%2Fswiat%2Fartykuly%2F325753%2Cna-dalekim-wschodzie-trzesie-sie-ziemia-i-wybuchaja-wulkany.html
Indonesian Volcano Blows After 8.9 Quake in Japan http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126132
Japanese Volcano Blows After 8.9 Quake in Japan - watch this very cool video of the Japanese volcano blowing.
Indonesian Volcano Blows After 8.9 Quake in Japan http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=126132
Japanese Volcano Blows After 8.9 Quake in Japan - watch this very cool video of the Japanese volcano blowing.
Friday, March 11, 2011
BREAKING NEWS - Riding in to Save America Comes the American Judicial System - ObamaCare's Unconstitutionality to Be Fast-tracked
Borrowed from The Washington Post - thank you
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said Friday that it had agreed to expedite the appeal, setting a faster timetable than even the federal government had requested.
The decision means the federal government must file its first set of court papers on the issues in the case by April 4, and the state of Florida has until May 4 to file its papers. The federal government would file additional papers by May 18.
The appeals court said it had not made a decision on a request that the initial review be held before all 10 federal judges.
The Justice Department said in a filing this week that expedited treatment of the case was warranted because of the far-reaching nature of the decision by a federal judge who declared the entire law unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled against the Obama administration's health care overhaul on grounds that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring nearly all Americans to carry health insurance.
Twenty-six states challenged the law in the Florida case. Another federal judge ruled against the law, while three other federal judges upheld the law.
A spokesman for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he was "pleased with today's 11th Circuit Court of Appeal's order fast tracking the appeal of the Health Care Act. South Carolina and the nation need this important legal challenge answered sooner rather than later."
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said Friday that it had agreed to expedite the appeal, setting a faster timetable than even the federal government had requested.
The decision means the federal government must file its first set of court papers on the issues in the case by April 4, and the state of Florida has until May 4 to file its papers. The federal government would file additional papers by May 18.
The appeals court said it had not made a decision on a request that the initial review be held before all 10 federal judges.
The Justice Department said in a filing this week that expedited treatment of the case was warranted because of the far-reaching nature of the decision by a federal judge who declared the entire law unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson ruled against the Obama administration's health care overhaul on grounds that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring nearly all Americans to carry health insurance.
Twenty-six states challenged the law in the Florida case. Another federal judge ruled against the law, while three other federal judges upheld the law.
A spokesman for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he was "pleased with today's 11th Circuit Court of Appeal's order fast tracking the appeal of the Health Care Act. South Carolina and the nation need this important legal challenge answered sooner rather than later."
Thursday, March 10, 2011
George Soros and MoveOn Attack the People of Wisconsin Over it's Attempts to Curb Out of Control Spending - More Emails to Your Kids Teachers for Money
Subject: BREAKING: Republicans jam through bill in Wisconsin
Wisconsin Republicans just used the nuclear option to jam through their anti-worker bill. We can't let them get away with it. Can you help raise $500,000 tonight to recall the Republican senators who did this by donating $5 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin via ActBlue?
Dear MoveOn member,
Minutes ago, Wisconsin Republicans made a shocking power grab—ramming through their partisan attack on workers' rights without a single Democrat present.
It's shameful, unprecedented, and probably illegal. We can't let them get away with this.
We have to recall the Republican state senators who did this.
Progressives in Wisconsin have already gathered thousands of signatures to do just that, but they need our help to get the job done. Let's send a clear message that trying to destroy the American Dream is a surefire way to get booted from office.
Can you help raise $500,000 tonight for the recall efforts, to make sure these senators lose their seats over their outrageous actions?
Click here to chip in $5 via ActBlue
What happened?
With the Wisconsin 14 out of state for weeks, Republicans have been unable to jam through Governor Walker's bill taking away union rights from public workers.
But tonight, the Republicans decided to use the nuclear option. After modestly changing the Governor's budget bill, they "declared" that it was a different kind of bill that they could pass without the Democrats and passed it—all in a half-hour.1
Thousands of Wisconsinites have already flooded the capitol and will occupy it overnight. And Wisconsin Democrats are already exploring legal challenges to stop the law. But it's up to the rest of us to make sure that these senators pay a heavy price for their actions, so everyone gets the message: Attack workers and middle class families, and there will be consequences.
Help raise $500,000 tonight to send these Republicans packing:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206691&id=26449-16589519-BFjXMGx&t=4
Thanks for all you do,
–Daniel, Anna, Julia, Lenore
Wisconsin Republicans just used the nuclear option to jam through their anti-worker bill. We can't let them get away with it. Can you help raise $500,000 tonight to recall the Republican senators who did this by donating $5 to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin via ActBlue?
Dear MoveOn member,
Minutes ago, Wisconsin Republicans made a shocking power grab—ramming through their partisan attack on workers' rights without a single Democrat present.
It's shameful, unprecedented, and probably illegal. We can't let them get away with this.
We have to recall the Republican state senators who did this.
Progressives in Wisconsin have already gathered thousands of signatures to do just that, but they need our help to get the job done. Let's send a clear message that trying to destroy the American Dream is a surefire way to get booted from office.
Can you help raise $500,000 tonight for the recall efforts, to make sure these senators lose their seats over their outrageous actions?
Click here to chip in $5 via ActBlue
What happened?
With the Wisconsin 14 out of state for weeks, Republicans have been unable to jam through Governor Walker's bill taking away union rights from public workers.
But tonight, the Republicans decided to use the nuclear option. After modestly changing the Governor's budget bill, they "declared" that it was a different kind of bill that they could pass without the Democrats and passed it—all in a half-hour.1
Thousands of Wisconsinites have already flooded the capitol and will occupy it overnight. And Wisconsin Democrats are already exploring legal challenges to stop the law. But it's up to the rest of us to make sure that these senators pay a heavy price for their actions, so everyone gets the message: Attack workers and middle class families, and there will be consequences.
Help raise $500,000 tonight to send these Republicans packing:
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206691&id=26449-16589519-BFjXMGx&t=4
Thanks for all you do,
–Daniel, Anna, Julia, Lenore
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
It Seems That Even in America a Women's Head is Only Worth 25 Years in Jail
New York Television Executive Gets 25 Years for Beheading Wife
Published March 09, 2011 | Associated Press
Jan. 18: Muzzammil Hassan listens during opening statements during his trial in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP)
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A former upstate New York television executive has been sentenced to 25 years to life for beheading his wife.
Muzzammil Hassan expressed deep regret as he was given the maximum sentence in Erie County court in Buffalo on Wednesday morning.
A jury spent just one hour deliberating before convicting him of second-degree murder last month in the 2009 death Aasiya Hassan.
Muzzammil Hassan had tried to convince jurors the death was justified, claiming he'd been abused by his wife and was afraid of her.
But prosecutors said Hassan was acting out of his determination to control his wife after she filed for divorce.
Together, the Hassans started the Muslim-oriented Bridges TV network as a way to counter negative media images of Muslims after 9/11 and build cultural understanding.
Published March 09, 2011 | Associated Press
Jan. 18: Muzzammil Hassan listens during opening statements during his trial in Buffalo, N.Y. (AP)
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A former upstate New York television executive has been sentenced to 25 years to life for beheading his wife.
Muzzammil Hassan expressed deep regret as he was given the maximum sentence in Erie County court in Buffalo on Wednesday morning.
A jury spent just one hour deliberating before convicting him of second-degree murder last month in the 2009 death Aasiya Hassan.
Muzzammil Hassan had tried to convince jurors the death was justified, claiming he'd been abused by his wife and was afraid of her.
But prosecutors said Hassan was acting out of his determination to control his wife after she filed for divorce.
Together, the Hassans started the Muslim-oriented Bridges TV network as a way to counter negative media images of Muslims after 9/11 and build cultural understanding.
Block Al-Jazeera From Being Allowed in Your Living-room
Borrowed from Big Journalism - Andrew Breitbart - Thank you
We at Accuracy In Media have recently renewed efforts to persuade companies such as Comcast from adding Al-Jazeera English to their cable TV lineup. As if long standing links to international terrorist organizations were not enough, Al-Jazeera has consistently shown its true colors with recent coverage of events across the Middle East.
We watched as the network openly promoted the Islamic Army in Iraq. We shared outrage over the channel’s attempts to cover up the violent abuse suffered by CBS reporter, Lara Logan. We documented how American tax dollars continue to be funneled into programming that has alarming potential for domestic terror threats. On Sunday, we uncovered Al-Jazeera’s shameful reluctance to cover the ongoing detainment and possible torture of Sultan al-Khalaifi, a brave blogger who speaks out against human rights violations in Qatar.
It is time for action.
We do not seek to censor Al-Jazeera English. That is not within our ability, nor do we desire to do so. Rather, we urge the good people at Comcast, and other cable and satellite companies that are considering the addition of this network to their lineup, to exercise good judgment as patriotic Americans, and not help to provide Al-Jazeera English the audience and the exposure that they seek. America is at war with radical Islam. Providing radical Islam with the means to propagandize in this country is damaging to American interests and our national security.
Join Accuracy in Media’s cause by signing our petition to Block Al-Jazeera English in U.S. Markets. Help us to keep them from spreading their propaganda throughout America.
We at Accuracy In Media have recently renewed efforts to persuade companies such as Comcast from adding Al-Jazeera English to their cable TV lineup. As if long standing links to international terrorist organizations were not enough, Al-Jazeera has consistently shown its true colors with recent coverage of events across the Middle East.
We watched as the network openly promoted the Islamic Army in Iraq. We shared outrage over the channel’s attempts to cover up the violent abuse suffered by CBS reporter, Lara Logan. We documented how American tax dollars continue to be funneled into programming that has alarming potential for domestic terror threats. On Sunday, we uncovered Al-Jazeera’s shameful reluctance to cover the ongoing detainment and possible torture of Sultan al-Khalaifi, a brave blogger who speaks out against human rights violations in Qatar.
It is time for action.
We do not seek to censor Al-Jazeera English. That is not within our ability, nor do we desire to do so. Rather, we urge the good people at Comcast, and other cable and satellite companies that are considering the addition of this network to their lineup, to exercise good judgment as patriotic Americans, and not help to provide Al-Jazeera English the audience and the exposure that they seek. America is at war with radical Islam. Providing radical Islam with the means to propagandize in this country is damaging to American interests and our national security.
Join Accuracy in Media’s cause by signing our petition to Block Al-Jazeera English in U.S. Markets. Help us to keep them from spreading their propaganda throughout America.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Why the Government Needs to be Shut Down - Now - From the Heritage Foundation
Defund Obamacare’s Secret Stash
While Obamacare is rightly notorious as a fiscal nightmare, less well known is just how massively it transferred power from Congress to the executive branch. In fact, the full scope of Congress’s abdication is still unknown. What is now known, however, is that deeply buried within Obamacare was a $105 billion slush fund that assures its implementation into the future, no matter what future voters think or want.
This makes then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comment to the Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties about Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” made a year ago tomorrow, ironically prescient. Just this past month, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) updated an October 2010 report titled “Appropriations and Fund Transfers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).” The new report found that, unbeknownst to almost every Member of Congress, Obamacare contains $105 billion in direct implementation spending that bypasses Congress’s normal appropriations process.
A separate CRS report, titled New Entities Created Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, concludes: “The precise number of new entities that will ultimately be created pursuant to [Obamacare] is currently unknowable, for the number of entities created by some sections is contingent upon other factors, and some new entities may satisfy more than one requirement in the legislation.” These new bureaucracies would have the power to reach into your life on a daily basis, including control over who is allowed to sell you health insurance and how they may do so, as well as what procedures Medicare will or will not pay for. Once Congress allows these new bureaucracies to be created, it will be next to impossible to get your health care freedom back.
But these merging entities do have a weak spot. CRS reports: “In practical terms, many of these entities will not be able to function until their members are appointed and funds are appropriated or made available for the entities to operate.” That is where the secret $105 billion stash comes in. Instead of leaving these fledgling bureaucracies vulnerable to the budgetary decisions of future Congresses, Obamacare appropriated billions in implementation spending over a 10-year period. Heritage fellow Ernest Istook explains the impact:
Making years’ worth of spending decisions in advance is an attempt to handcuff the current Congress and prevent it from determining current levels of spending. … The funds in Obamacare are not budget projections but actual appropriations of money. Obamacare goes far beyond any precedent for making appropriations for future years; it is an outrageous effort by the former Congress to bind the current and future Congresses in this way.
Conservatives can still save the nation from Obamacare’s bureaucratic kudzu, but they must act proactively. They must go beyond simply not providing funds for the implementation of Obamacare. CRS explains: “Precedents require that the language be phrased in the negative, for example, that ‘none of the funds provided in this paragraph (typically an account) shall be used for’ a specified activity.”
This is why our nation cannot afford to fund the federal government by continuing resolutions, which perpetuate the status quo—a status quo where Obamacare’s implementation is already funded. In order to truly defund Obamacare, conservatives must go through all 2,700 pages of the bill and cut spending for every program one by one. That is the mandate this Congress was elected on. Members need to do their jobs.
While Obamacare is rightly notorious as a fiscal nightmare, less well known is just how massively it transferred power from Congress to the executive branch. In fact, the full scope of Congress’s abdication is still unknown. What is now known, however, is that deeply buried within Obamacare was a $105 billion slush fund that assures its implementation into the future, no matter what future voters think or want.
This makes then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comment to the Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties about Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” made a year ago tomorrow, ironically prescient. Just this past month, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) updated an October 2010 report titled “Appropriations and Fund Transfers in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).” The new report found that, unbeknownst to almost every Member of Congress, Obamacare contains $105 billion in direct implementation spending that bypasses Congress’s normal appropriations process.
A separate CRS report, titled New Entities Created Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, concludes: “The precise number of new entities that will ultimately be created pursuant to [Obamacare] is currently unknowable, for the number of entities created by some sections is contingent upon other factors, and some new entities may satisfy more than one requirement in the legislation.” These new bureaucracies would have the power to reach into your life on a daily basis, including control over who is allowed to sell you health insurance and how they may do so, as well as what procedures Medicare will or will not pay for. Once Congress allows these new bureaucracies to be created, it will be next to impossible to get your health care freedom back.
But these merging entities do have a weak spot. CRS reports: “In practical terms, many of these entities will not be able to function until their members are appointed and funds are appropriated or made available for the entities to operate.” That is where the secret $105 billion stash comes in. Instead of leaving these fledgling bureaucracies vulnerable to the budgetary decisions of future Congresses, Obamacare appropriated billions in implementation spending over a 10-year period. Heritage fellow Ernest Istook explains the impact:
Making years’ worth of spending decisions in advance is an attempt to handcuff the current Congress and prevent it from determining current levels of spending. … The funds in Obamacare are not budget projections but actual appropriations of money. Obamacare goes far beyond any precedent for making appropriations for future years; it is an outrageous effort by the former Congress to bind the current and future Congresses in this way.
Conservatives can still save the nation from Obamacare’s bureaucratic kudzu, but they must act proactively. They must go beyond simply not providing funds for the implementation of Obamacare. CRS explains: “Precedents require that the language be phrased in the negative, for example, that ‘none of the funds provided in this paragraph (typically an account) shall be used for’ a specified activity.”
This is why our nation cannot afford to fund the federal government by continuing resolutions, which perpetuate the status quo—a status quo where Obamacare’s implementation is already funded. In order to truly defund Obamacare, conservatives must go through all 2,700 pages of the bill and cut spending for every program one by one. That is the mandate this Congress was elected on. Members need to do their jobs.
Saudi's "Day of Rage" This Friday Will Tell if Oil Goes to $20 a Gallon - Are You Listening?
By Nicholas Contompasis
"This puff piece by Jeffrey Towson on Prince Al Waleed and the soon to be troubled Saudi Arabia that stores 25% of the worlds known oil reserves, illustrates the extent to which the Royal family is willing to go to make sure the Kingdom doesn't turn into another Libya.
As you well know I have issues with Prince Al Waleed's methods of jamming Islam down the throats of the West, but I do respect his capitalist habits. Yet, I still question his end game. Is it for Allah or is it for the Prince?
If this Fridays demonstrations turn ugly, the Prince and his families seemingly endless fortunes could come to an end and we all could be paying $20 a gallon at the pump."
Saudi Arabia’s Buttock-Clenching Week
Mar. 7, 2011
By Jeffrey Towson
Jeffrey Towson is Managing Partner at the Towson Group
All eyes are turning to Saudi Arabia and it is going to be a fairly tense week in the world’s other magic Kingdom. As someone who has developed +$10B of high profile projects in that country, here is my assessment of what will and won't happen.
Regarding the +$35 billion in announced reforms. These are mainly economic, not political, in nature. And you can expect them to be very successful in the short-term. They increase the salaries of government workers, move more of the population into government jobs, subsidize education, subsidize housing, and so on. The King is bringing a $35 billion sledge hammer down on the Kingdom’s most immediate economic problem - the increasing unaffordability of life for significant portions of the population. And it will work. In a country of 23M, $35 billion is a big hammer.
But does giving more people government jobs (the majority of employed Saudi men already work for the government), unemployment insurance, more subsidized education, interest free home loans and so on address any of the real problems? Not really. But short-term solutions are the order of the day.
It's the important long-term reforms that everyone is thinking about, tensing up and watching for.
Step back and take a look at Saudi Arabia from 30,000 feet. There is 25% of the world's oil wealth. The population is a fairly manageable 23M (and they are all capitalists as far as I can tell). You have particularly robust infrastructure and functional (albeit large) government. The politico-economic system has been fairly stable for 70 years. You have a unifying religion and culture. And you have some of the world’s greatest investors. You have everything a developing economy could ever hope to have.
So what exactly is the problem? Why did Dubai become a modern city in only ten years while Riyadh, a much wealthier city, seems frozen in time?
Almost on cue, the region’s leading investor has recently spoken up about this. My former boss Prince Alwaleed released a particularly thoughtful Op-Ed in the New York Times calling for a combination of greater political participation and the empowerment of women and youth.
Women and youth constitute the majority of the population and are not part of the workforce today. I am no economist but when the majority of the population is not working, that seems an economic problem. He is basically calling for the political and economic engagement of both groups - which is a sledge hammer on the long-term economic problems. He is addressing the human capital problem that is the true difference between Riyadh and Dubai.
And it should work. In one move you can engage a massive, and particularly eager, population. It's really pretty clever. After almost a decade sitting down the hall from
Prince Alwaleed, I have come to be in awe of his ability to figure out realistic solutions to real-world problems. In a world of talkers, he is a proven prime mover.
That's my assessment. A big effective short-term economic reform and maybe movement towards a longer-term one. The "Day of Rage" is this Friday. We'll see what happens. I'll probably be in line waiting for the iPad 2.
"This puff piece by Jeffrey Towson on Prince Al Waleed and the soon to be troubled Saudi Arabia that stores 25% of the worlds known oil reserves, illustrates the extent to which the Royal family is willing to go to make sure the Kingdom doesn't turn into another Libya.
As you well know I have issues with Prince Al Waleed's methods of jamming Islam down the throats of the West, but I do respect his capitalist habits. Yet, I still question his end game. Is it for Allah or is it for the Prince?
If this Fridays demonstrations turn ugly, the Prince and his families seemingly endless fortunes could come to an end and we all could be paying $20 a gallon at the pump."
Saudi Arabia’s Buttock-Clenching Week
Mar. 7, 2011
By Jeffrey Towson
Jeffrey Towson is Managing Partner at the Towson Group
All eyes are turning to Saudi Arabia and it is going to be a fairly tense week in the world’s other magic Kingdom. As someone who has developed +$10B of high profile projects in that country, here is my assessment of what will and won't happen.
Regarding the +$35 billion in announced reforms. These are mainly economic, not political, in nature. And you can expect them to be very successful in the short-term. They increase the salaries of government workers, move more of the population into government jobs, subsidize education, subsidize housing, and so on. The King is bringing a $35 billion sledge hammer down on the Kingdom’s most immediate economic problem - the increasing unaffordability of life for significant portions of the population. And it will work. In a country of 23M, $35 billion is a big hammer.
But does giving more people government jobs (the majority of employed Saudi men already work for the government), unemployment insurance, more subsidized education, interest free home loans and so on address any of the real problems? Not really. But short-term solutions are the order of the day.
It's the important long-term reforms that everyone is thinking about, tensing up and watching for.
Step back and take a look at Saudi Arabia from 30,000 feet. There is 25% of the world's oil wealth. The population is a fairly manageable 23M (and they are all capitalists as far as I can tell). You have particularly robust infrastructure and functional (albeit large) government. The politico-economic system has been fairly stable for 70 years. You have a unifying religion and culture. And you have some of the world’s greatest investors. You have everything a developing economy could ever hope to have.
So what exactly is the problem? Why did Dubai become a modern city in only ten years while Riyadh, a much wealthier city, seems frozen in time?
Almost on cue, the region’s leading investor has recently spoken up about this. My former boss Prince Alwaleed released a particularly thoughtful Op-Ed in the New York Times calling for a combination of greater political participation and the empowerment of women and youth.
Women and youth constitute the majority of the population and are not part of the workforce today. I am no economist but when the majority of the population is not working, that seems an economic problem. He is basically calling for the political and economic engagement of both groups - which is a sledge hammer on the long-term economic problems. He is addressing the human capital problem that is the true difference between Riyadh and Dubai.
And it should work. In one move you can engage a massive, and particularly eager, population. It's really pretty clever. After almost a decade sitting down the hall from
Prince Alwaleed, I have come to be in awe of his ability to figure out realistic solutions to real-world problems. In a world of talkers, he is a proven prime mover.
That's my assessment. A big effective short-term economic reform and maybe movement towards a longer-term one. The "Day of Rage" is this Friday. We'll see what happens. I'll probably be in line waiting for the iPad 2.
Monday, March 7, 2011
MoveOn.org - George Soros - Are Sending Emails to Your Teachers - Nationwide - Here it is http://t.co/tiYo0js
George Soros Watch - America is Coming After You - Now: MoveOn.org - George Soros - Are Sending Emails to ...: "Subject: Immoral Dear MoveOn member, It's time to sound the alarm. This week, Congress could cut a deal on the budget. And if Republican..."
Liberals Attack Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas – Huffington Post – How Low Can You Go – Pretty Low
The Internet rag run by European-socialist Arianna Huffington at the Huffington Post headlined a story about Justice Thomas today. It reads like this “Lillian McEwen(an old girlfriend of Thomas): Clarence Thomas Was Easily Aroused.” Her article is a cut and paste of several other articles from the Washington Post and liberal black publications.
It seems that the far Left in our country are worried about a Supreme Court decision on ObamaCare, deeming it unconstitutional. Many from that side of the political spectrum are calling for Thomas to recuse himself because of his wife’s Tea Party involvement.
Now, they’ve gone as low as you can by attacking the Justice on his sexual habits and desires. It’s about as sick as you can go when you attack a man by using his girlfriend from decades ago to impugn his character.
It’s obvious the Left will stop at nothing to destroy our third branch of government, the Supreme Court. Let’s hope that the American public sees through this smear and sends the Left into a penalty box for eternity.
A side note: Huffington’s rag was bought by AOL-Time-Warner last month and AOL has appointed Huffington to run their news department. Just a warning to all of you AOL users, maybe its time to move on and cancel your account, you’re about to be indoctrinated by the far Left.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
China Says U.S. Must Stop Taiwan Arms Sales
"It looks like our little yellow buddies in China are starting to get a little pushy." - Nicholas Contompasis
BEIJING | Sun Mar 6, 2011 11:07pm EST
(Reuters) - The United States will put improved relations with Beijing at risk if it does not stop selling arms to Taiwan, China's Foreign Minister said on Monday.
The world's two biggest economies have sought to steady ties after a year that exposed strains over human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the gaping U.S. trade deficit with China. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the White House in January.
"The atmosphere at the moment in Sino-U.S. relations is good," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told a news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing meeting of China's parliament.
Vice President Joe Biden will visit China in the middle of this year, after which Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will go the United States at "an appropriate time", Yang said.
"Of course, it is an objective reality that China and the United States have some differences or even friction over some issues," he added. "What's important is to properly handle these differences on the basis of mutual respect."
Early last year, Beijing reacted with fury to the Obama administration plans for a new round of weapons sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China deems an illegitimate breakaway province, threatening to sanction the U.S. companies involved.
"We urge the United States to ... stop selling arms to Taiwan and take concrete actions to support the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations. This is very important in upholding the overall interests of China-U.S. relations," Yang said.
The United States is obliged under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island defend itself.
While China-friendly Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's promotion of closer economic ties with Beijing has reduced the risk of military conflict, the island is nonetheless seeking to shore up the balance of power against China.
Beijing has threatened to attack if the island tries to declare independence, and China has been outpacing it in its military build-up.
BEIJING | Sun Mar 6, 2011 11:07pm EST
(Reuters) - The United States will put improved relations with Beijing at risk if it does not stop selling arms to Taiwan, China's Foreign Minister said on Monday.
The world's two biggest economies have sought to steady ties after a year that exposed strains over human rights, Taiwan, Tibet and the gaping U.S. trade deficit with China. Chinese President Hu Jintao visited the White House in January.
"The atmosphere at the moment in Sino-U.S. relations is good," Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told a news conference on the sidelines of the ongoing meeting of China's parliament.
Vice President Joe Biden will visit China in the middle of this year, after which Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping will go the United States at "an appropriate time", Yang said.
"Of course, it is an objective reality that China and the United States have some differences or even friction over some issues," he added. "What's important is to properly handle these differences on the basis of mutual respect."
Early last year, Beijing reacted with fury to the Obama administration plans for a new round of weapons sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China deems an illegitimate breakaway province, threatening to sanction the U.S. companies involved.
"We urge the United States to ... stop selling arms to Taiwan and take concrete actions to support the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations. This is very important in upholding the overall interests of China-U.S. relations," Yang said.
The United States is obliged under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to help in the island defend itself.
While China-friendly Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's promotion of closer economic ties with Beijing has reduced the risk of military conflict, the island is nonetheless seeking to shore up the balance of power against China.
Beijing has threatened to attack if the island tries to declare independence, and China has been outpacing it in its military build-up.
Anonymous Internet Calls for the Takedown of China's Government - Will China Retaliate or Are They Already?
Borrowed from the BBC - Thank you
Police in Beijing shut the underground and mobile phone networks, and helicopters were deployed.
China has mounted a huge security operation in the capital in response to renewed online calls for protests.
Anonymous postings had urged people to stroll silently in areas of major cities, as a way of calling for change.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says crowds of shoppers were out but it was not clear if any were protesters.
The massive police deployments are being seen as a sign of the Communist Party's nervousness at the civil unrest and revolutions across the Arab world.
The security blanket thrown over the parts of Beijing on Sunday afternoon was extraordinary, our correspondent says.
This was the third week of calls for protests and the anonymous posts urged people to take a walk through Xidan, a busy shopping area.
At Xidan and another shopping area, Wangfujing, there were hundreds of uniformed police; men posted every few yards. Reporters were banned from filming or interviewing anyone.
Data signals on mobile phones were blocked and everywhere were huge numbers of plain clothes security men; wearing ear pieces, watching everything, our correspondent reports.
Despite the booming economic growth there are millions who feel shut out, angry at official corruption, at inequalities that are rising, at land grabs.
That's why the government is so concerned about the possibilities for unrest.
He says uniformed police politely checked his identity documents - in contrast to the previous weekend when the BBC team was taken away violently by plain clothes officers.
In Zhongguancun near Peking University, police also closed down the subway and mobile phone networks, and police helicopters were reported hovering overhead.
Online messages said there may have been a planned gathering of students there.
In Shanghai, at least 17 foreign journalists were detained at the protest site, People's Square, for not having permission to be there.
'The wrong idea'
Meanwhile, in a more hardline interpretation of current reporting rules, officials said that foreign reporters must seek government permission to conduct interviews in Beijing.
At a news conference, Li Honghai, vice-director of Beijing's Foreign Affairs Office, said reporters must apply for government permission before carrying out any news gathering in the city centre.
Beijing officials at the briefing denounced the protest calls as an attempt to undermine China's stability.
"All clear-minded people will know that these people have chosen the wrong place and have the wrong idea.
"The things they want to see take place have not and cannot occur in Beijing," said city government spokeswoman Wang Hui.
China's government is aware there are many possible reasons for popular discontent.
In his speech at the opening of the annual National People's Congress on Saturday, Premier Wen Jiabao said there were still fundamental issues the government must solve, which he said the masses felt strongly about.
Among the issues he listed were inflation, exorbitant house prices, land appropriations and house demolitions by the government and rampant corruption.
"We must make improving the people's lives a pivot linking reform, development and stability... and make sure people are content with their lives and jobs, society is tranquil and orderly and the country enjoys long-term peace and stability," Mr Wen said.
He made no mention of the unrest in the Middle East.
Police in Beijing shut the underground and mobile phone networks, and helicopters were deployed.
China has mounted a huge security operation in the capital in response to renewed online calls for protests.
Anonymous postings had urged people to stroll silently in areas of major cities, as a way of calling for change.
The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says crowds of shoppers were out but it was not clear if any were protesters.
The massive police deployments are being seen as a sign of the Communist Party's nervousness at the civil unrest and revolutions across the Arab world.
The security blanket thrown over the parts of Beijing on Sunday afternoon was extraordinary, our correspondent says.
This was the third week of calls for protests and the anonymous posts urged people to take a walk through Xidan, a busy shopping area.
At Xidan and another shopping area, Wangfujing, there were hundreds of uniformed police; men posted every few yards. Reporters were banned from filming or interviewing anyone.
Data signals on mobile phones were blocked and everywhere were huge numbers of plain clothes security men; wearing ear pieces, watching everything, our correspondent reports.
Despite the booming economic growth there are millions who feel shut out, angry at official corruption, at inequalities that are rising, at land grabs.
That's why the government is so concerned about the possibilities for unrest.
He says uniformed police politely checked his identity documents - in contrast to the previous weekend when the BBC team was taken away violently by plain clothes officers.
In Zhongguancun near Peking University, police also closed down the subway and mobile phone networks, and police helicopters were reported hovering overhead.
Online messages said there may have been a planned gathering of students there.
In Shanghai, at least 17 foreign journalists were detained at the protest site, People's Square, for not having permission to be there.
'The wrong idea'
Meanwhile, in a more hardline interpretation of current reporting rules, officials said that foreign reporters must seek government permission to conduct interviews in Beijing.
At a news conference, Li Honghai, vice-director of Beijing's Foreign Affairs Office, said reporters must apply for government permission before carrying out any news gathering in the city centre.
Beijing officials at the briefing denounced the protest calls as an attempt to undermine China's stability.
"All clear-minded people will know that these people have chosen the wrong place and have the wrong idea.
"The things they want to see take place have not and cannot occur in Beijing," said city government spokeswoman Wang Hui.
China's government is aware there are many possible reasons for popular discontent.
In his speech at the opening of the annual National People's Congress on Saturday, Premier Wen Jiabao said there were still fundamental issues the government must solve, which he said the masses felt strongly about.
Among the issues he listed were inflation, exorbitant house prices, land appropriations and house demolitions by the government and rampant corruption.
"We must make improving the people's lives a pivot linking reform, development and stability... and make sure people are content with their lives and jobs, society is tranquil and orderly and the country enjoys long-term peace and stability," Mr Wen said.
He made no mention of the unrest in the Middle East.
Harvard Professor Aided Khadafy
By Farah Stockman
Borrowed from the Boston Globe
CAMBRIDGE — It reads like Libyan government propaganda, extolling the importance of Moammar Khadafy, his theories on democracy, and his “core ideas on individual freedom.’’
But the 22-page proposal for a book on Khadafy was written by Monitor Group, a Cambridge-based consultant firm founded by Harvard professors. The management consulting firm received $250,000 a month from the Libyan government from 2006 to 2008 for a wide range of services, including writing the book proposal, bringing prominent academics to Libya to meet Khadafy “to enhance international appreciation of Libya’’ and trying to generate positive news coverage of the country.
As the crisis in Libya deepens, Monitor’s role in Libya has come under increasing scrutiny.
Borrowed from the Boston Globe
CAMBRIDGE — It reads like Libyan government propaganda, extolling the importance of Moammar Khadafy, his theories on democracy, and his “core ideas on individual freedom.’’
But the 22-page proposal for a book on Khadafy was written by Monitor Group, a Cambridge-based consultant firm founded by Harvard professors. The management consulting firm received $250,000 a month from the Libyan government from 2006 to 2008 for a wide range of services, including writing the book proposal, bringing prominent academics to Libya to meet Khadafy “to enhance international appreciation of Libya’’ and trying to generate positive news coverage of the country.
As the crisis in Libya deepens, Monitor’s role in Libya has come under increasing scrutiny.
Islam's Creeping Cancer into our Universities and Your Children's Minds
Borrowed from Jihad Watch - Thank you
Sir Howard Davies, the director of the London School of Economics, has at last done the honourable thing and resigned from the university’s governing council. The LSE’s shameless prostituting of its good name in return for Muammar Gaddafi’s blood money (as the Tory MP Robert Halfon has rightly called it) is as great a betrayal of the spirit of a university as there has ever been in Britain.
But while it will take the LSE quite some time to regain a seat at the table of respectability, it is not the only university that has reason to feel ashamed. The LSE is said to have received no more than £300,000 of the £1.5 million it was due from Libya.
Sir Howard Davies, the director of the London School of Economics, has at last done the honourable thing and resigned from the university’s governing council. The LSE’s shameless prostituting of its good name in return for Muammar Gaddafi’s blood money (as the Tory MP Robert Halfon has rightly called it) is as great a betrayal of the spirit of a university as there has ever been in Britain.
But while it will take the LSE quite some time to regain a seat at the table of respectability, it is not the only university that has reason to feel ashamed. The LSE is said to have received no more than £300,000 of the £1.5 million it was due from Libya.
Hollywood
"For the most part, the wholesale distribution of this garbage, that's being fed to Americas inexperienced youth is a campaign of brain numbing one-sided propaganda that attempts to sway them Left and out of a realm of reality. Hollywood's presumed license to denigrate and ridicule the life style of most Americans on the silver screen does nothing but devalue what's great about America." - Nicholas Contompasis
Pakistan and Her Nukes Could Go Into Al-Qaeda's Column Soon - Ex-CIA Officer Says
By Bruce Riedel
Bin Laden’s followers assassinate another Pakistani politician, as the group builds an underground syndicate of terror. Bruce Riedel on the menace—and how Raymond Davis could trigger mayhem.
The murder this week of another prominent Pakistani politician who advocated tolerance and democracy is the latest sign of how al Qaeda has created an underground syndicate of terror within the Pakistani state that threatens its very survival. By building alliances with like-minded jihadists inside Pakistan, al Qaeda has become a real and present danger to the sixth-largest country in the world, a country with the fastest-growing arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world.
Bin Laden’s followers assassinate another Pakistani politician, as the group builds an underground syndicate of terror. Bruce Riedel on the menace—and how Raymond Davis could trigger mayhem.
The murder this week of another prominent Pakistani politician who advocated tolerance and democracy is the latest sign of how al Qaeda has created an underground syndicate of terror within the Pakistani state that threatens its very survival. By building alliances with like-minded jihadists inside Pakistan, al Qaeda has become a real and present danger to the sixth-largest country in the world, a country with the fastest-growing arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Is it Against the Law to Publicly Announce You’re Going to Blow Up a Major Tourist Attraction?
Borrowed from the Blaze - Thank you
Are They Serious? ‘Shariah 4 America’ Group Calls for ‘Burkha’ on Statue of Liberty
By Meredith Jessup
As we’ve reported, controversial UK Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary has called on Muslims to “rise to implement the Shari’ah in America,” starting with a planned demonstration in front of the White House on Thursday.
Choudary’s “call for revolution” is being organized and advertised by Shariah4America, a group calling for the “Islamic demolition of the Statue of Liberty” and a remodeling of the White House into a “White Masjid.”
According to the group’s website, the Statue of Liberty “elevates the command of man over the command of God” and public veneration of the statue amounts to idol worship strictly prohibited by Islam. “This has forced sincere Muslims to develop realistic plans that will aid in the removal of the Statue of Liberty.
“Due to the scale of the task at hand, it is highly likely that rigorous safety checks will need to be employed before the demolition of the Statue of Liberty can commence; thus as a temporary measure, it is proposed that a large burkha is used to cover the statue, thereby shielding this horrendous eye sore from public view as well as sending a strong message to its French creators,” the site reads. (h/t Weasel Zippers)
Of course, the gigantic burkha is only a temporary solution. Shariah4America goes on to describe “plans” to detonate Lady Liberty with dynamite and build a minaret in her place. “Demolition of the Statue of Liberty is due to begin soon,” the site says. “Explosive charges will be used and so all visitors are advised to steer clear of the building site.” (Is it not against some sort of law to publicly announce you’re going to blow up a major tourist attraction?)