Bad news: we're back to 1931. Good news: it's not 1933 yet

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard bailout

This may beat Germany (-7pc) Japan (-12pc) and Korea (-22pc) over the fourth quarter. But that merely underlines the dangers ahead as the collapse of global trade chokes the mini-boom in US exports, setting off another stage of the crisis.

The US is losing 500,000 jobs a month. Brazil lost 650,000 in December. Beijing says 10m Chinese have lost their jobs since the crunch began. Japan's exports fell 35pc last month, year-on-year. The central bank is printing money furiously, buying bonds to prevent a relapse into deflation.

So yes, it is like early 1931. Citigroup and Bank of America have more or less disintegrated. JP Morgan's health is failing fast. General Motors and Chrysler survive only on life-support from the US taxpayer.

But it is not yet like 1933. That second leg down was the result of "liquidation" policies by a Dickensian leadership blind to the dangers of debt deflation. By then the Gold Standard had degenerated into an instrument of torture. It forced the Fed to raise rates from 1.5pc to 3.5pc in October 1931 to stem gold loss, with predictable results for shattered banks.

It is worth glancing at the front page of New York Times on Monday March 6, 1933 to see what the world looked like three days after Franklin Roosevelt moved into the White House.

The newspaper splashed with the story that FDR had closed the US banking system – invoking the Trading with Enemies Act – and ordered the confiscation of private gold. From left to right, the headlines read: "Hitler Bloc Wins A Reich Majority, Rules Prussia"; "Japanese Push On In Fierce Fighting, China Closes Wall, Nanking Admits Defeat"; "City Scrip To Replace Currency"; "President Takes Steps Under Sweeping Law of War Time"; "Prison For Gold Hoarders".

President Obama faces a happier world. The liberal economic order is still in tact, if fraying at the edges. Capital and ships move freely. North America and Europe talk the same political language. China has so far proved a dependable pillar of the international system.

But then the world seemed benign enough in early 1931. It is the second phase of depression that does terrible things.

Roosevelt took over a country where the economic machinery had completely broken down. The New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade had closed. Thirty-two states had shut their banks. Texas had restricted withdrawals to $10 a day.

Few states could borrow on the bond markets. Illinois and much of the South had stopped paying teachers. Schools closed for months. An army of 25,000 famished war veterans squatting in view of Congress had been charged by troopers of the 3rd US cavalry with naked sabres – led by a Major George Patton.

Armed farmers threatening revolution had laid siege to a string or Prairie cities. A mob had stormed the Nebraska Capitol. Minnesota's governor was recruiting Communists only for the state militia. Lawyers attempting to enforce foreclosures were shot. More than 100,000 New Yorkers applied to go to the Soviet Union when Moscow advertised for 6,000 skilled workers.

We forget how close America came to open revolt. Eleanor Roosevelt feared the country was beyond saving. Her husband kept the faith. He channelled the anger against Wall Street, diffusing it. "The practices of the unscrupulous money-changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion," he began his presidency.

The Fed was an ideological deadweight. Bowing to pressure from Congress it began to purchase bonds in mid-1932 to boost the money supply, but then recoiled, before retreating into pitiful self-justification. A third of the rescue funds in Hoover's Reconstruction Finance Corporation had been embezzled.

Today there has been no such failure of US institutional imagination, even if, as George Soros argues, the Treasury's policies have been "haphazard and capricious".

The twin blasts of fiscal and monetary stimulus have been massive. In short order the Fed has slashed rates to zero. It is now conjuring money out of thin air on an industrial scale, buying $600bn of mortgage bonds to force down the cost of home loans, and propping up the commercial paper market to avoid mass corporate default. Ben Bernanke, a Depression junkie, is proceeding with a messianic sense of certainty. The wash of money should ensure that the next 18 months will not mimic the cascade of disasters from late 1931 to early 1933.

It buys time. But it does not solve the deeper problem, which is that a West addicted to Ponzi credit has put off the day of reckoning with ever more extreme monetary policy with each downturn, stealing prosperity from the future.

It will be an extremely delicate task to right the ship again. Central banks will have to extricate themselves from their venture into the bond markets without setting off a bond debacle in 2010 or 2011. Governments will have to map out of a path of Puritan discipline for year after year.

This will be Barack Obama's grim test of statesmanship.

Queen Nancy

(Compiler's note: I just received this interesting e-mail. We are getting what we voted for and then some ..... don't you think.)

Source: A friend

Remember the big flap about Sarah Palin's dresses?

Americans! Where are you? Are you awake? We haven't heard any comment on "Queen Madam" Pelosi's snit about having to ride home in the small private, economy jet that comes with the Speaker's job. Remember how Madame Pelosi was so aggravated that this little jet had to refuel while transporting her to California *every*week? Remember that she insisted on a luxurious 200 seat jet to fly her to California nonstop, instead?

Hello Folks! Are you awake? Can't you muster even a little indignation?

Washington legislators who observed the Madam's Big Fat jet grinned with glee as Joe Biden informed everyone that Nancy's luxury Jet will require hard working American tax payers, to buy thousands of gallons of expensive jet fuel every week. She only works 3 days a week but her gas guzzler luxury jet flights home, to California , costs taxpayers $60,000 one way! As Joe noted, 'Unfortunately we have to pay to bring her back on Monday night,' so there goes another $60,000.

Folks, that is $480,000 per month or an annual cost to taxpayers of $5,760,000. And she complains about the cost of the war? She could take the smaller jet which she says would cramp her style -- but since her flying in style takes precedence over war costs -- what the ...., eh?

Military families in this country do without while this woman, who heads up the most do-nothing Congress in the history of our country, spends lavishly to fly herself and associates to and from California every week.

That burns me!! How about you?

Madame Pelosi expects you and me to conserve our carbon footprint by driving smaller cars and buying a bicycle pump to over-inflate our tires for better economy while she and her hypocrite cohorts waste tax payer dollars. Ticks me off mightily! How about you?

Keep this circulating maybe it will get to someone who will have enough gumption to do something about it.

Daughter of the new CIA director BOOM it

(Compiler's note: How will Leon Panetta handle that "all enemies, foreign and domestic" part of his oath of office?)

This is the daughter of the new CIA director


Linda Panetta the daughter of Leon Panetta, who was recently named by Barack Obama to be the new CIA director. Linda is a supporter of all the anti-American regimes in this Hemisphere. Here she is with Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega, two sworn enemies of the United States .

She is a radical anti-American activist who wants to close the School of the Americas , considers that American soldiers are criminals and is against any aid to the government of Colombia , our main ally in the region.

I wonder if any of her activities will come up during her father’s confirmation hearings.

See some of her websites:

view link

view link

Another legend has left us.

from ww2aircraft.net

Colonel James Swett Sr., United States Marine Corps pilot of WWII passed away at the age of 88 here in Redding, California.

He was the recipient of the Medal of Honor, the DFC and held two Purple Hearts for his actions in the South Pacific while assigned to VMF-221.

From Legacy.com:

Quote:

Colonel James E. Swett Sr. An American, a Husband, Father, and Man amongst Men James Elms Swett was born on June 15, 1920 in Seattle Washington to Nellie B. Swett and George E. Swett Sr. James had two siblings George Jr. and Margaret. James attended Sam Mateo High School and The College of San Mateo in the late 30's until WWII broke out, and eager to serve his country he………..[joined the Marines] Completing his flight schooling in Corpus Christi, Texas, James was called into action proceeding thru Hawaii to the Solomon Islands where he joined VMF-221. During this time Swett saw his first taste of aerial combat. It was then when his first combat mission with his 4 plane Wildcat formation against 150 Japanese Val Dive Bombers and Zero Fighters occurred. Some of Swett's exploits included many air to air and air to ground support combat missions. In one particular assignment, Swett was assigned to the USS Bunker Hill. While out on combat air patrol, the Bunker Hill was hit by 2 Japanese kamikazes causing major damage to the flight deck. Swett was vectored over to the USS Hornet, critically low on fuel and landed. Upon touchdown, he was immediately hauled from his aircraft and his plane pushed overboard to make room for other Bunker Hill aircraft low on fuel and the remaining Pilots from the Hornet. Swett continued his aerial campaigns amassing 15 1/2 kills in support of the Iwo Jima and surrender of Japanese campaigns. Returning stateside a decorated veteran, he was stationed at Santa Barbara after the surrender. James E. Swett lived an overall long and happy life. Just after WWII, he met his first wife Lois at the Russian River by asking her to hold his watch while he went swimming. Once placed in Marine Corps active reserve status, Swett courted and married Lois Anderson and began working with his Father who founded George E. Swett & Co. Swett remained active in the Marine Corps reserves as Commanding Officer VTU-2 at Moffet Field, Mountain View, California until his discharge as a full Colonel. The long marriage to Lois produced 2 children, James Jr. and John who both followed their Dad's footsteps in becoming Marines. James Jr. serving 2 tours of duty in Vietnam. Upon the passing of Swett's Father in 1960, took over sole operation of the business and was joined by John in the growth and operation of the business until Swett's retirement in 1992. He and Lois moved to Trinity Center, Ca and lived there, involved in the community until the passing of Lois in 1998. Shortly after Lois passing, Swett met Verna Miller of Redding thru mutual friends and it quickly became a love affair. They were married May 6, 2007 at River View Country Club where they were active members. They remained devoted to each other; sharing social events in Redding until Swett's health begin to fail in the summer of 08. Through his determined will, Swett faced death at least a half a dozen times; during WWII he was shot down twice, survived three car crashes; one which broke two vertebrae in his neck, then decidedly determined to fly again in his jeep, without benefit of wings, he fell asleep crashing into the now famed "ACE" oak tree along Hiway 3, he also contracted and defeated prostate and lymphoma cancers at different intervals, thumbed his nose to the Grim Reaper, he wasn't ready to go, and came out victorious as he had in his long fruitful life. Having an eye for good German engineering, he owned 13 Porches during his driving days. Although he wasn't completely responsible for all cars being intact, his sons loved to drive them as well and Barfigunetin Swett had a unique style during and after his military exploits. He was his own, self made man who loved his fellow man, his Corps and family and continued to show that thru his final days. He is missed mostly by Verna, his 2 sons their wives Terry and Pam and many grand and great grand children Gretchen, Jonathan, Brian, Katrina, Nancy, Natalie, Alise, Thomas, Xavier, Laniah, Victor, and Lily Grace, who loved him dearly. Funeral services will be held at McDonald's Chapel in Redding on Friday January 23, 2009 at 11:00 AM, followed by graveside services at Northern California Veterans Cemetery in Igo, CA at 12:45 PM. Arrangements are in the care of McDonald's Chapel (241-1626). Please sign the guestbook at Redding.com - Obituaries Published in the Redding Record Searchlight from 1/21/2009 - 1/22/2009

There is a good account of his actions at Wikipedia - James Swett, but the action of 7 April 1943 is where he earned his MoH and became an Ace. It's an amazing story, and is a must-read for any fan of the F4F Wildcat:

Quote:

His first mission was as a division leader on a combat air patrol over the Russell Islands early on the morning of April 7 in expectation of a large Japanese air attack. Landing to refuel, the four plane division of F4F Wildcats he was leading was scrambled after other aircraft reported 150 planes approaching Ironbottom Sound, and intercepted a large formation of Japanese Aichi D3A dive bombers attacking Tulagi harbor.

When the fight became a general melee, Swett pursued three Vals diving on the harbor. After shooting down two, and while taken under fire from the rear gunner of the third, the left wing of his F4F was holed by U.S. antiaircraft fire directed at the Japanese. Despite this he shot down the third Val and turned toward a second formation of six Vals leaving the area.

Swett repeatly attacked the line of dive bombers, downing each in turn with short bursts. He brought down four and was attacking a fifth when his ammunition was depleted and he had his cockpit shot up by return fire. Wounded, he decided to ditch his damaged fighter off the coast of Florida Island, after it became clear that his oil cooler had been hit and he would not make it back to base. After a few seconds of further flight, his engine seized, and despite initially being trapped in his cockpit, Swett extricated himself and was subsequently rescued in Tulagi harbor after crash-landing his Wildcat. This feat made the 22-year old Marine aviator an ace on his first combat mission.

Bill would send some convicts to Missouri National Guard

(Compiler's note: Oh ya, we really need this sort of thing -- NOT! I still remember from days long gone bye the answer when I ask one of my "trouble makers" why he was in this man's volunteer outfit -- "Well the judge told me I could go to prison or I could go to the Marine Corps... I think I should have gone to prison.")

By Roseann Moring

JEFFERSON CITY — State Rep. T.D. El-Amin said he likes to find "common sense" solutions.

So El-Amin, D-St. Louis, has proposed one fix for two problems — crowded prisons and an overtaxed military.

He introduced a bill that would allow some nonviolent offenders to serve in the Missouri National Guard rather than go to prison.

"I just think there's a better usage of those individuals who have committed crimes of a nonviolent nature to get them back on the road of true rehabilitation," El-Amin said. ....

Mexico drug war likely to intensify

By Alfredo Corchado

The Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON — Drug-related violence in Mexico, already at unprecedented levels, is expected to escalate further this year, with targets likely to include top Mexican politicians and law-enforcement agents and possibly even U.S. officials, according to diplomats and intelligence experts on both sides of the border.

The warning underscores the difficult choices confronting President Felipe Calderón as he takes on drug cartels while weighing the implications of growing casualties in a year of midterm elections and a slowing economy.

It also reflects rising concern among U.S. officials and analysts about the deteriorating security situation, corruption among Mexico's top crime fighters, and the vulnerability of the military to possible corruption in battling cartel gangs.

As the war against cartels escalates in 2009, so will threats, particularly against U.S. officials and other Americans, said officials, analysts and diplomats, including U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza.

"Calderón must — and will — keep the pressure on the cartels, but look, let's not be naíve: There will be more violence, more blood, and, yes, things will get worse before they get better. That's the nature of the battle," Garza said. "The more pressure the cartels feel, the more they'll lash out like cornered animals."

He advised Americans traveling to Mexico to check State Department travel alerts at www.state.gov.

A U.S. intelligence official based along the Texas border warned that U.S. officials, American businessmen and journalists will "become targets, if they're not already."

The official, citing information from informants and other intelligence, said attacks against Americans may include car bombs placed outside consulate offices and embassies or attacks on "specific individuals."

The threats, the intelligence official said, are a result of "growing frustration" among cartel leaders and the internal dynamics of cartel organizations. He described the drug gangs as "transnational, with deep financial, cultural and social ties to Mexican and U.S. cities, whether Ciudad Juárez; Culiacán, Sinaloa; as well as El Paso, Houston or Dallas."

The soaring level of violence has led the United States to develop plans for a "surge" of civilian and perhaps even military law enforcement should the bloodshed spread across the border, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday.

Chertoff said he ordered specific plans to confront the violence last summer.

"We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did get a significant spillover, we have a surge — if I may use that word — capability to bring in not only our own assets but even to work with" the Defense Department, Chertoff said.

Evidence of Mexican drug cartels has spread across the United States. Federal agents in Western Washington last year took down two drug-distribution rings with such links, according to court records.

In May, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents arrested 17 people connected to a cocaine-distribution ring in Burien. The ring was based out of a Mexican restaurant and was moving as much as 36 pounds of cocaine a month, said Arnold Moorin, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Seattle field office.

In September, agents "dismantled" a large-scale drug operation tied to the Sinaloa cartel, seizing $1 million in cash, more than 150 pounds of cocaine and 30 pounds of methamphetamine, Moorin said. The ring had been distributing drugs in Idaho and Washington for years, according to agents.

Violence also is crippling regions and cities in Mexico. Some top U.S. officials and analysts describe these cities, including Ciudad Juárez, across the border from El Paso, as "failed cities," in which cartels — not city or police officials — have control.

Ciudad Juárez, whose mayor and other elected officials have moved to El Paso in recent months and commute, ended the year with more than 1,600 drug-related killings. Nationwide, more than 5,700 — criminals, soldiers, police, journalists and bystanders — were killed. That's more than twice the estimated 2,300 slain in 2007.

Philip Heymann, a Harvard law professor and expert on terrorism, characterized the ongoing violence in Mexico as "narcoterrorism, given the tactics used," including beheadings and efforts to silence and intimidate society through threats, gruesome videos and text messages.

"I think the situation in Mexico is very, very dangerous for everyone, including the United States," he said. "The situation hasn't yet registered in the mind-set of Americans, but it will, especially when Americans become the target. All you need are two, three Americans killed and the issue will suddenly become important."

Frustration among senior U.S. officials over Mexican corruption is acute, particularly after the arrest of drug czar Noe Ramirez Mandujano. He is alleged to have been receiving $500,000 a month from the Arturo Beltran Leyva drug gang in exchange for intelligence, some of which originated with U.S. officials at the U.S. Embassy.

Frustration comes as the U.S. expands its role this year under the Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion program over several years aimed at providing Mexico with new technology, training and military equipment.

But the assistance may trickle in more slowly, over six years, instead of the three originally planned, a result of the U.S. economic crisis, sources familiar with the program said. Moreover, the initiative, under the incoming administration of President-elect Obama, may be "tweaked" to address the issue of U.S. demand for drugs, a U.S. Senate aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Ultimately," the senior administration official said, "we're not trying to wipe out drug trafficking in Mexico. We're trying to reduce it from the existential problem threatening democracy in Mexico and law enforcement. And you can't really do that until you weaken drug traffickers and strengthen the security forces."

Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Carter and The New York Times contributed to this report.

Pirates of the highways

from EagleSpeak

More common than you probably knew, from Canada: Cargo thefts shift into high gear:

Cargo thieves will take anything -- a load of bubblegum, chicken beaks and feet, wedding dresses. Last weekend, someone stole a tractor trailer full of eggs from a Mississauga yard. The empty truck was recovered in Scarborough yesterday.

In 2008, thieves stole $22-million worth of goods in Peel Region. With its vast industrial yards, its circuit of highways and its proximity to Pearson International Airport, Peel is considered by some in the industry to be the cargo theft capital of North America.

Across the GTA, thieves are becoming more organized, and striking more often.

"It's no longer isolated incidents. It's become rampant," said Uwe Petroschke, the president of Brampton-based Totalline Transport Inc.

"The police don't have enough manpower to deal with the situation any longer. They need help. We're dealing with organized crime.
***
"After stealing a tractor trailer full of merchandise, if they get caught, if they are found guilty, the charge is theft over $5,000. That's it. They can steal at will and the reward is greater than the punishment.''

In 2006, the FBI estimated the cost of U.S. highway cargo theft to be in the rather large range of $15 - 30 billion dollars:

Cargo theft is estimated to cost the U.S. $15-30 billion a year, though the true measure may be even higher, since some businesses are reluctant to report thefts out of concern for their reputations or their insurance premiums. Thieves' methods vary, but the outcome is generally the same—a load of merchandise leaves Point-A and never arrives at Point-B.

"Cargo theft is our number-one priority in Major Theft," says Unit Chief Eric B. Ives, who heads the Major Theft Unit in the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division. "There's never been a time when there's not enough work."

The issue is much broader than a criminal stealing a TV off a truck. In the past few years, investigations have revealed more and more sophisticated operations with well-organized hierarchies. The typical "criminal enterprise," as Ives describes it, has a leader who runs a regional or national operation. Beneath him are cells of thieves and brokers, or fences, who unload the stolen goods on the black market. "Lumpers" physically move the goods, along with drivers. And there's usually a specialist who is expert at foiling the anti-theft locks on truck trailers.

Cargo thieves heist whole truck loads of merchandise—the average freight on a trailer is valued between $12,000 and $3 million. The hotspots are where you might expect—truck yards, hubs for commercial freight carriers, and port cities.

The U.S. penalties are a little steeper thanks to the Patriot Act:

In fact, private industry played a pivotal role in placing a long-sought provision in the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act, signed into law in March. The provision requires the Department of Justice to add cargo theft to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) System by year's end. Cargo-related crimes that were once filed in the UCR as burglary, larceny, and robbery will have their own category. Once established, the data will paint a clearer picture of the extent of cargo theft—and help law enforcement agencies allocate their resources. The measure also increased prison terms for cargo theft convictions: three years for cargo valued under $1,000 and 15 years for cargo valued over $1,000.

Obama Camp Announces Talks With Iran Without Preconditions

by the Gateway Pundit

Obama announced at the CNN YouTube debate last year that he would be willing to meet with the world's worst dictators including the Iranian regime in his first year in office without preconditions.
Here's the video:


Barack Obama stuck with this precarious position throughout the campaign.It came up several times and both Senator Clinton and Senator McCain attacked him for wanting to sit down with Ahmadinejad without preconditions.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said he did not agree with Barack Obama that the President of the United States should meet with Iranian leaders without preconditions.

Today, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice restated Obama's calls for direct negotiations with Iran.
FOX News reported:

President Obama did a quick pivot Monday, shifting his focus to foreign policy by contacting a handful of major world leaders -- including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nikolas Sarkozy -- as his new U.N. ambassador restated the desire for vigorous and "direct diplomacy" with Iran.

Obama spoke with the foreign leaders ahead of a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and his Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who was leaving immediately afterward for a trip to the region. Mitchell will go to Cairo, Egypt; Jersusalem, Israel; Ramallah in the West Bank; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He will also visit Paris and London.

Back in the U.S., U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, who was confirmed last week for the post, said Monday that Iran's refusal to meet international obligations will increase pressure on Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions and cooperate with the United States and global community.

Besides pursuing nuclear weapons, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and support for Hamas, a terror group designated by the U.S., Israel and the European Union.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Rice's remarks are not a departure from statements made previously by Obama the candidate.

She merely restated the administration position that no forms of communication should be off the table with the Islamic regime.

"Whether you were on the campaign trail or not, clearly this was something that generated a lot of coverage over the past two years. And I think Ambassador Rice was simply restating the position that the president had," he said.

The regime in Iran executed 22 individuals this past week.

Stimulus for Who?

by Congressman Ron Paul

This week the House is expected to pass an $825 billion economic stimulus package. In reality, this bill is just an escalation of a government-created economic mess. As before, a sense of urgency and impending doom is being used to extract mountains of money from Congress with minimal debate. So much for change. This is déjà vu. We are again being promised that its passage will help employment, help homeowners, help the environment, etc. These promises are worthless. This time around especially, Congress should know better than to pass anything of this magnitude without first reading the fine print. ...

Continue Reading »

Listen to Texas Straight Talk. Click the play button below.

Kuwait to Buy Radiation Protection Pills

from NTI: Global Security Newswire

The Kuwaiti government is set to pay $1.4 million for 5.4 million doses of a liquid drug intended to safeguard people from thyroid cancer that can be caused by exposure to radiation, United Press International reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 29, 2008).

"This sale is the first large-scale order of ThyroShield from a foreign government," according to a statement from Troy Jones, president of U.S.-based supplier Nukepills.com. "We are currently working on additional potassium iodide orders from other countries in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. We hope the new administration follows Kuwait's lead and reinstitutes the potassium iodide distribution plan to protect its citizens" (United Press International, Jan. 23).

Islamic Terrorists Forming Cells In America

(Compiler's note: When are we finally understand what is happening here in our own backyard? Lets hope is before it is too late!)

By David Bedein

Jerusalem — Hezbollah could be one of the first security challenges faced by the new Obama administration. An official government report concludes the Iranian-backed Islamic terror group has been forming sleeper cells throughout the United States that could become operational.

The report estimates Hezbollah could become a much more potent national security threat by 2014. The group was responsible for the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, which killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French servicemen.

“The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah does not have a known history of
 fomenting attacks inside the U.S., but that could change if there is some
kind of ‘triggering’ event, the homeland assessment cautions,” the report 
said.


The report, obtained by the Middle East Newsline and marked “for official use only,” did not define a “triggering
 event.” Most of the threats cited in the report had been raised by the
Homeland Security Department.


The 38-page report, titled 2008 Interagency Intelligence Committee on
Terrorism, said Hezbollah was being directed by the leadership in Lebanon as
 well as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The assessment said the
Hezbollah network in the United States was engaged in money laundering, drug
trafficking, weapons smuggling and extortion.


The terror group has also established fund raising connections with mainstream American Muslim organizations, among the most notable being the case of Abdurahman Alamoudi, the former head of the American Muslim Council. Mr. Alamoudi, prior to his having pleaded guilty in 2004 for having tried to launder Libyan money for various terror groups, actively worked to raise money for Hezbollah among others. He also formerly helped oversee the appointment of Islamic chaplains in the U.S. military.

Hezbollah is one of several terrorist threats to the United States
 over the next five years, the report said. The report also cited al-Qaida as a 
leading threat, saying the Islamic network was focusing on striking strategic U.S. facilities.


“The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremist ideologies has not 
abated,” former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said prior to leaving office yesterday. “This threat has not evaporated, and we can’t turn the page on it.”

The handwriting is on the wall

(Compiler's note: Please review -- this is a must read item.)

from Brigitte Gabriel

During this first month of the New Year 2009, we have seen some stunning developments that, considered together, should leave absolutely no doubt about the rising radical Islamic threat on our doorsteps in America.

I have been warning Americans since 2002 about this threat, and that the threat is not just confined to terrorism. This is not a “war on terror.” Terror is a tactic, one of many in the arsenal of radical Islamists.

I have been declaring, to anyone who would listen, that Islamists are well on their way to subverting and transforming Europe, and they are riding that wave here to America.

I have told my personal story, of how Islamists, step by step, took over my country of Lebanon. How they used our freedoms and commitment to tolerance and multiculturalism against us to further their ultimate ends. And how they are using the same strategies and tactics against us in the West.

In just the past three weeks we have seen:
A violent Islamic protest in Britain, where an angry mob shouting “Allahu Akbar” chased – yes, chased – dozens of British policemen for blocks. You must see this video to believe it! (Please be warned – there is offensive language and profanity). Click here to see this shocking video.

Pro-Hamas, anti-Israel Muslims conducting demonstrations here in America, shouting praises to Hitler for what he did to the Jews, yelling “go back to the ovens,” and at times physically attacking counter-protestors.

The Amsterdam Court of Appeals ordering the prosecution of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders because he has made statements deemed “insulting” and harmful to “the religious esteem” of Muslims.

Austrian parliamentarian Susanne Winter convicted of “incitement,” because of public statements she has made, including the claim that the prophet Mohammed was a pedophile.

Muslim protest marches in Italy that ended with the protestors, in an obvious act of intimidation, conducting mass prayer vigils directly in front of Catholic places of worship.

The release of an official U.S. government report stating that Hezbollah is forming terrorist cells here in the U.S. that could become operational.

The UN continuing to move ahead with the “Durban II” conference and its document that is little more than an anti-Israel rant that calls for suppressing public “defamation” of religion – notably Islam. This has run parallel to an effort by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to get the UN Human Rights Commission to pass a resolution condemning public “defamation” of Islam.

My friends, the handwriting is clearly on the wall. Radical Islam is on the march, and it is growing stronger and bolder with every passing day.

What elected official in Europe or the UK will now have the courage to speak out against this threat? Certainly the actions against parliamentarians Wilders and Winter will ultimately have a chilling effect on American elected officials as well.

How many more “no-go zones,” Muslim enclaves where non-Muslims and even police officers fear to go, will appear in Europe? We’re already seeing such enclaves develop here in America right now. There’s a reason why Dearborn, Michigan, is frequently referred to as “Dearbornistan.”

What will happen in America when 50,000 ranting, chanting Islamist demonstrators attempt to aggressively back down and chase police officers trying to maintain order? Will the police use the force necessary? If they do, we can expect howls from groups like CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations). How will government officials respond?

And if the police back down and run, as they recently did in Britain, what message is being sent to radical Islamists?

With the recent announcements by the Obama administration regarding ending the use of certain coercive interrogation practices, will this administration have the courage and use the tools necessary to protect us from Hezbollah, Hamas and al Qaeda terrorist cells in our midst?

It is becoming crystal clear that 2009 is going to be a critical year in our effort to roll back the rising tide of Islamofascism. Over the next several weeks we will be announcing various projects and programs designed so that we can more aggressively and effectively go on the offense against this threat.

I am asking you to pay close attention to these announcements when they occur and to participate in every way you can. We must all come together and ACT! this year, before the worldwide momentum building behind radical Islam becomes too powerful to stop.

Always devoted,



Brigitte Gabriel

P.S. I will be on Michael Savage’s program tonight. It is scheduled to air between 8:00 and 9:00 Eastern tonight if you’d like to tune in!

Worm Infects Millions of Computers Worldwide

By JOHN MARKOFF

A new digital plague has hit the Internet, infecting millions of personal and business computers in what seems to be the first step of a multistage attack. The world’s leading computer security experts do not yet know who programmed the infection, or what the next stage will be.

In recent weeks a worm, a malicious software program, has swept through corporate, educational and public computer networks around the world. Known as Conficker or Downadup, it is spread by a recently discovered Microsoft Windows vulnerability, by guessing network passwords and by hand-carried consumer gadgets like USB keys.

Experts say it is the worst infection since the Slammer worm exploded through the Internet in January 2003, and it may have infected as many as nine million personal computers around the world.

Worms like Conficker not only ricochet around the Internet at lightning speed, they harness infected computers into unified systems called botnets, which can then accept programming instructions from their clandestine masters. “If you’re looking for a digital Pearl Harbor, we now have the Japanese ships steaming toward us on the horizon,” said Rick Wesson, chief executive of Support Intelligence, a computer security consulting firm based in San Francisco.

Many computer users may not notice that their machines have been infected, and computer security researchers said they were waiting for the instructions to materialize, to determine what impact the botnet will have on PC users. It might operate in the background, using the infected computer to send spam or infect other computers, or it might steal the PC user’s personal information.

“I don’t know why people aren’t more afraid of these programs,” said Merrick L. Furst, a computer scientist at Georgia Tech. “This is like having a mole in your organization that can do things like send out any information it finds on machines it infects.”

Microsoft rushed an emergency patch to defend the Windows operating systems against this vulnerability in October, yet the worm has continued to spread even as the level of warnings has grown in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, security researchers at Qualys, a Silicon Valley security firm, estimated that about 30 percent of Windows-based computers attached to the Internet remain vulnerable to infection because they have not been updated with the patch, despite the fact that it was made available in October. The firm’s estimate is based on a survey of nine million Internet addresses.

Security researchers said the success of Conficker was due in part to lax security practices by both companies and individuals, who frequently do not immediately install updates.

A Microsoft executive defended the company’s security update service, saying there is no single solution to the malware problem.

“I do believe the updating strategy is working,” said George Stathakopoulos, general manager for Microsoft’s Security Engineering and Communications group. But he added that organizations must focus on everything from timely updates to password security.

“It’s all about defense in depth,” Mr. Stathakopoulos said.

Alfred Huger, vice president of development at Symantec’s security response division, said, “This is a really well-written worm.” He said security companies were still racing to try to unlock all of its secrets.

Unraveling the program has been particularly challenging because it comes with encryption mechanisms that hide its internal workings from those seeking to disable it.

Most security firms have updated their programs to detect and eradicate the software, and a variety of companies offer specialized software programs for detecting and removing it.

The program uses an elaborate shell-game-style technique to permit someone to command it remotely. Each day it generates a new list of 250 domain names. Instructions from any one of these domain names would be obeyed. To control the botnet, an attacker would need only to register a single domain to send instructions to the botnet globally, greatly complicating the task of law enforcement and security companies trying to intervene and block the activation of the botnet.

Computer security researchers expect that within days or weeks the bot-herder who controls the programs will send out commands to force the botnet to perform some as yet unknown illegal activity.

Several computer security firms said that although Conficker appeared to have been written from scratch, it had parallels to the work of a suspected Eastern European criminal gang that has profited by sending programs known as “scareware” to personal computers that seem to warn users of an infection and ask for credit card numbers to pay for bogus antivirus software that actually further infects their computer.

One intriguing clue left by the malware authors is that the first version of the program checked to see if the computer had a Ukrainian keyboard layout. If it found it had such a keyboard, it would not infect the machine, according to Phillip Porras, a security investigator at SRI International who has disassembled the program to determine how it functioned.

The worm has reignited a debate inside the computer security community over the possibility of eradicating the program before it is used by sending out instructions to the botnet that provide users with an alert that their machines have been infected.

“Yes, we are working on it, as are many others,” said one botnet researcher who spoke on the grounds that he not be identified because of his plan. “Yes, it’s illegal, but so was Rosa Parks sitting in the front of the bus.”

This idea of stopping the program in its tracks before it has the ability to do damage was challenged by many in the computer security community.

“It’s a really bad idea,” said Michael Argast, a security analyst at Sophos, a British computer security firm. “The ethics of this haven’t changed in 20 years, because the reality is that you can cause just as many problems as you solve.”

Obama Stimulus Package Breakdown

(Compiler's note: Yep, I think the only money you & I will have left is "change." If you're a tax payer, this is a must read.)

by Glenn Beck

What is the money being spent on-general breakdown between infrastructure, tax cuts, etc…?

Some highlights of the package, by the numbers:

• $825 billion total (as of 1/15/09)
• $550 billion in new spending, described as thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in.
• $275 billion in tax relief ($1,000 tax cut for families, $500 tax cut for individuals through SS payroll deductions)
• $ 90 billion for infrastructure
• $ 87 billion Medicaid aid to states
• $ 79 billion school districts/public colleges to prevent cutbacks
• $ 54 billion to encourage energy production from renewable sources
• $ 41 billion for additional school funding ($14 billion for school modernizations and repairs, $13 billion for Title I, $13 billion for IDEA special education funding, $1 billion for education technology)
• $ 24 billion for "health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies" and "to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments."
• $ 16 billion for science/technology ($10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation; $6 billion to expand broadband to rural areas)
• $ 15 billion to increase Pell grants by $500
• $ 6 billion for the ambiguous "higher education modernization."

[Source: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]

Here is a further breakdown of the package:

NOTE: The following are highlights of the package; for the full 13-page summary from the Appropriations Committee, click here:

(as of 1/15/09)

Energy
$32 billion: Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste
$16 billion: Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit
$6 billion: Funding to weatherize modest-income homes

Science and Technology
$10 billion: Science facilities
$6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas

Infrastructure
$30 billion: Transportation projects
$31 billion: Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion: Water projects
$10 billion: Rail and mass transit projects

Education
$41 billion: Grants to local school districts
$79 billion: State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion: School modernization ($15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500; $6 billion for higher education modernization)

Health Care
$39 billion: Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$87 billion: Help to states with Medicaid
$20 billion: Modernization of health-information technology systems
$4.1 billion: Preventative care

Jobless Benefits
$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.
$39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.
$20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.

Taxes

Individuals:

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion.
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor.
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
*Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time.

Businesses:

*An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two.
*Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment
*Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases.
*Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

[Sources: Associated Press: Highlights of Senate economic stimulus plan; January 23, 2009; WSJ: Stimulus Package Unveiled; January 16, 2009; Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]

When is the money being is going to be spent, and on what?

The government wouldn't be able to spend at least one-fourth of a proposed $825 billion economic stimulus plan until after 2010, according to a preliminary report by the Congressional Business Office that suggests it may take longer than expected to boost the economy. The government would spend about $26 billion of the money this year and $110 billion more next year, the report said. About $103 billion would be spent in 2011, while $53 billion would be spent in 2012 and $63 billion between 2013 and 2019.

• Less than $5 billion of the $30 billion set aside for highway spending would be spent within the next two years, the CBO said.

• Only $26 billion out of $274 billion in infrastructure spending would be delivered into the economy by the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, just 7 percent.

• Just one in seven dollars of a huge $18.5 billion investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would be spent within a year and a half.

• About $907 million of a $6 billion plan to expand broadband access in rural and other underserved areas would be spent by 2011, CBO said.

• Just one-fourth of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October of next year.

• $275 billion worth of tax cuts to 95 percent of filers and a huge infusion of help for state governments is to be distributed into the economy more quickly.

[Note: The CBO's analysis applied only to 40 percent of the overall stimulus bill, and doesn't cover tax cuts or efforts; a CBO report outlining all of its costs is expected in the next week or so.]

• The Obama administration said $3 of every $4 in the package should be spent within 18 months to have maximum impact on jobs and taxpayers; if House or Senate versions of the bill do not spend the money as quickly, the White House will work with lawmakers to achieve the goal of spending 75% of the overall package over the next year and a half.

[Source: AP: Three-quarters of stimulus to go in 18 months; January 22, 2009; Bloomberg News: Much of Stimulus Wont Be Spent Before 2011, CBO Says; January 20, 2009; link]

Who will be spending the money? Will the states be receiving any money to spend, community organizations? Churches?

The economic stimulus plan now moving through Congress would shower billions of federal dollars on state and local governments desperate for cash:

• The House stimulus bill includes an extra $87 billion in federal aid to state Medicaid programs.

• It allots some $120 billion to boost state and city education programs.

• There's $4 billion for state and local anticrime initiatives in the legislation, not to mention $30-plus billion for highways and other infrastructure projects.

• $6.9 billion to help state and local governments make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions.

• $87 billion to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010 the share of Medicaid costs the Federal government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent, with extra relief tied to rates of unemployment.

• $120 billion to states and school districts to stabilize budgets and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs.

Overall, about one-quarter of the entire $825 billion recovery package would be devoted to activities crucial to governors, mayors, and local school boards - making them among the plans biggest beneficiaries.

[Sources: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009; Reuters: Roads, energy, states win in US stimulus plan;15 January 2009; Christian Science Monitor: States to win big in stimulus sweepstakes; House bill allots almost one-quarter of the $825 billion recovery package to states, localities. How will that boost the economy?; January 25, 2009; Link]

Feds Arrest 1,970 Alleged Illegal Immigrant Gang Members

LOS ANGELES -- Federal immigration agents arrested 1,970 alleged illegal immigrant gang members in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and four other counties in 2008, federal officials announced Friday.

Operation Community Shield is a nationwide anti-gang effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Of those arrested, more than 850 were prosecuted on state or federal charges, including firearms violations and illegal re-entry to this country after deportation, ICE reported.

Others were foreign national gang members who were arrested on administrative immigration violations and placed in deportation proceedings. The program also screens illegal immigrants in custody for various offenses to determine if they are subject to deportation.

The statistics also include San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

"These arrest statistics are further proof of ICE's major role in combating gang-related crime in Los Angeles," said Robert Schoch, special agent in charge of ICE's Los Angeles office.

"Our immigration and customs authorities are proving to be powerful weapons in this effort, and we'll continue working closely with local law enforcement to attack and dismantle the gangs that have terrorized our communities," Schoch said. "Now, it's the gang members who have something to fear."

In November, police in Los Angeles arrested Wilmar "Smiley" Alberto, 30, a Salvadoran national with ties to a gang, who had been previously deported from the United States.

Alberto was charged with re-entry after deportation, and is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, awaiting court proceedings.

In October, Heriberto Ramos-Moreno, 41, a previously deported Mexican national, was turned over to ICE upon his release from the Orange county Jail, where he had been detained on charges of obstructing an officer.

Ramos is also being prosecuted for re-entry after deportation. The felony offense carries a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

Operation Community Shield was launched in 2005 and has resulted in the arrests nationwide of more than 11,850 gang members and associates.

DNI releases new information-sharing policy

• By Ben Bain

The United States’ outgoing top intelligence official has directed the 16 intelligence agencies to share their information and analyses through information technology means.

A directive, signed by outgoing Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell on Jan. 21, provides the policy behind an ongoing integration program focused on information technology. That integration is intended to link the intelligence community’s largest foreign intelligence databases, make data more available across agencies and consolidate agencies’ e-mail systems. Officials say the program will greatly increase the amount of data available to analysts and improve their abilities, as well as spot and stop threats.

Intelligence Community Directive 501 seeks to create a culture of “responsible sharing and collaboration” in the intelligence community, improve the ability to warn about and disrupt threats, and provide more accurate, timely and insightful analysis to decision makers, the document said.

The directive instructs intelligence agencies to act as “stewards” of information with responsibilities to provide that data to other agencies. Authorized intelligence agency personnel also have a responsibility to learn if other agencies hold information that could be relevant to their mission and request that information if it could be useful.

The directive allows for senior intelligence agency officials to exempt some data from being made available if its disclosure to other agencies could compromise sources, methods or activities.

To accomplish the goals of the directive:

• Officials will develop benchmarks for each intelligence agency to meet during the integration process.
• Each agency will appoint senior intelligence officials to be stewards to make sure that all information and analyses are sharable and available through automated means to other members of the intelligence community.
• Until the intelligence community eventually has an attribute-based identity management capability, leaders of intelligence agencies will determine which employees are authorized to participate in information exchanges.
• The stewards will determine if agency information should be disseminated using a risk-management framework.
• The stewards need to make disseminated analytic products available under the new architecture by June 1.
• New IT systems for intelligence agencies and significant changes to legacy systems must allow for the discovery, dissemination and retrieval of information through automated means.
• Employees will get training in this system of sharing information.
• The intelligence community's chief information officer will develop an IT architecture and develop standards needed for the integration.

President Obama May Reverse Damage of Ghetto Culture

Unraveling “Acting White Syndrome.”

Lending Drops at Big U.S. Banks

Top Beneficiaries of Federal Cash Saw Outstanding Loans Decline 1.4% Last Quarter

Lending at many of the nation's largest banks fell in recent months, even after they received $148 billion in taxpayer capital that was intended to help the economy by making loans more readily available. bailout

Ten of the 13 big beneficiaries of the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, saw their outstanding loan balances decline by a total of about $46 billion, or 1.4%, between the third and fourth quarters of 2008, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of banks that recently announced their quarterly results.

Those 13 banks have collected the lion's share of the roughly $200 ....

An Islam columnist on Jews

(Compiler's note: A must read.)

By: Dr Farrukh Saleem.
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist

Why are Jews so powerful?
There are only 14 million Jews in the world; seven million in the Americas, five million in Asia, two million in Europe and 100,000 in Africa. For every single Jew in the world there are 100 Muslims. Yet, Jews are more than a hundred times more powerful than all the Muslims put together. Ever wondered why?

Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish. Albert Einstein, the most influential scientist of all time and TIME magazine's 'Person of the Century', was a Jew. Sigmund Freud -- id, ego, superego -- the father of psychoanalysis was a Jew. So were Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson and Milton Friedman.

Here are a few other Jews whose intellectual output has enriched the whole humanity:

Benjamin Rubin gave humanity the vaccinating needle.

Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine.

AlBert Sabin developed the improved live polio vaccine.

Gertrude Elion gave us a leukemia fighting drug.

Baruch Blumberg developed the vaccination for Hepatitis B.

Paul Ehrlich discovered a treatment for syphilis (a sexually transmitted disease).

Elie Metchnikoff won a Nobel Prize in infectious diseases.

Bernard Katz won a Nobel Prize in neuro muscular transmission.

Andrew Schally won a Nobel in endocrinology (disorders of the
endocrine system; diabetes, hyperthyroidism).
Aaron Beck founded Cognitive Therapy (psychotherapy to treat mental disorders, depression and phobias).
Gregory Pincus developed the first oral contraceptive pill.
George Wald won a Nobel for furthering our understanding of the human eye.
Stanley Cohen won a Nobel in embryology (study of embryos and their
development).
Willem Kolff came up with the kidney dialysis machine.

Over the past 105 years, 14 million Jews have won 15-dozen Nobel
Prizes while only three Nobel Prizes have been won by 1.4 billion
Muslims (other than Peace Prizes).

Why are Jews so powerful?
Stanley Mezor invented the first micro-processing chip.
Leo Szilard developed the first nuclear chain reactor;
Peter Schultz, optical fibre cable;
Charles Adler, traffic lights;
Benno Strauss, Stainless steel;
Isador Kisee, sound movies;
Emile Berliner, telephone microphone;
Charles Ginsburg, videotape recorder.

Famous financiers in the business world who belong to Jewish faith
include Ralph Lauren (Polo),
Levis Strauss (Levi's Jeans),
Howard Schultz (Starbuck's),
Sergey Brin (Google),
Michael Dell20(Dell Computers),
Larry Ellison (Oracle),
Donna Karan (DKNY),
Irv Robbins (Baskins & Robbins) and
Bill Rosenberg (Dunkin Donuts).

Richard Levin, President of Yale University, is a Jew. So are Henry
Kissinger (American secretary of state), Alan Greenspan (Fed chairman under Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush), Joseph Lieberman, Madeleine Albright (American secretary of state), Casper Weinberger (American secretary of defense), Maxim Litvinov ( USSR foreign Minister), David Marshal ( Singapore 's first
chief minister), Issac Isaacs (governor-general of Australia ),
Benjamin Disraeli (British statesman and author), Yevgeny Primakov
(Russian PM), Barry Goldwater, Jorge Sampaio (president of Portugal ),
John Deutsch (CIA director), Herb Gray (Canadian deputy PM), Pierre
Mendes (French PM), Michael Howard (British home secretary), Bruno
Kreisky (chancellor of Austria ) and Robert Rubin (American secretary
of treasury).

In the media, famous Jews include Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Barbara Walters
(ABC News), Eugene Meyer (Washington Post), Henry Grunwald
(editor-in-chief Time), Katherine Graham (publisher of The Washington
Post), Joseph Lelyyeld (Executive editor, The New York Times), and Max
Frankel (New York Times).

Can you name the most beneficent philanthropist in the history of the
world? The name is George Soros, a Jew, who has so far donated a
colossal $4 billion most of which has gone as aid to scientists and
universities around the world. Second to George Soros is Walter
0AAnnenberg, another Jew, who has built a hundred libraries by donating
an estimated $2 billion.

At the Olympics, Mark Spitz set a record of sorts by wining seven gold
medals. Lenny Krayzelburg is a three-time Olympic gold medalist.
Spitz, Krayzelburg and Boris Becker are all Jewish.

Did you know that Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles
Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy
Crystal, Woody Allen, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman,
Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Kirk Douglas, Goldie Hawn, Cary Grant,
William Shatner, Jerry Lewis and Peter Falk are all Jewish?

As a matter of fact, Hollywood itself was founded by a Jew. Among
directors and producers, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone,
Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple),
Andrew Vaina (Rambo 1/2/3), Michael Man (Starsky and Hutch), Milos
Forman (One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest), Douglas Fairbanks (The thief
of Baghdad ) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) are all Jewish.

To be certain, Washington is the capital that matters and in
Washington the lobby that matters is The American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Washington knows that if PM Ehud Olmert
were to discover that the earth is flat, AIPAC will make the 109th
Congress pass a resolution congratulating Olmert on his discovery.

William James Sidis, with an IQ of 250-300, is the brightest human who
ever existed. Guess what faith did he belong to?

So, why are Jews so powerful?
Answer: Education.

Why are Muslims so powerless?

There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face of the
planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in
Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being
is a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every
Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred
Muslims. Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless?

Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the Organisation of
Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500
universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The
United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004,
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
compiled an 'Academic Ranking of World Universities' , and
intriguingly, not one university from Muslim-majority states was in
the top-500.

As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the Christian world
stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states have a
literacy rate of 100 per cent. A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp
contrast, has an average literacy rate of around 40 per cent and there
is no Muslim-majority state with a literacy rate of 100 per cent. Some
98 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world had completed
primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the 'literates' in the
Muslim world did the same. Around 40 per cent of the 'literates' in
the Christian world attended university while no more than two per
cent of the 'literates' in the Muslim world did the same.

Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims.
The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per
million. In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time
researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one
million Arabs (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000
technicians per one million). Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2
per
cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world
spends around five per cent of its GDP.
Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge.

Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per
million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a
society. In Pakistan , there are 23 daily newspapers per
1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK ,
the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same
in Egypt is 20.
Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.

Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports
are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan 's
export of high technology products as a percentage of total exports
stands at one per cent. The=2 0same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent;
Kuwait , Morocco , and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent while Singapore
is at 58 per cent.

Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.

Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren't producing knowledge.

Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren't diffusing knowledge.

Why are Muslims powerless? Because we aren't applying knowledge.

And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.

Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2
trillion. America, just by herself, produces goods and services worth
$12 trillion; China $8 trillion, Japan $3.8 trillion and Germany $2.4
trillion (purchasing power parity basis).

Oil rich Saudi Arabia , UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce
goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; Spain alone
produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Catholic
Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion. (Muslim GDP as
a percentage of world GDP is fast declining).

So, why are Muslims so powerless?
Answer: Lack of education.

ALL WE DO IS SHOUT ALLAH THE WHOLE DAY AND BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR OUR MULTIPLE FAILURES.

An Army General's Letter to Obama

(Compiler's note: A must read article.)

by General John Batiste

A retired career military officer tells the new president that we can’t win the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan without the coordinated effort of all government agencies.

I served in the U.S. military for 31 years and left on principle in 2005, disgusted by the failure to properly plan and execute our mission in Iraq. So I feel compelled to offer some basic advice to the Obama Administration about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we are dangerously overextended without a plan for success.

I know from personal experience on the ground in First Gulf War and in Bosnia implementing the Dayton Accord that effective strategy is a four-legged stool resting equally on diplomacy, economic recovery, political reconciliation and the use of our great military. But to ensure that all four legs are fully extended, the entire government must be engaged, with some interagency person synchronizing the planning and execution of contributions from all appropriate government departments and agencies.

Until the Department of Agriculture is as engaged and committed to defeating Islamic extremists as the Department of Defense, we are wasting our time.

In Iraq in 1991 and in Bosnia in 1996, I saw how effective such synergy can be. In Iraq in 2005, I witnessed the disastrous consequences of ignoring this principle and proceeding as if the use of military force alone can be sufficient.

So President Obama’s first order of business should be to fix the US Government’s interagency process. It is broken and desperately needs an overhaul similar to what the 1986 Goldwater/Nichols Act did for the Department of Defense. Define interagency protocols and assign planning and execution responsibilities. Define the planning process, insist on teamwork, clearly delineate the role of each department and agency and give the interagency group the power to follow through. Without a high performing interagency team, our government cannot be effective, regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.

Today’s interagency process is dysfunctional and plagued by infighting. No one is in charge. There is no unity of effort. One would think that the Department of Agriculture would have a major role in Afghanistan generating economic alternatives to the production of heroin, which is a major source of funding for the extremists. But right now, heroin production is flourishing without adequate attention to it. And until the Department of Agriculture is as engaged and committed to defeating Islamic extremists as the Department of Defense, we are wasting our time.

So the president’s second action, once the interagency process is organized for success, should be to task it with developing a comprehensive strategy for defeating world-wide Islamic extremism. No such overarching strategy now exists and as a result, the shortsighted and uncoordinated efforts of our government’s departments and agencies are plagued by infighting, incompetence and wasted effort. The Department of Defense pursues its own strategy in a vacuum, which is a formula for failure.

The challenge in Iraq and Afghanistan has more to do with resolving the gross imbalance of wealth in our world than with the application of force to destroy an ill-defined enemy. The Obama Administration needs to address that challenge by clearly articulating ends, ways and means. How do we define success? What missions will be assigned to each US Government department or agency, and what resources will they require? Who is in charge? Without this fundamental strategic planning and coordinated execution, we risk the continued and unacceptable drain in US national treasure measured in blood and dollars with potentially little to show for it.

Beware the boasting about success in Iraq. Be very concerned about expanding our commitment in Afghanistan. Be equally concerned about the state of our military to deal with other contingencies in a dangerous world. Furthermore, if we do not find a way to deal more effectively with these challenges abroad, we will not be able to properly address the economic crisis at home.

John Batiste
Major General, US Army (Retired)
President, Klein Steel Service Inc.
Member, New York State VA Commission

Iran Is the Terrorist 'Mother Regime'

By BRET STEPHENS

It's Sunday morning, and I've been trying for days to get an interview with former -- and, if his poll numbers hold up through the Feb. 10 election, soon-to-be -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But it's a political season, and there's a war on, and my calls aren't being returned. With nothing better to do, I go downstairs to the hotel gym for a jog.

Terry Shoffner

So who should be on the treadmill next to mine? Benjamin Netanyahu. We chat for a few minutes, mostly about the cease-fire that the government of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has just declared, and I ask if he'd be willing to sit for an interview later in the day. His answer is something between a "maybe" and a "yes." As a nod to the customs of the country, I take that as a definite yes, so much the better to press his aides to arrange the meeting.

When the interview finally happens, in the grand reception hall of the old King David Hotel, it's close to one o'clock in the morning on Monday. Mr. Netanyahu has come from a long dinner with visiting European leaders -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel among them -- and he is plainly exhausted, joking that he can't be held responsible for anything he might say.

The crack is unnecessary. Rare for a leading Israeli political figure, the 59-year-old Mr. Netanyahu is a phenomenally articulate man -- Obama-esque, one might even say -- not just in his native Hebrew, but also in the unaccented English he acquired at a Philadelphia high school and later as an architecture and management student at MIT. True to form, near-lapidary sentences all but trip from his tongue. Such as:

"I don't think Israel can accept an Iranian terror base next to its major cities any more than the United States could accept an al Qaeda base next to New York City."

Or:

"If we accept the notion that terrorists will have immunity because as they fire on civilians they hide behind civilians, then this tactic will be legitimized and the terrorists will have their greatest victory."

Or:

"We grieve for every child, for every innocent civilian that's killed either on our side or on the Palestinian side. The terrorists celebrate such suffering, on our side because they openly say they want to kill us, all of us, and on the Palestinian side because it helps them foster this false symmetry, which is contrary to common decency and international law."

And so on. The immediate question, of course, is the Israeli government's unilateral cease-fire, followed hours later by Hamas's declaration of a conditional, one-week cease-fire. Was the war a win? A draw? Or did it accomplish nothing at all -- thereby handing Hamas the "victory" it loudly claims for itself?

When Mr. Olmert announced Israel's cease-fire late Saturday night, he could hardly keep a grin off his face. In his estimate, along with that of his senior military brass, Israel had scored a clear win: It had humiliated Hamas militarily; it had caused a political rift within the group; it had taken relatively few casualties of its own; it had focused international attention on the problem of the arms smuggling beneath Gaza's border with Egypt. Most important, in the eyes of the Olmert government, it had avoided the trap of reoccupying Gaza -- the only means, it believed, of finally getting rid of Hamas.

Ordinary Israelis, however, seem less confident in the result, and Mr. Netanyahu gives voice to their caution. He is quick to applaud the "brilliant" performance of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the "perseverance and strength" of Israeli civilians under Hamas's years-long rocket barrages.

But, he adds, "we have to make sure that the radicals do not perceive this as a victory," and it remains far from clear that they would be wrong to see it as one. "Notwithstanding the blows to the Hamas, it's still in Gaza, it's still ruling Gaza, and the Philadelphi corridor [which runs along Gaza's border with Egypt] is still porous, and . . . Hamas can smuggle new rockets unless it's closed, to fire at Israel in the future."

So is Mr. Netanyahu's preference regime change in Gaza? "Well, that would have been the optimal outcome," he says, adding that "the minimal outcome would have been to seal Gaza" from the missiles and munitions being smuggled into it. So far it's unclear that Israel has achieved even that: A "Memorandum of Understanding" agreed to last week by Israel, the U.S. and Egypt could be effective in stopping the flow of arms, but that's assuming Cairo lives up to its responsibilities.

"One would hope they would actually do it," says Mr. Netanyahu, sounding less than optimistic. Within days, his doubts are confirmed when the Associated Press produces video footage of masked Palestinian smugglers moving through once-again operational tunnels.

Rather than looking for solutions from Egypt, however, Mr. Netanyahu's gaze is intently fixed on Iran, a subject that consumes at least half of the interview. Iran is the "mother regime" both of Hamas, against which Israel has just fought a war, as well as of Hezbollah, against which it fought its last war in 2006. Together, he says, they are more than simply fingers of Tehran's influence on the shores of the Mediterranean.

"The arming of Iran with nuclear weapons may portend an irreversible process, because these regimes assume a kind of immortality," he says, arguing that the threat of a nuclear Iran poses a much graver danger to the world than the current economic crisis. "[This] will pose an existential threat to Israel directly, but also could give a nuclear umbrella to these terrorist bases."

How to stop that from happening? Mr. Netanyahu mentions that he has met with Barack Obama both in Israel and Washington, and that the question of Iran "loomed large in both conversations." I ask: Did Mr. Obama seem to him appropriately sober-minded about the subject? "Very much so, very much so," Mr. Netanyahu stresses. "He [Mr. Obama] spoke of his plans to engage Iran in order to impress upon them that they have to stop the nuclear program. What I said to him was, what counts is not the method but the goal."

It's easy to believe that Mr. Netanyahu, of all people, must be wishing President Obama well: If diplomacy with Iran fails and the U.S. does not resort to military force, it would almost certainly fall to Mr. Netanyahu to decide whether Israel will go it alone in a strike. (In a separate interview earlier that day, a senior military official assured me that a successful strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is well within Israel's capabilities.)

On the other hand, a Prime Minister Netanyahu could easily tangle with the Obama administration, particularly if it makes a big push -- as it looks like it might with the appointment of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell as the new special envoy to the region -- for the resumption of comprehensive, "final status" peace negotiations. There's already a history here: During his first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999, Mr. Netanyahu frequently clashed with the administration of the man whose wife is now the secretary of state.

Mr. Netanyahu's own prescriptions for a settlement with the Palestinians -- what he calls a "workable peace" -- differ markedly from the approaches of the 1990s. He talks about "the development of capable law enforcement and security capabilities" for the Palestinians, adding that the new National Security Adviser Jim Jones had worked on the problem for the Bush administration. He stresses the need for rapid economic development in the West Bank, promising to remove "all sorts of impediments to economic growth" faced by Palestinians.

As for the political front, Mr. Netanyahu promises a gradual, "bottom-up process that will facilitate political solutions, not replace them."

"Most of the approaches to peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he says, "have been directed at trying to resolve the most complex problems, like refugees and Jerusalem, which is akin to building the pyramid from the top down. It's much better to build it layer by layer, in a deliberate, purposeful pattern that changes the reality for both Palestinians and Israelis."

Whether this approach will work remains to be seen: Palestinian economic development was also a priority in the 1990s, until it became clear that billions in foreign aid were being siphoned off by corrupt Palestinian officials, and after various joint economic projects with Israel were violently sabotaged.

But however Mr. Netanyahu's economic and security plans play out, he makes it equally clear that he is prepared to go only so far to reach an accommodation that will meet some of the current demands being made of Israel -- not only by Palestinians, but by the Syrians, the Saudis, and much of the rest of the "international community" as well. "We're not going to redivide Jerusalem, or get off the Golan Heights, or go back to the 1967 boundaries," he says. "We won't repeat the mistake our [political opponents] made of unilateral retreats to merely vacate territory that is then taken up by Hamas or Iran."

This brings Mr. Netanyahu to the political pitch he's making -- so far successfully -- to Israelis ahead of next month's election. When elections were held three years ago, bringing Mr. Olmert to power, "we [his Likud Party] were mocked" for warning that Gaza would become Hamastan, and that Hamastan would become a staging ground for missiles fired at major Israeli cities such as Ashkelon and Ashdod.

"I think we've shown the ability to see the problems in advance," he says. "Peace is purchased from strength. It's not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats. It just doesn't happen that way. That perhaps is the greatest lesson that has been impressed on the mind of the Israeli public in the last few years."

The polls seem to agree. As of Wednesday, an Israeli poll gives Likud a 30-seat plurality in the next Knesset, ahead by eight of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's Kadima party. Well behind both of them is the left-leaning Labor Party of Defense Minister Ehud Barak (at about 15 seats), which in turn is running roughly even with Avigdor Lieberman's right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu.

The dovish parties of yore, particularly Meretz, barely exist as political entities anymore. Whether they'll ever be back will be a testament, one way or another, to the kind of prime minister Mr. Netanyahu will be this time around.