Egads! - Biden Guarantees International Crisis if Obama Elected

Could Senator Biden be warning us that Senator Obama is not prepared to be Commander in Chief of the world superpower’s armed forces? Or, as John Bolton, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations put it, “Leaders around the world see Obama as soft, untested, weak and very naïve”….

“Mark my words," Senator Biden warned ominously, “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said at a fund raiser, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him.”

And with that, the foot-in-the-mouth Senator from Delaware scored yet another major gaffe (a gaffe is what happens when politicians inadvertently tell the truth): just two weeks before the election, he reminded voters exactly what it is they do not at all like about this young rookie, a newcomer with no military experience who remains untested on the stage of grave world dangers and threats to our country and families.

All over America tonight, citizens are looking at each other and saying, “Oh yeah, that was it…we don't want a rookie like Obama as president of the globe’s mightiest superpower. His well known skittishness in the face of determined and ruthless forces will invite aggression from our enemies, and they will want to know just what America is now willing to do. We need a McCain who our enemies won't dare test. Our enemies did that once – tested a new but tough-minded president - and they won’t make that mistake again,” as they then will reflect on the fact that America has not been attacked since 9/11.

But it should be noted that, in all the previous tests of a new American president who was not tough-minded (Senator Obama – please put down that white flag!), we failed. Think of one who responded by doing nothing (Clinton with Mogadishu or the first World Trade Center attack – it was no surprise that 9/11 would follow), or think of one who courted aggression because of his greenhorn qualities (think of Kennedy, Kruschev and the Cuban Missile Crisis), and you have the scenario that awaits us. The world will want to test this one unknown young man to see how the United States will respond to more dead Americans, and to more shattered American families.

On the other hand, when tough-minded presidents come into office, America’s enemies scatter like cockroaches under a spray of Raid. Think Ronald Reagan and the fact that the Iranian hostages, held for 444 days under the weak-kneed Jimmy Carter, were formally released into United States custody on January 20, 1981, minutes after Reagan was sworn in.

Joe Biden went on to admit, " Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right. I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us. There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'."

And therein lies another problem. Here Biden openly admits that they probably won’t get it right from the get-go, just as Obama had to try three times to register a proper response to Russia when it barreled into Georgia. Doesn’t inspire much confidence, does it? McCain, very familiar with Russia and how to handle them, responded correctly and appropriately from the moment the crisis began. In fact, the invasion of Georgia highlighted McCain’s leadership and experience in world affairs over Obama by his handling of a foreign crisis. McCain was quick to condemn Russian aggression, saying it was a matter of “urgent moral and strategic importance to the United States…a clear violation of international law,” calling on Russia to “immediately and unconditionally cease operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgia.” At that moment, Obama was still floating ideas about how to respond, as he did over the next three really embarrassing days.

Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons."

"You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real." Well, we could have told you that, Senator Biden. And based on how your candidate has stated time and again he’d like to deal with al-Qaeda (that is, run in the opposite direction), it does not make us feel safe that you two are on the threshold of a place where you probably should not be.

The American people will decide on November 4^th whether you should be there, but it is quite possible that, on this day, they will remember that Senator McCain has seen America’s enemies up close and personal, looked them right in the eye, face-to-face, and in so doing, he has been tested over the years as few in this country have. Americans don’t want to be “tested” (read: see more dead American bodies in our homeland) when our economy is in crisis and we are already fighting in two hot wars. We don’t need another American city reduced to chaos and rubble.

This is precisely what people are worried about, and a tested and experienced McCain is much more likely to get it right than an untested ingénue with attitude, who has no understanding of how at risk America is. As Senator Biden himself said of Senator Obama’s candidacy, “This is no time for on-the-job training. Lives will be lost.”

For this reason, we are grateful to Senator Biden for reminding us just what is at stake here. Yes, we have economic woes, but Americans will at least live through that. Another attack on our soil will not guarantee that Americans will live through it, and it will certainly not guarantee that we will respond in a way that will keep America’s enemies further at bay.

- The Editors of FamilySecurityMatters.org

Massive Fund Raising Misdeeds Prove Obama is Bought, But Who owns Him?

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

Paul Hollrah

Having dug through the FEC and Obama's contribution reports, is the damning information there enough to get Obama defeated, if not impeached? ....

In July, Obama boasted that, as of May 31, his contributor base numbered some 1.5 million people, with one-fourth, or $66.25 million of his $265 million, coming from those contributing $2,000, or more... some 33,200 people. Thus, the remainder, or $198.75 million, came from some 1.47 million people, each contributing $5, $10, $20... or, as Obama assured us, "whatever they could afford."

While it is true that Obama is the kind of guy who could read Bill Clinton's golf scorecard and make it sound convincing, simple arithmetic should have told him that $198.75 million dollars cannot be contributed by 1.47 million people in "$5, $10, or $20" amounts. Each of those 1.47 million people would have had to contribute, on average, $135 to create a pool of $198.75 million... and that simply does not happen. It has never happened before in American politics and it is not happening now.

But now, just days before the election, the Obama campaign has compounded their sins. They are now reporting that their contributor base has increased from 1.5 million to 2.5 million and that the total amount raised now approaches $600 million. If we can assume that 25% of their contributions still come from individuals giving $2,000 to $2,300, that base has now grown from 33,200 individuals to 65,000 in a time span of just three months, and the number of individuals contributing modest amounts... "$5, $10, $20, or whatever they could afford"... is now up from 1.47 million to 2.43 million, each contributing, on average, $185.

Anyone who believes that is actually happening will believe almost anything. So how are they doing it?

In our July 25 column we pointed out that UBS Americas, headed by Robert Wolf... along with George Soros, one of Obama's top two money men... had been accused of highly unethical and illegal banking practices in six months of hearings by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. According to an article in The Nation, UBS Americas, a subsidiary of UBS, of Zurich, Switzerland, has advised wealthy Americans, including many of our worst villains, how to shelter funds from the IRS, as well as from prosecutors, creditors, disgruntled business associates, family members, and each other.

In a Statement of Facts in the recent criminal trial of former UBS executive Bradley Birkenfeld, it was alleged that UBS took extraordinary steps to help American clients manage their Swiss accounts without alerting federal authorities. For example, UBS advised American clients to avoid detection by using Swiss credit cards to withdraw funds, to destroy all existing off-shore banking records, and to misrepresent the receipt of funds from their Swiss accounts as loans from the Swiss bank. According to The Nation, UBS established an elaborate training program which taught bank employees how to avoid surveillance by U.S. Customs and law enforcement, falsify visas, encrypt communications, and secretly move money in and out of the country... "

It is the perfect instrument for funneling illegal campaign contributions into the coffers of an unscrupulous American politician. Putting two and two together, I suggested that a very wealthy individual, or cartel, wishing to influence the election of the President of the United States, could transfer unlimited sums of money through this device. A U.S. recipient, such as the Obama campaign, could receive hundreds of thousands of individual contributions via Swiss credit card transfers, with fictitious payees being entered by teams of paid staffers working in a "boiler room" setting. The owners of the Swiss accounts would receive periodic statements indicating: a) debits of varying amounts, up to $2,300 each, and b) offsetting credits provided by the cartel, or by the wealthy, but unnamed, "international financier."

For most of the super wealthy, especially those attempting to hide income and assets from U.S. authorities, an unexplained debit and credit of $2,300, or less, would not even raise an eyebrow. So who would ever know the source of such contributions? No one.

Now, in an October 20 article in Newsmax, writer Kenneth Timmerman provides details from Federal Election Commission records that give substantial weight to my theory. In studying Obama's FEC filings, Newsmax found more than 2,000 donors who had given substantially more than their $4,600 limit ($2,300 in the primaries and $2,300 in the General Election). The law requires that such excess contributions must be returned to the donor within 60 days of the donor going over his/her limit. However, many of the donors contacted by Newsmax said that they had not been contacted by the Obama campaign and that they had not received refunds.

But these are relatively minor infractions compared to 66,383 highly suspicious contributions, from 37,265 donors, whose contributions were not rounded to even dollar amounts. For example, Timmerman tells us that John Atkinson, an insurance agent in Burr Ridge, Illinois, gave a total of $8,724.26. He gave in odd amounts such as $188.67, $1,542.06, $876.09, $388.67, $282.20, $195.66, $118.15, and one of $2,300.

Sandra Daneshinia, a self-employed caregiver of Los Angeles, made 36 separate contributions totaling $7,051.12. Thirteen of her contributions were later refunded. However, in an odd coincidence those 13 refunds, in amounts such as $233.88 and $201.44, came to an even $2,300, the maximum amount allowable in any one election.

One contributor interviewed by Newsmax, Ronald J. Sharpe, Jr., a retired schoolteacher from Rockledge, Florida, is reported to have given $13,800... $9,200 over his limit. However, Mr. Sharpe does not remember giving that much money to Obama, nor has anyone from the campaign ever contacted him about a refund.

Of the 66,383 contributions in odd amounts, 44,410 were in unrounded amounts of less than $100, 15,269 contributions were in unrounded amounts of between $101 and $999, and 704 contributions were in odd amounts greater than $1,000.

Lest anyone suggest that these 37,265 donors either emptied their piggy banks or emptied their pockets and purses periodically and just sent it all to Obama, pennies and all, allow me to suggest something a tiny bit more Macheavellian. Those 66,383 contributions are the proceeds of conversions of foreign currency, smuggled into the country in foreign credit card receipts, and converted to U.S. dollars.

According to a Newsmax analysis, the Obama campaign finance reports contain some 370,500 unique names... a far cry from the 2.5 million contributor base claimed by the campaign. Of course, when your money is coming in large chunks from offshore accounts, such as hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time from the Middle East and from Third World African countries, then laundered though UBS accounts in Zurich, it takes a bit of creativity to put authentic-sounding names on all of it for the FEC records.

How massive is this crime? Since the Obama campaign has refused to disclose their complete contributor list (they continue to hide the identities of some 2 million donors), as the McCain campaign has done, Newsmax estimates that "Obama is financing his presidential campaign with anywhere from $13 million to a whopping $63 million from overseas credit cards or foreign currency purchases."

Given the massive voter registration fraud committed by Obama's supporters, the fraudulent votes already cast in early voting by itinerant out-of-state voters, and the massive crime involved in accepting tens of thousands of illegal foreign contributions, John McCain and Sarah Palin simply must close the gap in the closing days of the campaign. If not, we will inaugurate a man on January 20 who will have to be impeached before his wife has a chance to measure the White House for new draperies.

U.S. Headed for Capitalism/Socialism Hybrid

By: Arnaud de Borchgrave

No German minister will have held such sway over Germany's economy since Albert Speer was put in charge of the country's entire production capacities by Adolf Hitler in 1942.

According to the Financial Times, such was the power turned over to German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck last week. A little late in the day to rattle thousands of German gazillionaires who have long concealed their wealth next door in Switzerland — or further afield in the tiny island nations of the Caribbean, Cyprus, Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, Nauru and Vanuatu in the Pacific, and the lesser-known emirates of the Gulf (e.g., Sharjah, part of the United Arab Emirates).

The global financial meltdown had numerous Paul Reveres as messengers of coming battles. Two years ago, congressional committees heard testimony from experts who described derivatives as "a ticking global time bomb."

Unregulated hedge funds, which have been making 30 percent or more a year for their wealthy clients ($1 million, and $5 million to $10 million initiation fees), were shortcuts to the exploding billionaires club (up from 350 to 1,150 in less than a decade). To make it in the top 25 hedge funds, managers made approximately $400 million a year — each.

Joe the plumber wouldn't know how to describe a hedge fund. Not surprising, as it is a de facto closed club for wealthy individuals and institutions, which use aggressive strategies unavailable to mutual funds, including selling short, program trading, swaps, arbitrage and derivatives.

Two years ago, a top trader at Goldman Sachs was rewarded with a $70 million year-end bonus out of $16.5 billion earmarked for fringe benefits that year. He was insulted. Thought he was worth a lot more. So he turned it down, quit, created his own hedge fund, and made $320 million his first year. Median income for four-person American families: $61,000.

In September's market turmoil, withdrawals from U.S. hedge funds alone hit $43 billion. A total of $150 billion is expected to exit before year's end, which compels managers to sell assets worth about $400 billion. Some fund managers offered to wave fees if their clients agreed to stay on till March. Liquidity is now the mantra for the mega-rich.

Casino capitalism, crony capitalism or bandit capitalism, call it what you will, except democratic. So a course correction to the left in the United States Nov. 4 will surprise no one.

The hedge funds alone produced almost $200 billion for their guilt-edged portfolios — out of $2 trillion. Fund managers take 20 percent of any and all profits on top of 1 percent to 2 percent of assets as annual management fees.

European officials have compared the current global financial upheaval and the European Union's response with the collapse of the Soviet empire beginning Nov. 9, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and with al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the twin towers and the Pentagon, the two symbols of U.S. financial and military power.

The 15 European nations that adopted a common euro currency concluded this was a propitious time to curb superstar emoluments. Similar warnings echoed in London and Washington.

America's European allies are calling for a new Bretton Woods, the historic New Hampshire conference at the end of World War II that created the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund — and acknowledged the United States as the world's financial and economic leader that it has been ever since.

The Europeans have concluded the global nerve center in Washington needs rebooting. Some are even saying a new economic system, a sort of hybrid of capitalism and socialism, will spring from the current wreckage on the edge of the precipice.

State-sponsored recapitalization of banks to avoid a meltdown is the first step in that direction.

The first manifestation of this new economic phenomenon was the way the United States forced nine major banks to accept partial nationalization. In jeopardy now is the system that allowed the United States to borrow $2 billion to $3 billion a day from the rest of the world to maintain the world's highest standard of living, based on conspicuous consumption, at a time of growing world shortages.

Iceland, a NATO ally, was the first "First World" nation to go belly up. The small, riches-to-rags island of 350,000 people, who read more books per capita than any other country in the world, also made a living as banker to a wide variety of tax dodgers.

They were all wiped out, including 300,000 Britishers who kept money on ice below their national radar screens, when Iceland declared bankruptcy and appealed to Russia for a $5 billion loan.

Pakistan, one of the world's eight nuclear powers, and a "major non-NATO ally, was also bankrupt. Its new president, Asif Zardari, who returned from his meeting with President Bush empty-handed, as nothing could be guaranteed pending a clean slate in Washington, flew off to China to seek $1.5 billion.

China is also Pakistan's longtime close friend that has been granted anchorage rights at the new naval base of Gwadar in Baluchistan on the Arabian Sea, near the mouth of the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. China also has concession rights for developing vast mineral resources near the tri-border area of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

The presidential election — short of an October surprise — looms as a likely Republican trainwreck. The postmortems will run billions of words. The national debt during Mr. Bush's eight years in the White House has almost doubled to $10 trillion. And next year's budget is projected to run a $500 billion deficit, a sharp plunge from the $750 billion surplus projected when Bill Clinton left office. Americans without health insurance have grown by 7 million, while average premiums have almost doubled. And U.S. forces have been fighting for a year longer than they did in World War II.

The 83 percent of Americans who have told pollsters they believe the United States is headed in the wrong direction abroad also list "improving America's standing in the world" as a priority objective for the new president. "A genuine and complete reform" of the world's financial architecture, as wide-ranging as Bretton Woods was for the post-World War II world, is now the challenge posed by the European allies.

SENIOR AL QAIDA LEADER REPORTED KILLED IN PAKISTAN

from World-Check

Bilal Abdullah (UID 657012) and Mohammed Asha (UID 652144) are currently on trial in London. They are charged with conspiring to murder and causing explosions. They are alleged to have been behind the June 2007 car bomb attacks in London and at Glasgow's International airport. Asha was reportedly the mastermind behind the attacks and the financier. Both deny the charges. Our Terrorism and Insurgency Research Unit (TIRU) will be monitoring the events closely and updating the profiles with verdicts and sentences if applicable as soon as the information becomes available. ....

Welcome to Islamberg: the terrorists of Middle America?

(Compiler's note: This is a must read article. rca)

By Wes Vernon

The enemy is here?

Investigative reporter Paul Williams has located at least 13 of these facilities in America. They are generally located in remote, rural, or outskirt suburban communities — possibly in an effort to draw as little attention to themselves as possible.

These compounds — at least one of which is about 70 acres — have been described by investigators as having unmarked walls of "gated" structures, with guard shacks where armed men stand ready to ward off any strangers.

They are home to members of Jamaat al-Fuqra ("Community of the Impoverished"). Williams traces the origins of this group to Palestinian cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani.

In his book The Day of Islam, the Annihilation of America and the Western World, Williams quotes Gilani as stating that the purpose of his group is to "purify Islam through violence." The gated communities "were set up to serve as havens where young Muslims — primarily inner-city black men who became [Muslim] converts in prison — could begin a new life." The sheikh describes the compounds as "Hamaats."

Anywhere near you?

As of the book's publication (last year), the "communities" were located in Hancock, N.Y.; Deposit, N.Y.; Hyattsville, Md.; Red House, Va.; Falls Church, Va.; Macon, Ga.; York, S.C.; Dover, Tenn.; Buena Vista, Colo.; Talihina, Okla.; Tulane County, Calif.; Commerce, Calif.; and Onalaska, Wash.

All — as you will notice — are located away from densely populated urban centers — the better to avoid curious strangers.

Military-style discipline

The findings of Williams and of Douglas Hagmann, chief investigative officer of the Northeast Intelligence Network (NIN) — focus mainly on the facility at Hancock, N.Y. It is described as a "boot camp with trailers for recruits, a firing range, and a military training area replete with obstacle courses." It also contains "two central structures for religious training, education, and community gatherings."

Its own university

Sheikh Gilani has even ventured into academia to further his cause. Every year, his International Quranic Open University sends scores of American Muslims to Pakistan "reportedly for guerilla training." They are granted a degree in higher education on the condition that they return to the "Hamaats" (encampments) back in their home countries. Gilani has written that the highest duty of the university students is to wage jihad against "the oppressors of Muslims."

Citizens of what is called "Islamberg" and the other Fuqra communes are required to sign an oath saying, "I shall always hear and obey and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah's sake."

Terrorists in your neighborhood?

The aforementioned Douglas Hagmann — whose NIN agency is a multi-state licensed private investigative company with many Fortune 500 clients, and a member of the International Counter-Terrorism Officers Association — has submitted the following among the results of his probe in Hancock, much of it from people living near the compound:

1. "We hear bursts of gunfire all the time, and we know that there is military-like training going on there. Those people are armed and dangerous."
2. "We don't even slow down when we drive by. They own this mountain and they know it, and there is nothing we can do but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy a property next to that?"

For obvious reasons, Hagmann said, the residents did not want to be identified. They are easy targets, as it is.

Small explosions and automatic and large caliber weaponry are heard. No one not affiliated with their organization is allowed to enter. No marked law enforcement vehicle is ever seen entering there. Most visitors to the compound — numerous and frequent — use late model SUVs, many with license plates from Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Unmarked box trucks deliver unknown items, many drivers appearing to be of Middle Eastern origin. Many guests are in Middle Eastern attire.

Crime

Over the years, writes Williams, "Numerous members of Jamaat al-Fuqra have been convicted in courts of such crimes as conspiracy to commit murder, firebombing, smuggling, and workers compensation fraud." Others are leading suspects in ten unsolved assassinations and seventeen fire bombings.

In 2001, a resident of the Red House, Va., community was charged in the murder of a sheriff's deputy. And by 2004, investigators had evidence purportedly linking the group to D.C. Beltway "sniper killer" John Allen Muhammad and London "shoe bomber" Richard Reid. Also, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl — according to news dispatches — was killed while trying to secure an interview with Sheikh Gilani in Pakistan.

Different tactics in different locations?

Not all of the thirteen Islamic compounds are exactly alike. Some are more overtly troubling than others. Locals who have reported back to their home news media and in web postings leave the impression in the composite that some of the camps have a better sense of public relations with the neighboring community.

As noted above, the Hancock, N.Y., and Red House, Va., facilities have caused deep concern about the issue of militarism. In York, S.C., on the other hand, Gilani's operation is — on its face — not seen as necessarily militarist. But reports of the more militant operations elsewhere have circulated — mostly by word of mouth — and locals there tend to believe the facility's "open community events" are for show — public relations — or as one suspicious York resident has put it — "a clever PR effort to put a friendly face on an organization that has a much darker history."

Reports not pretty

On a PBS news program, reporter Deborah Amos featured findings by investigator Susan Fenger, who had probed the group in Colorado. She says there are numerous links between Al-Fuqra and al-Qaeda.

Law enforcement, anyone?

The authorities, local and federal, appear very reluctant to deal with what are obviously training sites for jihad. What does it take to galvanize them into action? Are they afraid? Afraid of harassment accusations from the ACLU? Afraid of being demagogued by politicians who argue that we can't take preventive action until millions are killed? What do we do then? Read them their Miranda rights? What does it take?

What we need on Capitol Hill is a revival of the House and Senate committees that used to investigate subversion on our soil. Don't hold your breath for that to happen. Any chance the major presidential candidates might say something about this? Now we're really dreaming over the top.

Powder-laced letters sent to banks in 9 cities

WASHINGTON – At least 30 letters containing suspicious powder have been mailed to Chase banks in nine cities but so far appear to be harmless, authorities said Tuesday.

The FBI said it was investigating "a series of letters sent to banks around the country."

"These threat letters contain a powder substance," the FBI said in a statement. "At this point, field tests on the powder have been negative. Additional testing will be completed. Even sending a hoax letter is a serious crime."

A law enforcement official said the letters were mailed to Chase bank branches in or near Atlanta; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Newark, N.J.; New York City; Oklahoma City; and Washington.

The letters all appear to be from the same source and were sent from Texas, the official said. They began showing up at the banks on Monday, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

A city official in suburban Chicago, where two letters showed up at a Chase credit card processing center, said they were mailed from Amarillo, Texas. ....

Offshore Oil Rigs Risk Hitting CW Dumps, Expert Says

Companies scouring the New Jersey coastline for new sources of oil and natural gas might unintentionally release U.S. chemical warfare material submerged in the Atlantic Ocean during the 20th century, the Press of Atlantic City reported Sunday (see GSN, Oct. 19, 2006).

Between World War I and the early 1970s, the U.S. Army plunged roughly 64 million pounds of chemical weapons into U.S. waters. Coordinates for many of the dumping sites were not recorded, and ocean currents might have shifted some of the lethal materials, which include mustard blister agent and sarin and VX nerve agents, according to a Congressional Research Service report published last year.

Material dropped near New Jersey beginning in 1957 included 48 1-ton containers of lewisite, 4,577 bulk containers of mustard agent, nearly 9,000 M55 rockets carrying VX or sarin and 38 bulk containers filled with the nerve agents.

"If you put an oil platform on top of one of those piles, it will be a concern. You don't want to be on a platform on top of this stuff," said environmental health expert Richard Albright. “There is enough of this stuff out there that they will want to check and see if the area is clear."

In September, U.S. lawmakers voted to permit oil and gas exploration 50 miles from the east and west coastlines. States must sign off on drilling before work could begin. Approval would not be needed to drill farther than 100 miles from shore.

No scientific studies have examined the potential effects of oil drilling on the chemical weapons deposits, Albright said.

"If they hit a site with their depth charge, there is going to be a problem. There's a risk there, but not enough to not do the drilling," he said, adding that breaking open a chemical-weapon container “could be a threat to the guys who may be breathing it before they even know it” (Donna Weaver, Press of Atlantic City, Oct. 19).

Bin Laden's plan for 'global fireball'

The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin,

LONDON -- Documents recovered from a remote area along the Pakistan border have revealed that Osama bin Laden wants al-Qaida to launch a "global fireball" by lighting forest fires in Europe, the United States, Australia and South America, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

The documents were uncovered during an operation led by the British intelligence service MI6, and now have been described by experts in that agency as "the most worrying [plot] that the world is facing."

The catastrophic wildfires would not only produce an environmental disaster but would stretch emergency services often beyond their limit and leave insurance companies facing multi-billion claims for damages that could effectively destroy the already shattered economies of a number of countries.

Australia, gripped by years of drought that has left tinderbox conditions as summer now approaches, regards the threat as "terrifying."

The country's attorney-general, Robert McClelland, warned there is "a most urgent need for renewed vigilance against a very real and present danger."

The FBI has issued a high priority warning that "such a terrorist plan could devastate states like California."

Spain, France and Germany -- all with vast forests -- are "vulnerable," MI6 warned the intelligence services of those countries. "The Amazon Basin, and other forests which supply the world with wood, is another prime target," the warning added.

The instructions for a "global fireball" were among documents recovered in the Pakistan border raid on an al-Qaida safe house.

The author was Abu Musab al-Suri, who wrote the terrorist textbook, "The Global Islamic Resistance Call."

The 50-year-old Syrian-born terrorist was seized by U.S. Special Forces in Quetta, Pakistan, in 2005.

There are reports that he was flown to Egypt for interrogation by CIA officers and remains in one of Egypt's secret prisons.

But other reports suggest that, in a deal with Syria, al-Suri has been released and is now in Baghdad planning attacks against Israel.

Obscure Tax Breaks Increase Cost of Financial Rescue

IRS and Treasury Take Series of Steps for Investors Caught Up in Crisis, Sparking Complaints of Overstepping Authority bailout

....Operating mostly under the radar screen, Congress, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have been rolling back various provisions of the tax code to help out industries and investors caught up in the turmoil.

The most costly -- and most controversial -- of the moves provide billions in extra tax relief to big banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. and Spain's Banco Santander SA. Another change gives aid to investors stung by the auction-rate securities meltdown. Still another shift relaxes tax rules to help big multinationals bring back cash from overseas.

The total sums involved aren't clear, but the cost will easily amount to tens of billions of dollars, tax experts say.

The latest such move was unveiled on Tuesday, when the Treasury Department declared that the cash infusions for banks won't be considered "federal financial assistance." Normally, that type of funding would count as taxable income for the recipients, and could trigger other unfavorable tax consequences for banks receiving assistance that take part in mergers. ....

U.S. pledges millions to Mexico to stop cartels from crossing border

MEXICO CITY (AP) - U.S. drug czar John Walters said Friday that Mexico's drug cartels are crossing the border to kidnap and kill inside the United States, and promised that an anti-drug aid package to help Mexico to fight the gangs will be ready soon.

Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, was in Mexico for two days to discuss efforts with local officials to stem killings, weapons trafficking and money laundering by Mexican cartels and their U.S. associates.

"Some of these groups not only engage in crime and violence not only in Mexico and along the border, but they come across and kidnap, murder and carry out assassinations," Walters told reporters. "These groups do not respect the border."

Walters said some of the US$400 million in U.S. drug aid approved for Mexico earlier this year under the Merida Initiative could be ready in a matter of days. ....

Biden to Supporters: "Gird Your Loins", For the Next President "It's Like Cleaning Augean Stables"

(Compiler's note: One has to wonder what really is being said here regarding the "solutions" they expect to have to implement. Based on the way this is being stated, I'm convinced that they have much to explain further here. )

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis.

"Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."

The Delaware lawmaker managed to rake in an estimated $1 million total from his two money hauls at the downtown Sheraton, the same hotel where four years ago Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., clinched the Democratic nomination. Despite warning about the difficulties the next administration will face, Biden said the Democratic ticket is equipped to meet the challenges head on.

"I've forgotten more about foreign policy than most of my colleagues know, so I'm not being falsely humble with you. I think I can be value added, but this guy has it," the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said of Obama. "This guy has it. But he's gonna need your help. Because I promise you, you all are gonna be sitting here a year from now going, 'Oh my God, why are they there in the polls? Why is the polling so down? Why is this thing so tough?' We're gonna have to make some incredibly tough decisions in the first two years. So I'm asking you now, I'm asking you now, be prepared to stick with us. Remember the faith you had at this point because you're going to have to reinforce us."

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

Biden emphasized that the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border is of particular concern, with Osama bin Laden "alive and well" and Pakistan "bristling with nuclear weapons."

"You literally can see what these kids are up against, our kids in that region," Biden said in recalling when his helicopter was forced down due to a snowstorm there. "The place is crawling with al Qaeda. And it's real."

"We do not have the military capacity, nor have we ever, quite frankly, in the last 20 years, to dictate outcomes," he cautioned. "It's so much more important than that. It's so much more complicated than that. And Barack gets it."

After speaking for just over a quarter of an hour, Biden noticed the media presence in the back of the small ballroom.

"I probably shouldn't have said all this because it dawned on me that the press is here," he joked.

"All kidding aside, these guys have left us in a God-awful place," he then said of the Bush regime, promptly wrapping up his remarks. "We have the ability to straighten it out. It's gonna take a little bit of time, so I ask you to stay with us. Stay with us.

Taliban beheads bus passengers

Men traveling in civilian clothes to find work, although they claim that many of them were soldiers. In any case, the beheadings are sanctioned by Qur'an 47:4, which tells Muslims to "strike at the necks" of the unbelievers -- a verse routinely ignored by the televised pundits who have assured us repeatedly that the Qur'an says nothing about beheading.

"Taliban beheads bus passengers," from Agence France-Presse, October 20:

TALIBAN militants hijacked a bus in southern Afghanistan last week and killed as many as 40 passengers, authorities said, although only six beheaded bodies were recovered by today.

A spokesman for the insurgent group confirmed the militia had seized the passenger bus in Kandahar province and said 27 on board were killed because they were soldiers.

The defence ministry denied they were troops.

Kandahar provincial police chief Mutihullah Khan Qatah said there were 50 passengers aboard the bus when it was ambushed on Friday in Maiwand district about 50km east of Kandahar city.

"Among them 10 people were released after they were said to be civilians. The rest of them were killed," he said.

Six bodies were in the district clinic and about two dozen more were believed to be in a Taliban-controlled area, Mr Qatah said later.

"We are still trying to find them."

The police chief said the men, all apparently aged between 20 and 25 and in civilian clothes, were from Kabul and travelling to Iran to seek work in the neighbouring country. Hundreds of Afghans work illegally in Iran....

Bailout means we'll all suffer

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who has been an opponent of the government's bailout plan, spoke Friday with CNN's Kiran Chetry on "American Morning."

Ron Paul: "Give up on this idea that inflation solves everybody's problems."

The Texas Republican says the bailout's infusion of government money will lead to inflation, that our current monetary system is coming to end, and the market, not politicians, can best solve the economic crisis.

Kiran Chetry: The last time you were with us you explained why you were against the government's bailout plan, why you were voting against it, and you didn't believe focusing on buying these troubled assets was the smart thing to do. Since then, they've tweaked it and decided to buy stakes in some U.S. banks. Do you think that's a better strategy to help heal the economy?

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul: They tweaked it up. It started out as a three-page document and went up to 450 pages. Instead of $700 billion it's up to $850 billion. Reuters had a story out today. They estimate it's going to cost the American taxpayer about $5 trillion. It's tweaking in the wrong direction, and I don't think it's going to do any good whatsoever.

Chetry: The credit markets are starting to loosen up a bit, at least from what we've seen this week. Is that a sign that maybe it is working?

Paul: Maybe to some degree in the short run, but that just means we'll have more inflation. You can't create $5 trillion out of thin air and not expect inflation. So although the dollar may be up a little bit right now because the markets are a little calmer, this just means that in time we're going to all suffer and pay for this, and we're going to pay for it with higher prices. Watch Ron Paul warn of bitter economic times ahead »

This is the serious problem. It's the attack on the dollar system. They're trying to save the dollar, but this system that we've had since 1971 is nonviable, and it's coming to an end. That's what this whole story is about, the end of a monetary system that we've had since 1971.

Something has to give. You just can't create more money out of thin air and propping up everybody. It's an immoral system. You're asking the poor people to bail out the rich. You're asking the innocent people to bail out the guilty. You're asking people to just totally defy the Constitution because there's no place in the Constitution that says that we can do these things.

Besides, economically, it's a disaster. This is going to cause a great deal of harm. It's like a drug addict taking a strong fix, and he feels better for a day or two, but believe me, we're going to kill the patient. And the patient here is the dollar system and our entire world economy. I would say let's get off this addiction.

Chetry: Congressman, have you heard anything from either of the presidential candidates about their economic plans that you think are good things that need to be implemented?

Paul: No, not really, but it's tough to find out the good parts. I do think that John McCain has a better approach to the medical problem, and Obama has a better approach to trying to save some money by coming home from Iraq. We're spending $10 billion a month over there. We could save a lot of money, and that money should be spent back here. Quite frankly, how can we trust anybody? When it comes to the bailout, how do they differ? Both McCain and Obama come rushing back to Washington and vote for the bailout.

Chetry: It was approved in both houses. I know you voted against it. That leads me to another question. If Barack Obama ends up winning, it looks like the Democrats would have a trifecta in Congress, both houses and the White House. What does that mean for the American people and also for the GOP?

Paul: I mean, it's a disaster for the country and everybody because, even with all the shortcomings of John McCain, his strongest argument to be president is keep the Congress and the presidency in separate hands. The American people are going to be a lot better off if they're fighting a little bit instead of just having no restraints whatsoever. That's a poor reason to argue for McCain.

Chetry: I know what you're saying. Staff members writing on your own Web site say the Democratic takeover of both houses of Congress and the White House this November would be a "repudiation of false conservatism of the Republican Party." How do you get back to some of those fiscally conservative ideals?

Paul: It's going to be tough because you have to convince the American people that that's what we need. And everybody now is realizing in the country there's something seriously wrong with our whole financial system and our governmental system.

But the big question is: Does the majority of the American people believe the government can still take care of us, or should we get the government out of the way, quit spending money, balance the budget, bring our troops home, and let the American people keep the money they earn? That means drastically reducing taxes.

Get the government out of this overregulation, and give up on this idea that inflation solves everybody's problems. If inflation, that is the creation of new money, could solve everybody's problems, which they're claiming right now, nobody would ever have to work again. If $5 trillion could save this economy, why work? Just print money, and everybody will be happy.

They don't understand the idea that people have to work. People have to save, instead of consumers spending more money.

The market is saying you should back off, spend less money, and save money. Everybody says, no, don't save money. You're supposed to go out there and spend money.

The people who have saved in the last five years have money in the bank, and cash is good right now. They're going to buy up the bargains. They're going to get a good deal on a house. Prices on houses should come down. We shouldn't keep them artificially high. We shouldn't try to stimulate housing. There are too many houses. We should let the market make these decisions.

It's arrogant for the politicians and the bureaucrats to believe they can plan the economy and sort this all out. We've been doing it for all these years, and the monetary system is so confusing and so corrupt, that the sooner we get back to believing in ourselves, believing in freedom, believing in sound money, believing in the Constitution, we're going to solve these problems.

Right now there's a fight going on in this country. Our numbers are growing. We're not the majority, but our numbers are growing. And as this situation deteriorates, more people are going to say, hey, maybe it's right. Maybe limited government and freedom works. Maybe freedom is popular, and maybe freedom really works. And this idea that we have to depend on government for all these programs is an illusion.

Obama Born In Kenya? His Grandmother Says Yes.

(Compiler's note: OK, here is your October Surprise !!! If true, per the U.S. Constitution, Obama can NOT be President of the United States if he was not born in the good ole USA. This is a must read article -- at least watch the video. Lets get this right people!! According to legal investigation confirmed by SNOOPS, Obama is not a US Citizen and he refuses to release any of his records. He is hijacking our constitution and committing mass fraud with his ACORN Group, buying votes and illegal registrations. Again proved and admitted by ACORN members. rca)

by 13 Tishrei 5769

Someone is lying. According to Obama's Kenyan (paternal) grandmother, as well as his half-brother and half-sister, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Kenya, not in Hawaii as the Democratic candidate for president claims. His grandmother bragged that her grandson is about to be President of the United States and is so proud because she was present DURING HIS BIRTH IN KENYA, in the delivery room. -This, according to several news sites and Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg (see video below) who is, surprisingly, a life long democrat himself. Berg is the former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, and he has an impressive background in his activities as a democrat, but his support for the party seemingly stops when it comes to his trust in Barack Hussein Obama.

Many U.S. voters are suspicious of the Democratic candidate's past, and Berg filed a lawsuit to force Barack Hussein Obama to produce a certified copy of his original birth certificate to prove that he can run for the office of President of the United States. However, he is being fought. The DNC On Sept. 24 filed a motion to dismiss the Berg action. Why? What is there to hide? Why not produce the original birth certificate and be done with all the suspicions against Barack Hussein Obama?

A few months back, a birth certificate WAS posted on the internet which shows that Obama was born in Hawaii. Yet some say this birth certificate is a forgery and again, his grandmother states that she was present at the birth, in Kenya. So what is the truth?

One explanation is that Obama's mother Ann Dunham, flew to Kenya in 1961 with Obama's father to meet his family. According to some news reports, Ann Dunham, was not accepted well by her husband's family because she was white:

"Obama's family did not take to Stanley Ann Dunham Obama very well, because she was white, according to Sarah Obama. Shortly after she arrived in Kenya Stanley Ann decided to return to Hawaii because she later said, she did not like how Muslim men treated their wives in Kenya. However, because she was near term the airline would not let her fly until after the birth of her baby. Obama's grandmother said the baby—Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.—was born in Kenya and that shortly after he was born, Stanley Ann returned to Hawaii."

However, by the time she wanted to leave Kenya, it was during the late stages of her pregnancy. She was not able to board a plane because the airlines wouldn't allow women so close to birth to fly. It is instead believed, that Barack Hussein Obama was born in Kenya as his grandmother apparently stated. Then, after he was born, his mother returned with him to Hawaii where his birth was REGISTERED on or about August 8th, 1961, in the public records office in Hawaii.

There is also a discrepancy in what hospital Barack Hussein Obama was born in, even if he was born in Hawaii. Reports by his own sister in two separate interviews state that he was born at two different hospitals -- Kapiolani Hospital and Queens Hospital--in Honolulu.

The Times Herald even reports: "the senator's grandmother, brother and sister, who live in Kenya, believe they were present during Obama's birth in the African country." Here, the Times Herald uses the word that his family 'believe' he was born in Kenya (perhaps to avoid possible law suits by Obama's Truth Squad?).

Watch this interesting and important video clip.

I myself, not wanting to believe what I see, did some searching around, and this is what I came up with:

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at the Kapiolani Medical Center.

and here it says:

Barack Obama was born at the Queen's Medical Center on 4 August 1961.

So which hospital was it, or was he really born in Kenya? And why is this simple matter so confusing and disturbing? Do the search your self and plug in these key words:

Obama born Queen's Medical Center and then Obama born Kapiolani Medical Center in a Google search. You will see he is reported to be born in two diferent hospitals. A miracle! Maybe he IS the Messiah (grin).

What's so hard about knowing something so simple as which hospital or country someone was born in? And if it is simple, then why doesn't Barack Hussein Obama just present the court with his original birth certificate to be analysed and proven? The onus of proof is on him, not the American public of which he wants their trust in him to be their leader.

So, who is lying? Barack? His grandmother? His sister? Someone is.

p.s. Dr. Jerome Corsi will be on my show today (Sunday) where I will be interviewing him about his recent trip to Kenya to promote his new book, The Obama Nation... * Dr. Corsi was not on my show Sunday, his publicist asked to re-schedule.

UK: Poll reveals a significant number of Muslims support suicide bombings

from Jihad Watch

After all, 23% of the world's Muslims believe 9/11 was legitimate, from an Islamic point of view.

"Young Midland Muslims support suicide bombings new poll reveals," from the Sunday Mercury, October 17:

ALMOST a quarter of young Muslims support suicide bombings, according to a shock new poll on an internet website.

Radicalised youths from the Midlands are among those to have posted messages backing terrorists on the www.ummah.com forum.

One member had started the survey by asking users: “Do you agree with suicide bombings?”

Of those who responded, an alarming 24 per cent said they supported suicide attacks like the 7/7 tube bombings in London and the 9/11 atrocity in America.

One posting on the poll said: “I agree with suicide bombers. They should target Muslims too. They should also target those coward sleeping Muslims.”

Apparently a reference to "moderate" Muslims -- that is, those Muslims playing the waiting game.

Another, calling himself Abu Mubarak, wrote: “I don’t particularly subscribe to the suicide bombings myself, if I were to go into battle, I would want to die in a blaze of gunfire, not by pushing a button.

"Traditionalist."

“I will not say it is suicide, nor condemn them, or say they are cowards, or the rest of that nonsense, because it is NOT suicide, it is a form of fighting that instils a great terror into the hearts of the koffar (non-believers).”

Others argued that suicide bombings were unacceptable, with one contributor saying: “I don’t regard people who blow themselves up in market places packed with non-combatants as legitimate Mujahideen...

Study: Airport Security Badges Need Improved Tracking

The government has not been able to keep track of all the airport security uniforms and badges it issues, which makes secure areas in airports vulnerable to terrorists posing as authorized officials, according to an internal review released Friday.

The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general looked at five airports across the country from October 2006 through June 2007. The IG found major deficiencies in the Transportation Security Administration’s ability to keep track of uniforms, particularly after an employee leaves the job.

Many details in the report were redacted for security reasons, such as which five airports the inspector general audited. The IG found there were four instances where TSA did not report to the badge office that a screener had been fired from the agency. These former screeners had active badges for up to 212 days until the inspector general notified officials about the problem.

Five other screeners had active badges from 97 to 827 days after they no longer needed to access secure areas, the report found. In 63 other instances reviewed by the inspector general, TSA had not immediately told badge offices to deactivate the badges when the employees left the agency.

Responding to the report, TSA spokesman Christopher White said the agency made changes to increase oversight of uniforms, badges and identification in April, particularly with the badges allowing access to the most secure parts of an airport. Currently an employee with access to these secure areas must relinquish his badge as part of his exit clearance, White said. If the employee does not comply, the employee could face civil penalties.

A veiled threat from a "moderate Muslim"

by Robert Spencer

Those of you who read the comments here may be familiar with a commenter named "Abdullah Mikail," who is an American convert to Islam. This delightful gentleman sends me emails from time to time, in which more than once he has issued veiled threats to this site. And why not? How do you attempt to "strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah" (Qur'an 8:60) while sitting comfortably behind a computer screen? Abdullah, bless his little heart, is doing his level best to find a viable answer to that question, and he at least deserves points for effort.

After railing against FrontPage Magazine for awhile, he added this:

...another blog I know of will go down rather suddenly.

Uh, gosh, which one, Abdullah? He himself kindly provides the answer in an earlier email:

Jihad Watch...clock's ticking, games almost up, what to do when the curtain comes down?...one does wonder?

Apparently our friend has forgotten that it is Muslim women, not men, who wear veils (unless, of course, we're talking about cowards who don burqas to flee the cops or noble mujahedin putting in practice Muhammad's timeless dictum, "war is deceit"). But anyway, is Abdullah threatening a cyber attack (which, after all, has just been given sanction by some of the foremost scholars in Sunni Islam) or some frivolous legal action? Another veiled threat he sent hinted at the latter:

I only question you. Have you followed all the rules? The wonderful thing about law, Robert, is that it is written down and anyone with a mind and reason can understand them if one applies ones self to the matter. So I ask, have you followed all the rules...every single one them...to the last nuance of the letter and intent of the law? And I am speaking of US law. Hind sight is 20/20. Some day, and maybe soon, you may remember that comment of mine and then understanding will dawn like a new day for you, although I feel your face will not shine then, yet only frown.

Uh, have I broken any laws, Abdullah? Well, if the Organization of the Islamic Conference gets its way and criminalizes all criticism of Islam, including examination of how jihadists use Islamic teachings to justify their action and gain recruits, then you can have me hauled off to jail. But until then, the answer is no.

But anyway, if Jihad Watch suddenly disappears, folks, for information look for our friend the "moderate" threat-issuer Abdullah Mikail. He'll be the one in the burqa.

A Liberal Supermajority

From the Wall Street Journal

If the current polls hold, Barack Obama will win the White House on November 4 and Democrats will consolidate their Congressional majorities, probably with a filibuster-proof Senate or very close to it. Without the ability to filibuster, the Senate would become like the House, able to pass whatever the majority wants.

AP

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

The nearby table shows the major bills that passed the House this year or last before being stopped by the Senate minority. Keep in mind that the most important power of the filibuster is to shape legislation, not merely to block it. The threat of 41 committed Senators can cause the House to modify its desires even before legislation comes to a vote. Without that restraining power, all of the following have very good chances of becoming law in 2009 or 2010.

- Medicare for all. When HillaryCare cratered in 1994, the Democrats concluded they had overreached, so they carved up the old agenda into smaller incremental steps, such as Schip for children. A strongly Democratic Congress is now likely to lay the final flagstones on the path to government-run health insurance from cradle to grave.

Mr. Obama wants to build a public insurance program, modeled after Medicare and open to everyone of any income. According to the Lewin Group, the gold standard of health policy analysis, the Obama plan would shift between 32 million and 52 million from private coverage to the huge new entitlement. Like Medicare or the Canadian system, this would never be repealed.

The commitments would start slow, so as not to cause immediate alarm. But as U.S. health-care spending flowed into the default government options, taxes would have to rise or services would be rationed, or both. Single payer is the inevitable next step, as Mr. Obama has already said is his ultimate ideal.

- The business climate. "We have some harsh decisions to make," Speaker Nancy Pelosi warned recently, speaking about retribution for the financial panic. Look for a replay of the Pecora hearings of the 1930s, with Henry Waxman, John Conyers and Ed Markey sponsoring ritual hangings to further their agenda to control more of the private economy. The financial industry will get an overhaul in any case, but telecom, biotech and drug makers, among many others, can expect to be investigated and face new, more onerous rules. See the "Issues and Legislation" tab on Mr. Waxman's Web site for a not-so-brief target list.

The danger is that Democrats could cause the economic downturn to last longer than it otherwise will by enacting regulatory overkill like Sarbanes-Oxley. Something more punitive is likely as well, for instance a windfall profits tax on oil, and maybe other industries.

- Union supremacy. One program certain to be given right of way is "card check." Unions have been in decline for decades, now claiming only 7.4% of the private-sector work force, so Big Labor wants to trash the secret-ballot elections that have been in place since the 1930s. The "Employee Free Choice Act" would convert workplaces into union shops merely by gathering signatures from a majority of employees, which means organizers could strongarm those who opposed such a petition.

The bill also imposes a compulsory arbitration regime that results in an automatic two-year union "contract" after 130 days of failed negotiation. The point is to force businesses to recognize a union whether the workers support it or not. This would be the biggest pro-union shift in the balance of labor-management power since the Wagner Act of 1935.

- Taxes. Taxes will rise substantially, the only question being how high. Mr. Obama would raise the top income, dividend and capital-gains rates for "the rich," substantially increasing the cost of new investment in the U.S. More radically, he wants to lift or eliminate the cap on income subject to payroll taxes that fund Medicare and Social Security. This would convert what was meant to be a pension insurance program into an overt income redistribution program. It would also impose a probably unrepealable increase in marginal tax rates, and a permanent shift upward in the federal tax share of GDP.

- The green revolution. A tax-and-regulation scheme in the name of climate change is a top left-wing priority. Cap and trade would hand Congress trillions of dollars in new spending from the auction of carbon credits, which it would use to pick winners and losers in the energy business and across the economy. Huge chunks of GDP and millions of jobs would be at the mercy of Congress and a vast new global-warming bureaucracy. Without the GOP votes to help stage a filibuster, Senators from carbon-intensive states would have less ability to temper coastal liberals who answer to the green elites.

- Free speech and voting rights. A liberal supermajority would move quickly to impose procedural advantages that could cement Democratic rule for years to come. One early effort would be national, election-day voter registration. This is a long-time goal of Acorn and others on the "community organizer" left and would make it far easier to stack the voter rolls. The District of Columbia would also get votes in Congress -- Democratic, naturally.

Felons may also get the right to vote nationwide, while the Fairness Doctrine is likely to be reimposed either by Congress or the Obama FCC. A major goal of the supermajority left would be to shut down talk radio and other voices of political opposition.

- Special-interest potpourri. Look for the watering down of No Child Left Behind testing standards, as a favor to the National Education Association. The tort bar's ship would also come in, including limits on arbitration to settle disputes and watering down the 1995 law limiting strike suits. New causes of legal action would be sprinkled throughout most legislation. The anti-antiterror lobby would be rewarded with the end of Guantanamo and military commissions, which probably means trying terrorists in civilian courts. Google and MoveOn.org would get "net neutrality" rules, subjecting the Internet to intrusive regulation for the first time.

It's always possible that events -- such as a recession -- would temper some of these ambitions. Republicans also feared the worst in 1993 when Democrats ran the entire government, but it didn't turn out that way. On the other hand, Bob Dole then had 43 GOP Senators to support a filibuster, and the entire Democratic Party has since moved sharply to the left. Mr. Obama's agenda is far more liberal than Bill Clinton's was in 1992, and the Southern Democrats who killed Al Gore's BTU tax and modified liberal ambitions are long gone.

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today's left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for "change" should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

Plague Vaccine

by: Gwyn Bevel

IT CAUSED ONE OF THE DEADLIEST PANDEMICS IN HUMAN HISTORY AND HAS KILLED MORE THAN 200-MILLION PEOPLE WORLDWIDE. GWYN JOINS US NOW WITH MORE. DOUG THE BUBONIC PLAGUE MAY BE SOMETHING YOU'VE READ ABOUT IN HISTORY BOOKS... BUT TODAY, THE THREAT OF ANOTHER OUTBREAK IS AS REAL AS EVER. SOON, RESEARCHERS SAY A PILL COULD BE YOUR BEST PROTECTION.

TONIGHT'S HEALTHCAST EXPLAINS. IN THE MID-FOURTEENTH CENTURY, THE BUBONIC PLAGUE TORE THROUGH ASIA, INDIA AND EUROPE, KILLING A QUARTER OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION. "I just kind of look back on history and things happen and you just kind of move on from it. I don't want to live my life worrying about it all the time." BUT THE PLAGUE MAY NOT BE HISTORY. THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL LISTS THE BUBONIC PLAGUE AS ONE OF THE TOP BIOTERRORISM THREATS. "We could take out all the bioterrorism weapons one by one by immunizing the population."

MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST HENRY DANIELL CREATED A VACCINE BY INJECTING GENES FROM YERSINIA PESTIS -- THE BACTERIUM THAT CAUSES THE BUBONIC PLAGUE -- INTO PLANT CELLS, WHICH ARE THEN PUT INTO CAPSULES. THE HOPE -- THE BODY WILL DEVELOP IMMUNITY TO THE PLAGUE. "So this is a very sophisticated way of delivering a vaccine, where you could never get the disease." THE VACCINE WAS TESTED IN RATS EXPOSED TO 50 BILLION SPORES OF THE PLAGUE -- AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT DANIELL SAYS HUMANS WOULD NEVER FACE. WITHIN THREE DAYS, ALL OF THE UNVACCINATED RATS AND THREE-QUARTERS OF THOSE GIVEN THE INJECTABLE VACCINE DIED. BUT EVERY RAT GIVEN THE ORAL VACCINE SURVIVED -- WITH NO TRACES OF THE PLAGUE LEFT IN THEIR BODIES. ("These are the genetically modified plants.")

BECAUSE IT DOESN'T REQUIRE AN INJECTION, THE VACCINE COULD BE EASILY DISTRIBUTED TO THE PUBLIC. "Plague epidemics can happen anytime." BUT NOW, RESEARCHERS HOPE THEY CAN KEEP HISTORY FROM REPEATING. DOCTOR DANIELL SAYS THE NEW ORAL WAY OF DELIVERING VACCINES MAY BE THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE, MEANING NO MORE PAINFUL NEEDLES. HE EXPECTS THE CAPSULES FOR THE PLAGUE TO BE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC IN IS AS LITTLE AS TWO YEARS.

Muslim Brotherhood (re)asserts that jihad against infidels is obligatory

And yet, Western leaders and thinkers often describe them as moderate, potential allies against the more radical elements,such as al-Qaeda.

"Muslim Brotherhood Website: Jihad Against Non-Muslims Is Obligatory," from MEMRI, October 17:

On a website devoted to Ramadhan, the Muslim Brotherhood posted a series of articles by Dr. Ahmad 'Abd Al-Khaleq about Al-Walaa Wa'l-Baraa, an Islamic doctrine which, in its fundamentalist interpretation, stipulates absolute allegiance to the community of Muslims and total rejection of non-Muslims and of Muslims who have strayed from the path of Islam.

This "doctrine" is as old as Islam itself, and has been articulated and stressed by any number of Islamists, such as Ayman Zawahiri, who wrote some sixty pages dedicated to this doctrine (see The Al Qaeda Reader for a translated version).

In his articles, the writer argues that according to this principle, a Muslim can come closer to Allah by hating all non-Muslims - Christians, Jews, atheists, or polytheists - and by waging jihad against them in every possible manner.

Stealth, tongue, sword, money, propaganda, lies (taqiyya), you name it.

For full report, visit http://www.memriiwmp.org/content/en/report.htm?report=2877.

Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids

Richard Kerbaj and Dominic Kennedy

A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.

Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.

British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists’ methods and mindsets. Concerns within the Metropolitan Police led to a plan to run a pilot research project exploring the nature of the link. One source familiar with the proposal said that this could eventually lead to the training of child welfare experts to identify signs of terrorist involvement as they monitor pornographic sites.

Concerns have already been expressed at Cabinet minister level about the risk of vulnerable Muslim youths being exploited by older men.

Officers have noted that child sex abuse images have been found during investigations into some of the most advanced suspected plots. However, it is understood that the proposed research project was never implemented because the AntiTerrorism Branch was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases it was having to deal with.

It is not clear whether the terrorists were more interested in the material for personal gratification or were drawn to child porn networks as a secure means of sending messages. In one case fewer than a dozen images were found; in another, 40,000.

British security sources confirmed that such a link had been discovered in several cases. They noted the contradiction between people supposedly devoted to theocracy and Islamic fundamentalism and their use of child pornography. “It shows that these people are very confused,” a source said. “Here they are hating Western decadence but actually making use of it and finding that they enjoy this stuff.”

Baroness Neville-Jones, Conservative security spokeswoman and former chairwoman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said: “The information about a possible link between extremism and child pornography potentially provides useful insight into three things: the methods that extremists use to communicate; the methods they use to target vulnerable people in society; and the techniques they seek to use to conceal their online activities.” She added: “There is no doubt that these possible linkages should merit further research.”

Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP and chairman of the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, said: “This is an important development. We have to do more than just the police work. It needs child protection, criminological and psychological work. It could become a very important weapon in the fight against terrorism.” He urged researchers to review cases where terrorists had been convicted to look for this link.

The first British suspicions of a link between child sex abuse and jihadis emerged in London in 2006 when antiterrorism police in two unrelated investigations were shocked to find computerised images of hardcore child pornography. The key case that tipped off the security services to a plausible link involved the “White-chapel Rapist”, Abdul Makim Khalisadar. A former Mujahidin and a preacher at the East London Mosque, he was being examined for his links to a hardcore Islamic militant who was later convicted of terrorism. Khalisadar was never convicted of terrorist offences. The other investigation involved a young religiously observant Muslim.

The Times has learnt that a criminal investigation also found child pornography on computers after a raid in 2001 at a mosque run by an al-Qaeda recruiter in Milan. Italian police believe that the images were encoded with messages. At a forthcoming terrorism trial in Spain, the alleged mastermind of a Muslim cell has also been accused of downloading hundreds of child sex abuse pictures and videos.

Meanwhile, police uncovered a right-wing terrorist plot when they raided a home after being tipped off about pornographic images. This June, the Nazi sympathiser Martyn Gilleard was jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of terrorism. Police found 39,000 indecent images of children at his flat in Yorkshire.

Invisible ink for the internet age

— Messages may be concealed within digital images and audio, video or other files. The method is called steganography, derived from the Greek for “covered writing”

— Although the average person will not be able to detect the hidden messages by either listening to or viewing a file, the intended recipients can use applications to reverse the steganography process and gain access to the information

— Experts say that the advancement in encryption technology is outpacing the authorities’ abilities to monitor suspected terrorists and paedophiles

— Italian authorities uncovered files of child abuse images that had been manipulated by a terrorist cell after a raid on the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan in November 2001. Investigators claimed that the terrorist cell encoded the images before sending them to each other

Murtha: ‘No Question That Western Pennsylvania Is A Racist Area’

Video ----- AP: U.S. Rep. John Murtha says his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama's victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.

OBAMA FIRES A 'ROBIN HOOD' WARNING SHOT

WASHINGTON - You won't find it in his campaign ads, but Barack Obama let slip his plans to become a modern-day Robin Hood in the White House, confiscating money from the rich to give to the poor.

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MORE: Barack Backs Away From ACORN

Conservatives yesterday ripped Obama after he was caught on video telling an Ohio plumber that he intends to take the profits of small-business owners and "spread the wealth around" to those with lesser incomes.

The fracas over Obama's tax plan broke out Sunday outside Toledo when Joe Wurzelbacher approached the candidate.

Wurzelbacher said he planned to become the owner of a small plumbing business that will take in more than the $250,000 amount at which Obama plans to begin raising tax rates.

"Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?" the blue-collar worker asked.

After Obama responded that it would, Wurzelbacher continued: "I've worked hard . . . I work 10 to 12 hours a day and I'm buying this company and I'm going to continue working that way. I'm getting taxed more and more while fulfilling the American Dream."

"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama told him. "I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too.

Then, Obama explained his trickle-up theory of economics.

"My attitude is that if the economy's good for folks from the bottom up, it's gonna be good for everybody. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Critics said Obama let the cat out of the bag.

"It's clear that his main goal is redistribution of wealth, not growth," said Andy Roth with the anti-tax group Club for Growth. "He's perfectly happy to destroy wealth as long as he can redistribute it."

Obama has been meticulous, Roth said, to conceal the "socialistic" nature of his tax plans. "But every once in a while, he lets it slip," he said.

Republican candidate John McCain yesterday charged that Obama's comment was telling.

"This explains how Senator Obama can promise an income-tax cut for millions who aren't even paying income taxes right now," he said in Pennsylvania.

"My plan isn't intended to force small businesses to cut jobs to pay higher taxes so we can 'spread the wealth around.' My plan is intended to create jobs and increase the wealth of all Americans."

Meanwhile, a New York Times/CBS poll last night showed Obama moving into a commanding 53-39 percent lead.

Mid-air drama as passengers disarm drunk would-be hijacker 'who said he had a bomb'

A drunk man who claimed to have a bomb and tried to hijack a packed jet has been quickly overpowered by fellow passengers.

Some of the 162 passengers on board the Turkish Airlines jet tackled the man after he passed a note to a stewardess claiming he had a bomb strapped to his body.

The hijacker had attempted to take control of the aircraft as it flew en route from the southern Turkish resort of Anatalya to St Petersburg in Russia.

A Turkish Airlines jet has been hijacked on its way to St Petersburg

'He was so drunk, he gave a note to a stewardess claiming to have explosives on him,' said Temel Kotil, the manager of Turkish Airlines.

No explosives were discovered on the passenger.

The drama took place over Belarus and the plane has now landed in St Petersburg.

Last August, two Muslim men attempted to hijack a Turkish-bound jet as it flew from northern Cyprus and demanded that it be diverted to Iran.

After a stand-off with police at Anatalya airport in southern Turkey the pair surrendered and later apologised for their actions.

In 2006 a man attempted to hijack a Turkish Airlines jet as it flew to Istanbul.

Greek and Italian jets were scrambled and the jet was forced to land in Italy where the hijacker eventually surrendered.

U.S.: Every week, we kill another Number Two!

from Winds of Jihad

Al-Qaeda Number Two Dead! Rest in pieces!

* 88 Talibs roasted in multiple clashes* which calls for 6336 virgins and 2464 boyz!

* Taliban mock West for calling Afghanistan unwinnable

No, not Zawahiri; this is the Iraq Number Two. As we all celebrate this minor victory (it seems almost weekly now that an “al-Qaeda #” from country X is slain) we should also ponder this far more reaching question: will the slaying of individual terrorists — be they Zawahiri or bin Laden — have any real effects on the long term goals of the jihad? Will it eliminate the theological mandate of jihad and the division of the world into two perpetually warring halves — Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb? Likening jihadis to the ever-sprouting heads of the hydra monster of legend, I tried addressing this question here, when there was a lot of hubbub about the deaths of Abu Hamza and earlier Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (who were successively al-Qaeda’s Number Twos in Iraq). So, yes; killing them off — a very good thing. But let’s also remember the differences between symptom and cause.

“Al-Qaeda’s Iraq number two killed: US military,” from AFP, with thanks to Raymond from DW