THE DAILY FISH 14 FEBRUARY 2009 - "Valentine's Day Massacre of the Constitution"

My Dear Friends and Fellow Patriots.

Alea Iacta Est.

To no one’s surprise, the Senate voted for the trillion-dollar waste of our money last night. Coming on the heels of approval (or is it the approval by the heels) of the House, only the President’s signature is needed to make this law.

For the second time, the House Republicans banded together and not one voted for this truly dangerous bill. For the second time, three despicable alleged Republicans voted for it making it veto-proof.

One expects lies, prevarications, amelioration of fact, self-loathing and an undercurrent of Anti-American feelings by the Democrats, but to be thrown under the bus by Snowe, Collins and Specter is truly disturbing.

(To be fair, they are not exactly strong Republicans. Proof of this is their being referred to as “moderate Republicans” in the press. This is the same as calling the reptilian Reid as a “moderate Democrat.”)

I would be more forgiving, more understanding and more accepting of the passage of this pile of offal if those voting for it could defend their vote.

The ink was hardly dry on the document when it was sent for a vote. At over a thousand pages it tests credulity that any of the Member of Congress read it in its entirety. It is unlikely that many, if any, had their staffs divvy up the tome and have it read by committee.

It is equally likely that there are some dangerous, critical and threatening aspects included in the agate print of this disaster. Truly, at this point I am less concerned about raising spending 30% as to what is actually in this bill.

No, I have not read it. No, I do not know all the particulars about it. No, I can not cite one sentence to prove my point. And neither have the 535 people who voted on it. Or, is it 537? (More on that statement soon.)

But, I will read it, and I will not be shocked by its contents. Yet, we all will be affected and effected by it and by now it is too late. (And remember, I am the optimist.)

By now many of you are thinking that I am unfair, that I am being over-critical and that I have taken leave of my senses.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Take for instance the lies of Sen. Schumer. (For some reason, his office does not like it when I refer to him as Sen. Schemer. I advise that was a function of my spell-check.) (How many of you have just typed “Schumer” and spell-checked it?)(Told you) One day, he says that there is no pork in the bill, the bill that is nothing but pork and bribes. The next day he says that the American Sheeple do not care if there is a little pork. Which way is it Chuckie-baby? No pork, some pork, either way you lied at least once. Even though I have called the Senator on his aversion to truth, he refuses to contact me, debate me or sue me. I wonder why.

But, he is just the poster boy for the miscreants and malcontents masquerading as legislators. I would take up too much of this particular FISH if I listed them all.

Yet, as reprehensible as Schumer is, he is a piker compared to my personal bête noire, Harry Reid.

I would have more, any actually, respect for Reid if he had the gonadature to advise of all that was in the bill and give the Senators a few weeks to read over and digest the bill. The haste that he created in getting this piece of junk to vote makes one suspicious. And even with all the haste he delayed the voting until the very big liberal Sherrod Brown of Ohio to return from his mothers wake to cast the vote that would seal the deal. (My condolences go out to the Brown family. The death of a family member is always a sad occurrence.)

Even this was not without politics. The White House arranged a plane to fly Brown back and forth from Ohio as there were not commercial flights available for his being able to make the trip and return in time for Reid to break another promise.

(So, it is OK to charter a Member of Congress to ensure that an anointed piece of legislature gets passed and it is swell that Queen Nan of San Fran gets her own jumbo jet for her use but the Big 3 had to give up their jets? Jets that were actually earning money for the auto makers. And people wonder why this country is sliding down a slippery slope to servitude?)

You see, Reid promised that there would be at least 48 hours for inspection of the bill. Evelyn Bleeding Wood could not read a thousand-plus page pile of legislative legerdemain and make heads or tails out of it. However the best politicians that money can buy were given roughly 10-12 hours to become familiar with all its points, nuances and the like. Thanks for the 48 hours, Senator.

Makes little difference, it is all moot. Reid is pulling the levels and his Democrat minions are marching in lock step. All it took was a little arm-twisting of Snowe, capitalizing on Collins subnormal intellect and $6.6 Billion dollars for Specter’s pet projects to seal the fate of our Country. That’s all it took. The White House is putting us in the Poor House.

The “genius”, easily manipulated, self-proclaimed war “hero”, serial wealthy-woman marrier, John Kerry made one of the more scary speeches, even for him, in recent memory.

In a nutshell, he sold his and our souls to socialism. Bloviating that the bill was necessary, nay critical, because We the Sheeple are just too damn stupid to know how to spend our own money. He opined that giving back or letting us keep our hard-earned dough would not satisfy the needs of the new four-year plan.

Ya know, he is right.

I would do something silly like make a house payment, buy groceries, get more tailored shirts that I do not need, perhaps a new TV (since my presidentially promised plasma has not arrived) instead of doing something really productive for the state such as build new buildings for gov’t agencies (even though the gov’t owns thousands of empty buildings already that the gov’t can’t sell or even knock them down, it’s blocked by, you guessed it, Congress), or millions for fire houses (not one of the enumerated legislative things found in the Constitution), or spend hundreds of millions on hybrid cars (and at the same time dumping hundreds of millions of dollars worth of good used cars that the gov’t is currently using on the used car market, further depressing that market and impacting the Big 3 to whom they just gave billions) or other such frivolities.

Indeed, We the Sheeple are too stupid to spend our own money, these knuckleheads do a far better job at it than we!

And Kerry said it, he actually said the gov’t knows how to spend money for us better. He actually said it!

But this is just small potatoes (is that the correct spelling, Mr. Quayle?) compared to what is coming next. Other than the possibility of naming up to three justices for the SCOUTUS, other than doing an end-around the Constitution (yes, that same pesky document that keeps almost getting in the way of all the great plans the administration wants to do against We the People –see: Article 1, Section 8, P17) to give DC representation in the House, the President is looking to add to Rahmbo’s already full plate.

When not teaching disadvantaged kids how to curse (this was actually said by Shecky Obama) Rahmbo might be tasked with redrawing the Congressional Districts after the 2010 Census is delivered. I guess since they can not find any one honest enough or dumb enough to take the Sec Commerce gig, someone will have to gerrymander the CD’s.

But, that is food for a FISH for some other day.

Please pass this on to your Liberal friends, it is doubtful that they are aware of any of this.

I am John and I approve this message!

Br strong, keep the faith and pray. (While you can.)

God Bless

John

American-American

PS: As always, I appreciate and welcome your thoughts, ideas, comments, criticisms and remember, it’s only a trillion dollars. So far. Distribution with attribution, please. To be added to THE DAILY FISH, please send an email to: Jaksavin@aol.com with the words “ADD TO FISH” in the comment subject line (and anything else you care to write in the body.) To be deleted, same address with “DELETE FROM FISH” in the subject line. Thanks!

Obama's Rhetoric Is the Real 'Catastrophe'

(Compiler's note: A must read article)

By BRADLEY R. SCHILLER

President Barack Obama has turned fearmongering into an art form. He has repeatedly raised the specter of another Great Depression. First, he did so to win votes in the November election. He has done so again recently to sway congressional votes for his stimulus package.

AP

In his remarks, every gloomy statistic on the economy becomes a harbinger of doom. As he tells it, today's economy is the worst since the Great Depression. Without his Recovery and Reinvestment Act, he says, the economy will fall back into that abyss and may never recover.

This fearmongering may be good politics, but it is bad history and bad economics. It is bad history because our current economic woes don't come close to those of the 1930s. At worst, a comparison to the 1981-82 recession might be appropriate. Consider the job losses that Mr. Obama always cites. In the last year, the U.S. economy shed 3.4 million jobs. That's a grim statistic for sure, but represents just 2.2% of the labor force. From November 1981 to October 1982, 2.4 million jobs were lost -- fewer in number than today, but the labor force was smaller. So 1981-82 job losses totaled 2.2% of the labor force, the same as now.

Job losses in the Great Depression were of an entirely different magnitude. In 1930, the economy shed 4.8% of the labor force. In 1931, 6.5%. And then in 1932, another 7.1%. Jobs were being lost at double or triple the rate of 2008-09 or 1981-82.

This was reflected in unemployment rates. The latest survey pegs U.S. unemployment at 7.6%. That's more than three percentage points below the 1982 peak (10.8%) and not even a third of the peak in 1932 (25.2%). You simply can't equate 7.6% unemployment with the Great Depression.

Other economic statistics also dispel any analogy between today's economic woes and the Great Depression. Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose in 2008, despite a bad fourth quarter. The Congressional Budget Office projects a GDP decline of 2% in 2009. That's comparable to 1982, when GDP contracted by 1.9%. It is nothing like 1930, when GDP fell by 9%, or 1931, when GDP contracted by another 8%, or 1932, when it fell yet another 13%.

Auto production last year declined by roughly 25%. That looks good compared to 1932, when production shriveled by 90%. The failure of a couple of dozen banks in 2008 just doesn't compare to over 10,000 bank failures in 1933, or even the 3,000-plus bank (Savings & Loan) failures in 1987-88. Stockholders can take some solace from the fact that the recent stock market debacle doesn't come close to the 90% devaluation of the early 1930s.

Mr. Obama's analogies to the Great Depression are not only historically inaccurate, they're also dangerous. Repeated warnings from the White House about a coming economic apocalypse aren't likely to raise consumer and investor expectations for the future. In fact, they have contributed to the continuing decline in consumer confidence that is restraining a spending pickup. Beyond that, fearmongering can trigger a political stampede to embrace a "recovery" package that delivers a lot less than it promises. A more cool-headed assessment of the economy's woes might produce better policies.

“Islam in America’s Classrooms: History or Propaganda?”

An Eye-Opening Report

Dear Sarah,

I’m delighted to announce that the Mission Viejo (California) chapter of ACT! for America, in partnership with the United American Committee, have just completed a concise, well-documented, readable report on how Islam is being presented in our public schools.

This is a great service to all of us, and an exciting testimony to what is happening in the ACT! for America citizen action network. I am so proud of our chapter leaders and what they are doing!

This is a report you absolutely must read!

In this report you’ll learn how the violent history of Islam is being whitewashed in our public schools…how the claims of Islam are presented as facts…and how students are required to participate in activities such as memorizing verses from the Qur’an. I discuss this in detail and give examples of schools across America in my book They Must Be Stopped.

Click here to view or print out the report.

In addition to reading the report yourself, please forward this message to everyone you know who would be concerned about what’s being taught in our schools.

I want to thank and commend the ACT! for America Mission Viejo Chapter and the United American Committee for a job well-done.

Always devoted,



Brigitte Gabriel
www.actforamerica.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
www.actforamerica.org

Mexico’s Violence Spilling-Over into Texas, Dan Calls for a Plan

By Cary Wesberry

Texas officials are drafting plans for law enforcement and military responses to the growing Mexican gang violence threatening to spill across the U.S. border.” Worst-case scenario, Mexico becomes the Western hemisphere’s equivalent of Somalia, with mass violence, mass chaos,” Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for defense and foreign policy at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based think tank, told Fox News. “That would clearly require a military response from the United States.”

With more than 5,300 people killed in Mexico last year owing to criminal activity, Mexico has been identified in a Department of Defense report as a country that could abruptly destabilize.

While Texas officials work on their defensive posture, the federal government has already developed a contingency plan that calls for armored vehicles, aircraft and teams of personnel along border hotspots. Military forces, however, would be deployed only if agencies like the Border Patrol were unable to quell the violence.

What is not being accounted for, however, is the flood of refugees that could swarm the United States in the event of a Mexican government collapse, according to Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for Texas Gov. Rick Perry

“At this point, what we’re focusing on is spillover violence.” Cesinger told Fox News. “[Refugees] may be something that comes into consideration later on.”

Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick has called upon Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McGraw to present a comprehensive plan on refugees to the state’s Legislature.

“We have to seriously consider that as a remote possibility, so therefore, we need to have a plan,” he said.

Not an encouraging report. The longer we wait to secure the southern border, the worse it will be when the Mexican government hits the fan and goes splat.

4 key Dems in Congress seek inquiry into Arpaio sweeps

(Compiler's note: For an interesting video, clickon the title above.)

by Daniel González

Four leading Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Friday asked the new attorney general and Homeland Security secretary to investigate civil-rights complaints stemming from Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's crackdowns on illegal immigration.

The four lawmakers called on Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to investigate complaints that deputies used skin color as the basis to search for illegal immigrants. They also asked that a federal agreement allowing the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office to enforce immigration laws be terminated if any problems can't be fixed.

The lawmakers are the highest-level officials, and the first under the new Obama administration and Democratic-controlled Congress, to make such a request. They are committee Chairman John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jerrold Nadler of New York and Robert Scott of Virginia.

Last year, Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, along with civil-liberties and immigrant-advocacy groups, called for similar investigations of Arpaio.

The sheriff on Friday adamantly denied his deputies use racial profiling in arrests of illegal immigrants. "We're doing the right thing," he said. "If I was worried, with all the allegations, why would I keep doing it? I'm not stupid, having worked for the feds for 30 years."

The lawmakers' request, in the form of a letter, comes a few weeks after Napolitano ordered the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a wide-ranging review of immigration enforcement and border security. That includes a review of the federal program, known as 287(g), that gives state and local agencies the authority to enforce immigration laws.

In a memo, Napolitano ordered her staff to study the effectiveness of allowing police to arrest illegal immigrants vs. allowing jailers to identify and hold them when they are arrested for crimes. She also wrote that she wants to see what can be done to speed the process for signing more 287(g) agreements.

Arpaio said this week that he is worried the former Arizona governor will eliminate the provision that allows local police to arrest illegal immigrants.

Legal experts have said Arpaio's practices were likely to get more scrutiny under the Obama administration. Holder has a track record of investigating allegations of racial profiling against police departments when he was deputy attorney general under the Clinton administration. As governor, Napolitano yanked state funding that helped pay for Arpaio's controversial neighborhood sweeps, which critics said were aimed at arresting illegal immigrants.

In Friday's letter, Conyers and the other Democrats said that, in recent months, Arpaio had shown "a blatant disregard for the rights of Hispanic residents in the Phoenix area."

Lofgren is chairwoman of the immigration subcommittee. Nadler is chairman of the Constitution subcommittee, and Scott is chairman of the crime subcommittee.

The lawmakers wrote that Arpaio had apparently overreached his authority under the federal agreement by ordering deputies to "scour Latino neighborhoods" to search for illegal immigrants on the basis of skin color.

"As a result, members of the Latino community - whether they are U.S. citizens or foreign-born, whether they are legal immigrants or undocumented - feel under siege," the letter said.

The Democrats said an incident this month in which Arpaio, citing a need to cut costs, "paraded approximately 200 suspected illegal immigrants in shackles to a segregated area of his Tent City county facility" also warranted investigation.

Arpaio denied his policies are discriminatory toward Latinos and called the 287(g) program "a great success."

"We've done a great job when you look at all the arrests we've made and all the (illegal immigrants) we've found who have been booked into the jail," he said.

Arpaio compared the House members' request to similar ones made in the past year by Gordon and advocacy groups. None resulted in a federal investigation.

Vincent Picard, a spokesman for the Phoenix office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Arpaio has not violated the 287(g) agreement. The pact prohibits ICE-trained deputies from targeting illegal-immigrant suspects based on race or appearance.

Although allegations of racial profiling are common, not a single firsthand complaint involving ICE-trained officers in Arizona has been filed with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General or any other investigative agency, Picard said.

Some legal immigrants have been detained under the program, he said, but in every case, ICE determined they weren't carrying their green cards as required.

"Arizona's 287(g) program is working as intended," Picard said.

Conyers has come under fire from some Democratic lawmakers for pushing too hard for investigations of the Bush administration. Last year, Conyers threatened to file articles of impeachment against President George W. Bush that alleged constitutional violations of civil liberties. But he was discouraged by the Democratic Party leadership.

Rep. Trent Franks, a Republican and the only Arizona member of the House Judiciary Committee, was traveling Friday night and could not be reached for comment.

The Justice Department will review the letter, spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said.

Napolitano has asked for a review of the 287(g) program because of questions about how agreements with state and local agencies are administered and if uniform standards are being applied, said Dean Smith, a Homeland Security spokesman. The review is due next Friday.

Republic reporter JJ Hensley and John Yaukey of Gannett News Service contributed to this article.

Radical Muslim Chaplains – Root Causes of Islamic Fanaticism and Terror

Unreal... Dems Include Random-Undefined $1.6 Billion For "Science" In Stimulus With NO Description

by Gateway Pundit


Democrats rammed the largest spending bill through Congress yesterday without even giving members a chance to read it.

And, now we find out that they included whole undefined categories with hundreds of millions of dollars assigned to these mysterious pet projects.

Republican Study Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA) was on Hannity last night describing this horrific Democratic boondoggle:


This is the "Science" category Rep. Price was talking about:

Click to Enlarge
Page 63, Bill Text HR-1
Democrats just plopped down $1.6 billion for "Science" with no wording at all on where this money is going to be spent, who is going to spend it or what they are going to spend it on.
Unbelievable.

Democrats just voted to dump billions of taxpayer dollars on pet projects that are not even defined.
Do you suppose this might invite corruption?
Name one business that could get away with this.

Truly- The inmates are in complete control of the asylum.

US Predator strike in South Waziristan kills 25

Official: Economic Crisis Top US Threat

National Intelligence Director Warns Of Dangerous Recession

WASHINGTON -- The economic crisis has trumped bullets and bombs in the intelligence chief's latest assessment of the top security threats to the United States. In his opening statement Thursday, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair is telling the Senate Intelligence Committee about the potentially dangerous effects of a sustained and deep recession.

Blair also said al-Qaida is less capable than it was a year ago but remains a leading threat to the U.S. And despite U.S. and international efforts in Afghanistan, the Taliban is regaining power in many parts of that country. He put much of the blame on Pakistan's inability to control the tribal area on the Afghan border.

The Elephant in the Room: Intimidating critics of Islam

By Rick Santorum

Politicians and citizens who raise questions about the religion are targeted.

We lost more than a million jobs in the past few months, the headlines remind us. So last month's story about a Dutch court's ruling that Geert Wilders was "inciting hatred and discrimination" - and that "it is in the public interest to prosecute" him - understandably didn't make the American news.

Did Wilders rip off a minority in a Madoff-style Ponzi scheme? No, he's a member of the Dutch parliament, and his precise villainy was releasing a 15-minute film. Entitled Fitna, it suggests a direct link between certain verses of the Koran and acts of terrorism.

Not to be outdone, the United Kingdom this week banned Wilders from entering the country. Its reasoning: His "presence in the U.K. would pose a genuine, present, and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society." A letter from the home secretary went on to tell Wilders that "your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security."

In 2007, Cambridge University Press destroyed unsold copies of Alms for Jihad after it was sued by Khalid bin Mahfouz, a Saudi-Irish businessman whom the book accused of financing al-Qaeda. So much for academics standing up against book-burning.

In 2005, reporters from the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten were forced into hiding after publishing a series of 12 cartoons about Muhammad. Islamic fundamentalists found the images blasphemous and threatened to bomb the paper's offices and kill its cartoonists - apparently, in certain quarters, an alternative to a letter to the editor.

Last year, at the urging of the Canadian Islamic Congress, author Mark Steyn was forced to defend himself against charges of racism and "Islamophobia" that were filed with three Canadian human-rights commissions, based on his columns in Maclean's magazine.

And, following a 2008 U.N. resolution urging nations to outlaw "defamation of religion," several nations - including Italy, the Netherlands and France - are attempting to ban "hate speech" against religious groups.

All of these incidents are calculated to intimidate critics of Islam in Europe and across the West. The message in the European Union is clear: Politicians, religious figures, and even private citizens with religiously and politically incorrect opinions will be subject not only to Muslim protest, but to criminal prosecution and violent retribution.

What publisher will print Steyn's next book if it can be labeled a hate crime and banned in most countries? "Pretty soon, your little book is looking a lot less commercially viable," Steyn has said. "At the end of the day, there'll be a lot of . . . American books that will go unpublished here in America."

In addition, these incidents deflect attention away from real - rather than trumped-up - religious discrimination. In the arena of actual persecution of religious minorities, Arab and Islamic nations are much of the problem.

Look at the U.S. State Department's 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom. Among the dozens of limitations on religious freedom in the Arab-Islamic world are the crimes of apostasy - converting from Islam to another religion - and blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad, both punishable by death under Muslim Sharia law. Coptic Christians are, at best, second-class citizens in Egypt; Baha'is are savagely persecuted in Iran; and churches and synagogues are banned in Saudi Arabia, as is any non-Muslim religious activity in public.

This is not a front- or even back-page story in the American press today. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the economy.

The gathering storm I have been warning of for years has now formed over the West. Yet instead of fighting the gradual incursion of Sharia and the demands of an intolerant, even militant Islam, Westerners are cowering and fatalistic. Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury conceded that acceptance of some parts of Sharia in Britain seemed "unavoidable."

So how did the market do today?

Federal obligations exceed world GDP

By Jerome R. Corsi

As the Obama administration pushes through Congress its $800 billion deficit-spending economic stimulus plan, the American public is largely unaware that the true deficit of the federal government already is measured in trillions of dollars, and in fact its $65.5 trillion in total obligations exceeds the gross domestic product of the world.

The total U.S. obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits to be paid in the future, effectively have placed the U.S. government in bankruptcy, even before new continuing social welfare obligation embedded in the massive spending plan are taken into account.

The real 2008 federal budget deficit was $5.1 trillion, not the $455 billion previously reported by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the "2008 Financial Report of the United States Government" as released by the U.S. Department of Treasury. ....

Breaking Intelligence Report: Obama to Drop Sanctions On Iran!

by Gateway Pundit

This article was published in Geostrategy-Direct , an open source intelligence (OSINT) newsletter that has a good track record.

The report would probably seem preposterous if it weren't for the fact that Team Obama already waived sanctions on Syria and is considering opening travel to Cuba.
It's like watching Carter on Speed.

This latest news comes from the February 18, 2009 edition of Geostrategy Direct (subscribers only):

DOSSIER: Ehud Barak
'Change' the mullahs can believe in: Obama to drop sanctions on Iran

TEL AVIV — Israelis may have gone to the polls hoping for "Change" but the status quo is all any of the candidates could look forward to whatever the outcome. Defense Minister Ehud Barack, has already glimpsed the future and has warned about what it holds.

Meanwhile, the status quo means continued rocket and missile attacks while international aid pours into the Gaza Strip and bolsters a regime run by Hamas, which is still considered by the United States to be a terrorist organization.

But "Change" is taking place, Barak has intimated, originating not in the Mideast but in Washington, D.C. in the form of a U.S. reconciliation with Iran.

Such a process could result in U.S. acceptance of Teheran's nuclear weapons program and the downplaying of its threats against Israel.

Just as Barack Obama entered office facing a massive economic crisis beyond the scope of his experience, likewise the new Israeli leader will have to make or delay making difficult strategic decisions from the minute he or she enters office.

Barak has already signaled what the new government can expect, officials here said.

The United States has abandoned its policy of sanctioning companies that aid Iran's nuclear and missile program, they said.

The officials said the new Obama administration of has decided to end sanctions against Iranian government agencies or companies that aid Teheran's missile and nuclear program. The officials said Israel has been informed of the new U.S. policy.

"We were told that sanctions do not help the new U.S. policy of dialogue with Iran," an official said.

Barak confirmed the new U.S. policy. In an address to the Herzliya Conference on Feb. 3, Barak said Washington did not say whether it would resume sanctions against Iran.

"We must arrive at a strategic understanding with the United States over Iran's military nuclear program and ensure that even if at this time they opt for the diplomatic option, it will only last a short time before harsh and necessary sanctions are imposed," Barak said.

Obama decided to end sanctions against Iran after determining that the U.S. measures had failed to block Teheran's missile or nuclear weapons program, officials said. Under the administration of former President George Bush, the United States accelerated sanctions on Iran in 2008.

In his address, the Israeli defense minister indicated that Obama had forged an entirely new approach toward Iran. He said the Israeli government has sought a briefing from the new U.S. administration.

A U.S. defense source said the White House would no longer enforce sanctions imposed by the Bush administration. The source said the decision has already been relayed to Iran.

"The administration has abandoned sanctions entirely," the U.S. source said. "It is a completely new ballgame."

Similarly, Obama has decided on a new U.S. ambassador to Syria and is expected to lift sanctions against a nation charged with aiding Al Qaida in Iraq and secretly building a nuclear reactor with North Korean assistance.

Diplomatic sources said Obama, in consultation with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has asked Frederic Hof to become the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005. The sources said Hof, a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Middle East Policy Council, agreed to take the post.

The sources said the Obama administration was expected to suspend U.S. sanctions on Syria's military and energy programs.

They said Hof would be authorized to facilitate an expansion of U.S. relations with Syria, which deteriorated under President George Bush.

In 2005, the United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus in wake of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Syria was blamed for the car bombing in Beirut in which Hariri and many of his bodyguards were killed.

The sources said Obama sent emissaries to Syria in September 2008 and pledged that if elected he would reconcile with the regime of President Bashar Assad. After his election victory, they said, Obama sent another message that promised to appoint an ambassador within the first weeks of his administration.

Commentary: Stimulate the economy, not government

Mitt Romney is the former governor of Massachusetts and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2008. This commentary was adapted from remarks he made last week to the House Republican Conference.

By Mitt Romney

These are extraordinary times, and like a lot of Republicans I believe that a well-crafted stimulus plan is needed to put people back to work. But the Obama spending bill would stimulate the government, not the economy.

Mitt Romney says Obama's spending bill would stimulate the government rather than the economy. bailout

We're on an economic tightrope. The package that passed the House is a huge increase in the amount of government borrowing. And we've borrowed so much already that if we add too much more debt, or spend foolishly, we could invite an even bigger crisis.

We could precipitate a worldwide crisis of confidence in America, leading to a run on the dollar or hyperinflation that wipes out family savings and devastates the middle class.

It's still early in the administration of President Obama. Like everyone who loves this country, I want him to adopt the correct course and then to succeed. He still has a chance to step in and insist on spending discipline among the members of his own party.

It's his job to set priorities. I hope for America's sake that he knows that a chief executive can't vote "present." He has to say yes to some things and no to a lot of others.

As someone who spent a career in the private sector, I'd like to see a stimulus package that respects the productivity and genius of the American people. And experience shows us what it should look like.

First, there are two ways you can put money into the economy, by spending more or by taxing less. But if it's stimulus you want, taxing less works best. That's why permanent tax cuts should be the centerpiece of the economic stimulus. Watch Romney make argument for tax cuts »

Second, any new spending must be strictly limited to projects that are essential. How do we define essential? Well, a good rule is that the projects we fund in a stimulus should be legitimate government priorities that would have been carried out in the future anyway, and are simply being moved up to create those jobs now.

As we take out nonessential projects, we should focus on funding the real needs of government that will have immediate impact. And what better place to begin than repairing and replacing military equipment that was damaged or destroyed in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan?

Third, sending out rebate checks to citizens and businesses is not a tax cut. The media bought this line so far, but they've got it wrong. Checks in the mail are refunds, not tax cuts. We tried rebate checks in 2008 and they did virtually nothing to jump-start the economy. Disposable income went up, but consumption hardly moved.

Businesses aren't stupid. They're not going to invest in equipment and new hires for a one-time, short-term blip. What's needed are permanent rate cuts on individuals and businesses.

Fourth, if we're going to tax less and spend more to get the economy moving, then we have to make another commitment as well. As soon as this economy recovers, we have to regain control over the federal budget, and above all, over entitlement spending for programs such as Social Security and Medicare. This is more important than most people are willing to admit.

There is a real danger that with trillions of additional borrowing -- from the budget deficit and from the stimulus -- world investors will begin to fear that our dollars won't be worth much in the future. It is essential that we demonstrate our commitment to maintaining the value of the dollar. That means showing the world that we will put a stop to runaway spending and borrowing.

Fifth, we must begin to recover from the enormous losses in the capital investment pool. And the surest, most obvious way to get that done is to send a clear signal that there will be no tax increases on investment and capital gains. The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts should be extended permanently, or at least temporarily.

And finally, let's exercise restraint in the size of the stimulus package. Last year, with the economy already faltering, I proposed a stimulus of $233 billion. The Washington Post said: "Romney's plan is way too big." So what critique will the media have for the size of the Obama package?

In the final analysis, we know that only the private sector -- entrepreneurs and businesses large and small -- can create the millions of jobs our country needs. The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.

President's attorneys file motion demanding birth, college records be withheld from public

(Compiler's note: This nation must simply come to the truth about this situation. Should the charges be true, every day it goes on, the bigger the Constitutional crisis for our nation. Must read.)

by Bob Unruh

A high-powered team of Los Angeles attorneys representing President Obama in his effort to keep his birth certificate, college

records and passport documents concealed from the public has suggested there should be "monetary sanctions" against a lawyer whose clients have brought a complaint alleging Obama doesn't qualify for the Oval Office under the Constitution's demand for a "natural born" citizen in that post.

The suggestion came in an exchange of e-mails and documents in a case brought by former presidential candidate Alan Keyes and others in California. The case originally sought to have the state's electors ordered to withhold their votes for Obama until his eligibility was established. Since his inauguration, it has been amended to seek a future requirement for a vetting process, in addition to the still-sought unveiling of Obama's records.

In the case, being handled largely by Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation, he recently subpoenaed the records documenting the attendance by Obama, or possibly the student when he was known as Barry Soetero, from Occidental College.

The lawyer for the college, Stuart W. Rudnick of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, urgently contacted Fredric D. Woocher of Strumwasser & Woocher.

"This firm is counsel to Occidental College. The College is in receipt of the enclosed subpoena that seeks certain information concerning President-Elect Barack Obama," he wrote via fax. "Inasmuch as the subpoena appears to be valid on its face, the College will have no alternative but to comply with the subpoena absent a court order instructing otherwise."

Within hours, Woocher contacted Kreep regarding the issue, telling him, "It will likely not surprise you to hear that President-elect Obama opposes the production of the requested records.

"In order to avoid the needless expense of our bringing and litigating a Motion to Quash the subpoena, I am writing to ask whether you would be willing to agree voluntarily to cancel or withdraw the subpoena…"

Woocher warned, "Please be advised, in particular, that in the event we are forced to file a motion to quash and we prevail in that motion, we will seek the full measure of monetary sanctions provided for in the Code of Civil Procedures."

With Kreep out of town for a business trip, he did not respond immediately and the motion eventually was filed. It states that the records, which could reveal on what name Obama attended classes at Occidental and whether he attended on scholarship money intended for foreign students, "are of no relevance to this moot litigation."

It also claims the petitioners failed to serve the subpoena properly.

Where's the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the "natural-born American" clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see it, join more than 235,000 others and sign up now!

"The subpoena directed to Occidental College should therefore be quashed. Alternatively, this court should issue an order directing that the deposition of the custodian of records of Occidental College not take place," the firm working on Obama's behalf stated.

"The central issue in this lawsuit … is whether any Respondent had a legal duty to demand proof of natural born citizenship from Democratic Party's nominee," the motion said. "None of the documents sought by petitioners could possibly assist in answering this question."

The motion then cited a precedent from a case involving a "former law firm client who brought malpractice action against firm claiming unconscionable rates was not entitled to discovery regarding amount paid by law firm to contract staff attorney because such information is irrelevant to unconscionability claim."

The case, with Keyes, Wiley S. Drake and Markham Robinson as plaintiffs, names California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Barack Hussein Obama, Joe Biden and the state's electors as defendants.

"OBAMA has been inaugurated as the president of the United States. However, to properly assume such office, OBAMA must meet the qualifications specified in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution for the Office of the President of the United States, which includes that he must be a 'natural born' citizen," the amended complaint states.

"OBAMA has failed to demonstrate that he is a 'natural born' citizen. There have been a number of legal challenges before various state and federal courts regarding aspects of non-, lost, or dual citizenship concerning OBAMA. Those challenges, in and of themselves, demonstrate Petitioners' argument that reasonable doubt exists as to his eligibility to serve as President of the United States.

"To avert a constitutional crisis which would certainly accrue after such an election through laborious legal challenges, this writ seeks to require SOS (Secretary of State) to verify the eligibility of a Presidential candidate prior to the candidate appearing on the California ballot. It is incumbent on the candidates to present the necessary documentation confirming his or her eligibility, but, to date, for this past election, OBAMA has failed to do so," the complaint continues.

"An unprecedented and looming constitutional crisis awaits if a President elected by the popular vote and the electoral vote does not constitutionally qualify to serve in that capacity," the case said. "In addition, if OBAMA is not a 'natural born' citizen and not eligible for presidency, OBAMA will be subject to the criminal provisions of the California Elections Code, stating, 'Any person who files or submits for filing a nomination paper or declaration of candidacy knowing that it, or any part of it, has been made falsely, is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months or two or three years or by both the fine and imprisonment,'" the complaint states.

WND has reported on multiple legal challenges that have alleged Obama does not meet the "natural born citizen" clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which reads, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some claim he was not born in Hawaii, as he insists, but in Kenya. Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Several details of Obama's past have added twists to the question of his eligibility and citizenship, including his family's move to Indonesia when he was a child and on what nation's passport he traveled to Pakistan in the '80s, as well as conflicting reports from Obama's family about his place of birth.

In just the last few days, WND has reported on a developing lawsuit by a team of state lawmakers as well as military officers, both of whom would be bound to follow orders from the president and would need to know whether the orders were legitimate.

WND also reported this week on a separate case that accuses Congress of failing to investigate President Obama's birthplace before approving the Electoral College vote giving him the presidency, after going through that very investigative process for GOP candidate Sen. John McCain.

Several of the cases – including those brought by Orly Taitz, Cort Wrotnowski, Leo Donofrio and Philip Berg, already have been discussed in conference at the U.S. Supreme Court, which has failed to have a hearing on any of the merits involved.

While Obama's campaign team called the cases garbage, here is a partial listing and status update for several of the cases:

• Philip J. Berg, a Pennsylvania Democrat, demanded that the courts verify Obama's original birth certificate and other documents proving his American citizenship. Berg's latest appeal, requesting an injunction to stop the Electoral College from selecting the 44th president, was denied.
  


• Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama's dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.


• Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut's secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.


• Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state's 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public's support.


• Chicago attorney Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama's vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.
  
  
• Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama's eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama's citizenship. His case was denied.
  
  
• In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.
  
  
• In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama's citizenship. The case was denied.
  
  
• In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama's birth certificate. His request for an injunction against Georgia's secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.


• California attorney Orly Taitz has brought a case, Lightfoot vs. Bowen, on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the ballot with Ron Paul, four electors and two registered voters.

In addition, other cases cited on the RightSideofLife blog as raising questions about Obama's eligibility include:

• In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
  
  
• In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
  
  
• In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
  
  
• In Washington, L. Charles vs. Obama.
  
  
• In Hawaii, Keyes vs. Lingle, dismissed.

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi had gone to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama's birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.

The governor's office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii, which the state's procedures allowed at the time?

Related offers:

Sign the petition

Get "The Audacity of Deceit," and learn about the looming hostile attack on Judeo-Christian values and freedoms Americans hold dear

Will Obama bring the end of prosperity? How higher taxes will doom the economy – if we let it happen

Look who's seething over anti-Nazi warning! Comparisons between Nazi leader, Obama draws strong reaction

Whistleblower magazine's "THE SECRET LIFE OF BARACK OBAMA"

---

Previous stories:

State lawmakers: Prove you're president, Mr. Obama

Congress sued to remove prez from White House

More challenges fail in Supreme Court

Supreme Court refuses 2nd challenge to eligibility

Status report: The eligibility issue

Supremes turn down request to stop Electoral vote

Join exploding demand for citizenship documentation

Electors challenged to investigate birth dispute

Last few hours to FedEx Electoral College voters

Supremes turn down request to stop Electoral vote

Eligibility question? FedEx Electoral College members

Not even Supreme Court can kill citizenship dispute

Supreme Court denies citizenship challenge

More than 60,000 letters sent to U.S. Supreme Court

Petition to see the birth certificate

Will Supremes review citizenship arguments?

Imaging guru: 'Certification' of birth time, location is fake

Chasm dividing Americans over birth certificate widens

WND launches new forum on Obama's eligibility

Supremes to review citizenship arguments

'Constitutional crisis' looming over Obama's birth location

Obama camp: Lawsuits by citizens are 'garbage'

Will Supreme Court have say in presidency?

Obama's outrageous oversight

(Compiler's note: Must read --- yes, we got change ... and we can see from this article the one of the paths it will take.)

from editorial Washington Times

President Obama clearly didn't do his homework before ordering the suspension of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects. We have learned that even his own legal counsel admitted that Mr. Obama erred in discussing details about terrorism with families of victims last week, and that the administration was ignorant of a key point that terrorists exploit to their advantage. In his rush to fulfill a campaign promise to his more fervid anti-war supporters, the president's legal oversights risk the disclosure of some highly classified information to terrorists.

Debra Burlingame, sister of Charles Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77 that was flown into the Pentagon on 9/11, was present at last Friday's White House meeting of families of terrorism victims. Her impression was that President Obama was saying the right words in general, but when it came to specifics he was uncertain, uninformed, and sometimes just plain mistaken. Ms. Burlingame is an attorney who has followed closely the legal aspects of the terrorism cases, and her detailed, probing questions were met with stammers, stares, and statements that betrayed an understanding of the law that was, she said, "flat out wrong."

Case in point: the president's knowledge of the role of the Classified Information Procedures Act or CIPA. This law governs the way in which classified information is used in trials. The Sixth Amendment guarantees defendants the right to confront their accusers and the evidence against them, but the government has an important interest in cases such as these in keeping sources and methods secret. Under CIPA rules, in cases where classified information is used, the government has the option of sharing the information with the defendant, or not using it.

The Bush administration sought to avoid this potential national security threat by resorting to other procedures in which 6th Amendment issues did not arise. But President Obama believes that the model for terrorism cases is the prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers. Of course a number of those plotters escaped justice (some were found later hiding in Saddam's Iraq, but that's another story). More important, because of the openness of that process, al Qaeda learned a great deal about how to do a much better job next time - and even the classified information from that trial was in Osama bin Laden's hands within weeks.

The terrorists have learned a great deal about conducting legal guerrilla war, using rules like CIPA to their advantage. Notice that more and more terrorists are dismissing their appointed lawyers and representing themselves. This gives them direct access to the classified documents that will be used in evidence against them. In this way they can learn about U.S. intelligence sources and methods - how they were targeted, what information was collected, and who may have been the traitors in their midst. Even if the names of sources are omitted, for example someone who was present at a key planning meeting, the terrorist defendant will know enough about the circumstances to be able to narrow it down. After all, the terrorist is familiar with every aspect of the events; he knows much more about them than the intelligence community.

The alternative to handing over the secrets is for the government to not use the evidence in question. That creates the incongruous situation in which the defense wants to maximize the amount of evidence that implicates them, and the prosecution wants to minimize it. (Our legal system was not designed to accommodate defendants who welcome being put to death.) According to Ms. Burlingame, Obama's answer to this conundrum was "there is no reason we have to give [the terrorists] everything." Evidently the former editor of the Harvard Law Review seems to think that one of his powers as president is personally to pick and choose which constitutional rights apply to terror defendants and which do not. That's the very thing they were criticizing President Bush for.

White House Counsel Greg Craig, often seen whispering in the president's ear during question periods, admitted later to Ms. Burlingame that the chief executive was getting the facts of the law wrong during the discussion with the families. Craig asked her if CIPA covers a case in which terrorists defend themselves, noting that "this is something we hadn't contemplated." If nothing else, this admission of ignorance is more evidence that the decision to rush ahead with closing Guantanamo and shutting down the military tribunals was ill-conceived, poorly planned, and may ultimately be injurious to our national security. The president may talk a good game about "swift, certain justice," but it is becoming clear that justice will not be swift, is highly uncertain, and in the end may not even be just.

Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A. - Phoenix Arizona

Brian Ross and ABC News report what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave. Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone. But local authorities say Washington, DC is too obsessed with al Qaeda terrorists to care about what is happening in their own backyard right now....

Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A. - Phoenix Arizona

Brian Ross and ABC News report what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave. Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City and over 370 cases last year alone. But local authorities say Washington, DC is too obsessed with al Qaeda terrorists to care about what is happening in their own backyard right now....

Chinese Hackers Attack U.S. Computers, Thompson Says (Update1)

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese government and freelance hackers are the primary culprits behind as many as several hundred daily attacks against U.S. government, electric-utility and financial computer networks, a senior congressman said.

“Sophisticated hackers could really wreak havoc on our financial systems if they were successful,” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson said in an interview. The threat is “primarily from China.”

While cyber plots to disrupt U.S. computer networks have been thwarted, significant vulnerabilities exist, said Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

Many of these problems will be detailed in a 60-day review the Obama administration on Feb. 9 said it would conduct on government cyber-security efforts, Thompson said. President Barack Obama also has said he would appoint a computer-security chief who will report directly to him, a move Thompson supports.

Currency trading is among the financial networks targeted by hackers, Thompson said. An attack would be particularly damaging in light of the financial system’s troubled state, he said.

He said electric utilities’ networks also have several points of weakness.

“We were provided alarming data on the vulnerability of our electrical grid in this country,” he said.

China’s Denial

Wang Baodong, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., denied that the Chinese government was attacking U.S. computer systems.

“Allegations that the Chinese government is behind cyber attacks against the U.S. computer networks are totally unwarranted and misleading for the America public,” Wang said in an e-mailed statement.

Wang said the Chinese government is “cracking down” on computer hacking and other cyber crimes.

Thompson, during the interview, touched on topics ranging from immigration legislation to terrorism. He called a “cheap shot” former Vice President Dick Cheney’s assertion in an interview Feb. 3 that Obama’s policies make a terrorist attack more likely.

“There’s nothing that I’ve been briefed on in a classified setting that gives me any concern that what the vice president said is true,” he said. “It’s easy to say something is going to happen, so if it happens two years from now, you say, ‘I told you so.’”

Monitoring Threat

Thompson also said that U.S. authorities are monitoring about 20 Somali-American youths who disappeared from Minneapolis last year. The youths are suspected of traveling to Somalia and linking up with al-Shabab, a militant Islamic organization that the State Department considers a terrorist organization, according to Newsweek.

“We know who the suspects are, we pretty much have them under observation, and at this point nothing has risen to the level of bringing these people in,” Thompson said.

Al-Shahab is linked to al-Qaeda, and the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security investigated the threat of an attack by the group around the time of Obama’s inauguration last month.

Immigration Issues

On immigration, Thompson said it’s possible that Congress in the next two years will pass legislation overhauling U.S. immigration law, tightening border security and establishing a temporary worker program. The financial crisis has made it difficult for lawmakers to focus on the measure, and it isn’t the “hot button” that it was before last year’s elections, he said.

In the meantime, Thompson said, he is urging the administration to develop a comprehensive plan for securing U.S. borders against illegal aliens, including a decision on whether to continue building a 670-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Thompson, who voted against building the fence, favors using a combination of Border Patrol agents, fencing, cameras, sensors and radar.

He has been critical of progress on the system, known as Secure Border Initiative Net, which has suffered delays because of technical glitches.

Senate support builds for 'Fairness Doctrine'

Harkin 'to squelch' 1st Amendment in favor of 'Chinese-style censorship'

FBI may shift counterterror agents to anti-fraud

(Compiler's note: Now that the global jihad is over ....)

By DEVLIN BARRETT

WASHINGTON – With thousands of fraud investigations under way, the FBI is considering shifting agents away from counterterrorism work to help sort through the wreckage of the financial meltdown.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the bureau may reassign some of the positions that were reallocated to anti-terrorism work after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Such a move would be a further sign of the government breaking with the Bush administration's priorities, which pledged to assign every available resource to averting another terrorist attack.

Pistole told Congress his investigators have 530 active corporate fraud investigations, and 38 of them involve some of the biggest names in corporate finance — cases directly related to the current crisis.

In addition, FBI investigators are tackling an even bigger mountain of mortgage fraud cases in which hundreds of millions of dollars may have been swindled from the system, he told lawmakers.

The FBI now has more than 1,800 open mortgage fraud investigations, more than double the number of such cases just two years ago.

There are so many mortgage fraud cases to investigate, he said, that the bureau is not focusing on individual purchasers, but industry professionals generating fraud schemes that could total as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.

"It is a matter of lawyers, brokers or real estate professionals that are systematically trying to defraud the system," Pistole said.

Agents have even seen some instances of organized crime getting involved in mortgage fraud, he said.

Also appearing before the committee was Neil Barofsky, the watchdog of the government's $700 billion Wall Street rescue package passed last year.

Senate Democrats are urging more spending to expand the ranks of the FBI's financial fraud investigators.

After the 2001 terror attacks, about 2,000 FBI agents were moved to counterterrorism work, and Pistole said they are considering moving some of them back to beef up anti-fraud efforts.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., urged the FBI and the Justice Department to put people who have committed mortgage fraud behind bars.

"Most people are honest," Leahy said. "The ones who are not honest in this field are creating economic havoc and I want to make sure that we're able to go after them.

"I want to see people prosecuted.... Frankly, I want to see them go to jail," he said.

Barofsky, who was appointed the inspector general of the ongoing financial bailout plan, suggested the best way to clean up mortgage fraud is to pursue licensed professionals in the industry, and make examples of them.

"They have the most to lose, they're the most likely to flip, and they make the best examples," said Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor in New York.

Cheney Attacks!

(Compiler's note: Read it, then you decide ....)

“Unhinged by his fears,” the former veep says outrageous things!....

UNBELIEVABLE!

(Compiler's note: Absolutely must read)

by Roy Beck

Thanks for all your hard work to create a different outcome, but I regretfully have to inform you that:

All protections for U.S. workers were stripped from the Stimulus Bill tonight. Illegal aliens can be hired at the same rate as usual.

House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid and the Obama White House were absolutely certain about one thing for the House/Senate negotiating committee on the Stimulus Bill:

• There was to be no special restriction to keep illegal aliens from getting new jobs created by the bill at a cost of $250,000 to $500,000 each.

The Democratic leadership of our federal government made it clear that there has been no change from eight years of a Republican White House that let the Chamber of Commerce call the shots on immigration.

Pelosi, Reid and Obama gave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce exactly what it wanted -- freedom for unscruplous businesses to continue to hire illegal aliens at the same rate as in the past, and to use the hundreds of billions of Stimulus dollars to do it.

Pelosi, Reid and Obama also made sure that banks can continue to discriminate against Americans in favor of cheaper more compliant foreign workers.

The pro-illegal-alien Stimulus Bill will now go back to the Senate and House where it is expected to pass.

The only way this type of anti-American-worker, closed-door autocracy is going to be stopped is if all of you reading this do everything possible to spread this story so that all Americans know what happened. If you don't spread it, they won't know because the mainstream media thus far have blacked out the news.

Go to your Action Buffet corkboard and take all actions offered there.

Go to the NumbersUSA home page to read my full blog and our news stories about this incredible betrayal of the American worker.

Our Action Buffet Team will be putting up new action notes on your corkboards for several more hours tonight. If you read this before Thursday morning, know that not everything is posted yet.

THANKS,