Maxine Waters calls opponents of health plan 'Neanderthals'

(Los Angeles Times) U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters said she would refuse to vote for a health care reform package that did not include a government-run medical insurance plan ...

Bioethicist Becomes a Lightning Rod for Criticism

WASHINGTON — Few people hold a more uncomfortable place at the health care debate’s intersection between nuanced policy and cable-ready political rhetoric than President Obama’s special health care adviser, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel. ....

RI gov to shut down state government for 12 days

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island will shut down its state government for 12 days and hopes to trim millions of dollars in funding for local governments under a plan Gov. Don Carcieri outlined Monday to balance a budget hammered by surging unemployment and plummeting tax revenue.

The shutdown will force 81 percent of the roughly 13,550-member state work force, excluding its college system, to stay home a dozen days without pay before the start of the new fiscal year in July.

The closures come as the worst recession in decades has eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections and pushed unemployment to 12.7 percent, the second-highest jobless rate in the nation behind Michigan. ....

Cheney Statement on CIA Documents/Investigation

by Stephen F. Hayes

Former Vice President Dick Cheney gave The Weekly Standard a statement Monday night about the CIA documents and the coming Justice Department investigation.

The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. These detainees also, according to the documents, played a role in nearly every capture of al Qaeda members and associates since 2002. The activities of the CIA in carrying out the policies of the Bush Administration were directly responsible for defeating all efforts by al Qaeda to launch further mass casualty attacks against the United States. The people involved deserve our gratitude. They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions. President Obama’s decision to allow the Justice Department to investigate and possibly prosecute CIA personnel, and his decision to remove authority for interrogation from the CIA to the White House, serves as a reminder, if any were needed, of why so many Americans have doubts about this Administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.

$9,000,000,000,000 in the Hole (give or take a few trillion)

The mid-year review from the Office of Management and Budget, released Tuesday, estimates that the 2009 deficit will be $1.58 trillion, which is $262 billion less than officials predicted earlier in the year. But the 10-year projection rose to $9 trillion, while the Congressional Budget Office estimated the 10-year deficit at $7.1 trillion. .... But both offices warned that with higher deficits leading to higher national debt, in turn increasing the federal government's interest payments on that debt, the economy is in serious trouble.

Senior al Qaeda leader leaves Pakistan, directs Iraq operations from Syria

By Bill Roggio

A senior al Qaeda leader and ideologue who was based in Pakistan's tribal areas has taken control of al Qaeda in Iraq's organization in Syria and is operating from the capital, Damascus.

Sheikh Issa al Masri is thought to have entered Syria in June 2009 and has been consolidating control of the remnants of al Qaeda in Iraq to refocus the group's efforts to destabilize the Iraqi government.

Sheikh Issa was detained by Pakistani security forces in January 2009, according to the Asia Times. It is unclear if he escaped or was released from Pakistani custody, US military and intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.

After leaving Pakistani custody, Sheikh Issa traveled to Iran prior to entering Syria, according to a report in Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper. Al Qaeda has an extensive network inside Iran which receives support from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, according to the US Treasury Department, which has sanctioned several members of al Qaeda's organization in Iran.

Sheikh Issa is believed to be based in Damascus and is protected by the Mukhabarat, Syria's secret intelligence service. From Damascus, Sheikh Issa has been instrumental in reorganizing al Qaeda in Iraq's network and is thought to be behind some of the most deadly attacks in Iraq, including Wednesday's coordinated bombings in Baghdad that killed more than 90 Iraqis and wounded more than 1,200. ....

Why Should We Underwrite Russian Rearmament?

By GABRIEL SCHOENFELD

(The Wall Street Journal) The Nunn-Lugar program to help Russia destroy its nuclear weapons no longer makes sense. ....

.... Finally, and most critically, is the direction of Russian military spending. It had dwindled in the 1990s but is now soaring. The Russian defense budget nearly quadrupled from 2001 through 2007. Over the past few years, it has increased annually by between 20% and 30%. Russia, President Dimitry Medvedev announced in March, is embarking on a "comprehensive rearmament."

These were not idle words. Russia has been constructing the new Topol-M, a modern intercontinental ballistic missile. It continues to move forward with the new sea-launched Bulava ballistic missile to be carried aboard the equally new and state-of-the-art Borey nuclear-powered submarine. It has resumed production of its Tupolev-160 supersonic strategic bomber. Although the total size of Russia's arsenal is not expected to grow—old systems are being retired as new ones arrive—the net effect will be a more effective strategic nuclear force.

Money is fungible. If the U.S. were not defraying the costs of safeguarding or dismantling Russia's deteriorating weapons of mass destruction, Moscow would be compelled to do so out of its own pocket. Russia has an interest even more compelling than ours in the safety and surety of its nuclear systems. Thanks to political stability and a measure of prosperity—enough, certainly, to commence "comprehensive rearmament"—Moscow is now in a position to take care of such problems on its own.

Of course, the Russians much prefer our assistance. And why wouldn't they smile at a program that in effect pays for a build-up of their military even as we build down ours?....

Reports Revive Debate on Contractor Use

By Walter Pincus

The disclosure that the CIA once hired Blackwater USA for elements of an assassination program has brought back into focus the wide range of intelligence and military activities that are being contracted out to private firms.

Some lawmakers have balked at the shift of intelligence operations away from government employees. ....

New unit to question key terror suspects

(Washington Post) Move shifts interrogation oversight from the CIA to the White House ....

Obama's 5 Big Lies on Healthcare; Even NY Times Admits the Truth

from League of American Voters

Dear Friend:

Are Obama and his friends taking you as a fool?

You have to wonder what they really think about the intelligence of the American people.

Obama repeatedly has out-and-out lied about his healthcare plan.

Here are just 5 of the big whoppers.

Lie #1: 'You Keep Your Doctor, You Keep Your Insurer'

This is a complete fabrication.

Under plans Obama has backed in the House and the Senate, almost any business can opt their employees into the "public option" — the government health plan.

That means you could lose your insurer. And if your doctor is worth his salt, you'll lose him or her as well.

Why? Because great doctors probably will not want to get the very low rates the government will pay private doctors who are part of the new government system.

So, without your consent, you very easily could lose your insurer and your doctor.

Lie #2: The Elderly Will Not Face Rationing or Medicare Cuts

More baloney.

In fact, just last week, The New York Times, a very liberal and very pro-Obama newspaper, admitted that fears of rationing for elderly patients are "not irrational."

The truth is that Obamacare would almost 50 million new patients to government care.

Who would pay for it. You would!

Seniors on Medicare will be the first hit.

Here's what the Times reported: "Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient."

This means that faceless bureaucrats will decide the type and quality of your care.

It is a very dangerous thing to give your life and well-being over to government bureaucrats!

Imagine if you or a loved one is older than 80 years and critically needs heart surgery.

Instead of getting the heart procedure, you or that loved one could be informed that you are simply too old.

We at the League of American Voters have been warning of this danger and have a powerful TV commercial exposing the risks to seniors.

You can see the ad by Going Here Now

Lie #3: There Will Be No "Death Panels."

More lies.

Sure, they don't call them "death panels" in the legislation, but that's what their job will be.

These committee members will set guidelines with which faceless bureaucrats will make decisions about you and your healthcare.

They will decide who lives and who dies. They decide who gets critical procedures and expensive medicines.

Again, according to the New York Times, the Democratic plans call for saving money by creating new oversight committees.

The Times says that Medicare and insurers would be expected to follow "advice from a new federal panel of medical experts on 'what treatments work best.'”

Again, this very liberal paper concluded: "The zeal for cutting health costs, combined with proposals to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and to counsel seniors on end-of-life care, may explain why some people think the legislation is about rationing, which could affect access to the most expensive services in the final months of life."

Expose the lies — Go Here Now.

Lie #4: The Obama Plan Contains Costs

Absolute nonsense.

The Obama plan will cost more than $1 trillion in new federal outlays, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

This past weekend, Sen. Joe Lieberman claimed that most of this cost comes from adding 50 million people, currently uninsured, to the government health system.

But as Lieberman pointed out, we just don't have the money to do this right now.

You can add only so many people to the government system by cutting medical care to seniors on Medicare and raising taxes.

Democrats clearly plan to do both.

Lie #5: Illegals Are Not Covered by Obamacare

President Obama has stated time and again that illegal aliens are not covered under his new plan.

Still, Democrats say they want to add almost 50 million uninsured. Yet almost one-quarter of these uninsured are illegal aliens.

None of the Democratic plans excludes illegal aliens.

In fact, when Republicans proposed an amendment to the House plan to block illegals from getting free government healthcare, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her minions soundly defeated the motion.

Many, many lies are emanating from Washington today.

This is why the work of the League of American Voters is so critical now.

Dick Morris, the famous Fox News analyst and campaign strategist, says the League is the No. 1 organization today fighting Obamacare.

"Every American who wants to stop Obamacare should join with the League," Morris says. "They have the best strategy to stop it from becoming law."

Just two weeks ago, the League's powerful new TV ad went on the air.

Thanks to your help, it's already running in 12 states — and it is affecting millions of people.

We believe it is one reason some Democrats are starting to retreat.

But our job is not done.

We must fight the lies.

We must expose the dangers of Obamacare to all Americans. ....

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Bob Adams
Executive Director

P.S. Our TV ad, which Dick Morris crafted, is so effective that ABC News refused to run it. If you take a moment to watch the ad, you'll see why. It simply tells the truth, in the words of a respected medical doctor. Take a minute to watch it — and most importantly, help us continue this battle! To Watch the Ad and Donate — Go Here Now

Swine Flu May Cause 90,000 U.S. Deaths, Report Says (Update2)

By Tom Randall and Alex Nussbaum

(Bloomberg) -- Swine flu may infect half the U.S. population this year, hospitalize 1.8 million patients and lead to as many as 90,000 deaths, more than twice the number killed in a typical seasonal flu, White House advisers said.....

Africa wants $67 bln a year in global warming funds

By Tsegaye Tadesse

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 24 (Reuters) - African leaders will ask rich nations for $67 billion per year from 2020 to cushion the impact of global warming on the world's poorest continent, according to a draft resolution seen by Reuters on Monday. ....

Petraeus to open intel training center

By Eli Lake

Gen. David H. Petraeus plans to open an in-house intelligence organization at U.S. Central Command this week that will train military officers, covert agents and analysts who agree to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade.

The organization, to be called the Center for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence, will be led by Derek Harvey, a retired colonel in the Defense Intelligence Agency who became one of the Gen. Petraeus' most trusted analysts during the 2007-08 counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq.

Mr. Harvey distinguished himself in Iraq by predicting that the Iraqi insurgency would spiral out of control, at a time when it was widely underestimated by the Bush administration, in 2003 and 2004.

He later dissented from the emerging consensus in Congress and the CIA, when he said, as early as March 2007, that al Qaeda had been strategically defeated. This was during the early days of the surge, at a time when most of the intelligence community thought the Sunni insurgency was intact.

In an exclusive interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Harvey said the center will build on some of the lessons that he and the military learned in Iraq, not just for counterinsurgency but also in terms of intelligence analysis.

In this sense, Mr. Harvey is a believer in two reforms in developing reliable intelligence. The first involves altering the methods of interpreting raw data. He said the intelligence community tends to rely too much on information from human sources such as spies and from signal intercepts such as wiretaps, to the exclusion of reports from people on the ground such as military officers and aid workers.

Mr. Harvey said the new center would focus on integrating all sources of information to develop strategic products for both war fighters and decision makers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We have tended to rely too much on intelligence sources and not integrating fully what is coming from provincial reconstruction teams, civil-affairs officers, commanders and operators on the ground that are interacting with the population and who understand the population and can actually communicate what is going on in the street," he said. "If you only rely on the intelligence reporting, you can get a skewed picture of the situation.

And now: Cash for Kitchen Appliances

By Michelle Malkin

bailout

Washington just doesn’t get it. Spending beyond our means is what got this country into trouble in this first place. Political gimmickry like Cash for (fill-in-the-blank) only exacerbates the root cause. Government has no business encouraging people to take out car loans or home loans — or buy new refrigerators or dishwashers — when they should be saving their money instead.

They don’t get it. Via Business Week:

A $300 million cash-for-clunkers-type federal program to boost sales of energy-efficient home appliances provides a glimmer of hope for beleaguered makers of washing machines and dishwashers, but it’s probably not enough to lift companies such as Whirlpool (WHR) and Electrolux out of the worst down cycle in the sector’s history.

Beginning late this fall, the program authorizes rebates of $50 to $200 for purchases of high-efficiency household appliances. The money is part of the broader economic stimulus bill passed earlier this year. Program details will vary by state, and the Energy Dept. has set a deadline of Oct. 15 for states to file formal applications. The Energy Dept. expects the bulk of the $300 million to be awarded by the end of November. (Unlike the clunkers auto program, consumers won’t have to trade in their old appliances.)

…Not surprisingly, appliance makers cheered the news. Electrolux spokesman Tony Evans calls the federal program a “great opportunity to encourage consumers to replace their old appliances.” Lately, cash-strapped consumers have chosen to repair, rather than replace, hobbled dishwashers and other water-intensive appliances, according to industry analysts. Electrolux says it is readying “aggressive” marketing programs that will run parallel with the rebates, and it’s reasonable to expect appliance makers and retailers will devise additional discounts to amplify the rebates’ appeal. “We will be ready to go when the new incentive programs hit the market,” Evans said.

Forget a new fridge. I want cash for an upgrade to Wii Fit Plus. I’m sure the Fitness Czar will approve.

The Incredibly Shrinking War on Terror

.... Operation Boulder imposed the grand burden of a five-day waiting period for Arab immigrants seeking to obtain a visa while the FBI and other federal agencies ran a background check – the same waiting period President Clinton instituted for law-abiding American citizens before purchasing a handgun. ....

....In the mid-90s, Vice President Al Gore drew up a series of recommendations for airline safety, which, though too modest to prevent the hijackings, were never implemented. The 9/11 Commission explained Clinton and Gore no longer required airlines to screen passengers’ carry-on luggage, as they had before 1997, “[p]rimarily because of concern regarding potential discrimination.” Zogby, the AADC, and CAIR stoked those fears during the Clinton administration and, with others, made Governor Bush concerned over “secret evidence” in 2000. Post-9/11, Zogby became a founding member of the FBI’s Arab American Advisory Committee. Presumably, this continues to be part of his repartee with Holder and co. ....

…As candidate Obama promised it would be nearly two years ago. In December 2007, the then-freshman senator told AAI he opposed “racial profiling,” adding, “when I'm president, the rights of every American will be fully respected and protected.” September 10^th, here we come. ....

.... Mr. Zogby and his organizations continue to clamor against “spying” on Muslim groups, despite the large number of Muslim Student Association members implicated in terrorism. But then both he and his representatives have a long history of whitewashing terrorists. ....

Zogby’s invitation seems emblematic of Obama’s narrowing focus in the War on Terror: it seems to include only those elements of the jihadist movement that will not pretend to negotiate with him. The president’s real zeal is expressed in zinging Israel. Obama also foreshadowed this in his 2007 AAI speech, where he stated, “we also have to do more to bring a measure of stability in the broader Middle East. Our neglect of the Middle East peace process has fueled despair and extremism.”

Thus, the president has strong-armed Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting, in principle, a Palestinian state, although Bibi has voiced concerns about increasing violence, and a more prominent role for Fatah (the “peaceful” Palestinians) in it. Obama State Department appointee Rosa Brooks has likewise excused Hamas, writing in the L.A. Times this January that the terrorist army “is weak, and its weapons – terrorism, homemade rockets – are the weapons of the weak.” These weapons “have killed only a handful of Israelis.” She contrasted this with Palestinian casualties, adding, “Arab and Islamic anger over Palestine continues to fuel anti-Western and anti-U.S. terrorism around the globe.” But Brooks came up with a solution: “Only the U.S. – Israel's primary supporter and main financial sponsor – can push it to make the hard choices necessary for its own long-term security, as well as the region’s.” Brooks is right that the future of the United States and Israel are intertwined, but for the wrong reason. David Horowitz has rightly stated, “Israel is the canary in the mine. What happens to this small, vulnerable nation will eventually happen to America itself.” But for the Obama administration, Israel is the aggressor, not the victim. ....

.... The Obama administration’s battle horizon does not even include all elements of the Taliban, whose foot soldiers are currently killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The president has expressed interest in negotiating with the “moderate” Taliban – an entreaty Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf logically dismissed as “illogical.”

Even al-Qaeda agents caught on-the-ground in certain nations may be in a legal gray area. Obama personally told the New York Times in March, “There could be situation…where, let’s say that we have a well-known al-Qaeda operative that doesn’t surface very often, appears in a third country with whom we don’t have an extradition relationship or would not be willing to prosecute, but we think is a very dangerous person.” Obama’s rock hard decision? “I think we still have to think about how do we deal with that kind of scenario.” In the War on Terror, he’s still voting “present.” ....

.... A Kinder, Gentler John Kerry

In the NYT interview, Obama even voiced concerns about the hypothetical al-Qaeda operative’s “habeas corpus” rights – although officials later rushed to clarify he intended to extend these only to Guantanamo Bay detainees. Americans voted last November for a candidate who would track down al-Qaeda operatives into the farthest reaches of “Pawk-ee-stawn” and bomb their bases with or without Islamabad’s permission. They got a warmed over version of John Kerry, who viewed the war as “primarily a law enforcement and intelligence operation.” By contrast, Obama eschews law enforcement and coercion. He has faith his boundless personal warmth and innate goodness can charm and pacify the heads of terrorist states. If he could find any.

Why are Americans mad? It's big government, stupid

(Matt Welch) It's been a hilarious August, watching media supporters of Obama's health care package puzzle over the obscure motivations of the noncompliant Americans rallying against it ...

Obama's approval collapsing

(Rassmussen Reports) The daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows that 27% of the nation's voters strongly approve of how Barack Obama is performing as president. Forty-one percent (41%) strongly disapprove ...

Millions face shrinking Social Security payments

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of older people face shrinking Social Security checks next year, the first time in a generation that payments would not rise. The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won't be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn't happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly. ....

.... "I think a lot of seniors do not know what's coming down the pike, and I believe that when they hear that, they're going to be upset," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is working on a proposal for one-time payments for Social Security recipients.

"It is my view that seniors are going to need help this year, and it would not be acceptable for Congress to simply turn its back," he said.

Obama adviser: Let's engage terrorists Approach suggests split between White House, State Department

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN

The self-proclaimed principal adviser to President Obama on counter-terrorism is proposing engagement with Hezbollah, which the U.S. officially regards as a terrorist organization, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

John O. Brennan, a former Central Intelligence Agency station chief in the Middle East and State Department official, said that such engagement, in effect, will be part of strengthening U.S. national security and "safeguarding the American people from violent extremism and terrorist attacks."

While at State, Brennan also was a political officer in Saudi Arabia.

In a virtually unpublicized address Aug. 6 to the Washington, D.C., think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, Brennan relegated most of his prepared remarks to the Obama administration's efforts to confront terrorism, especially that of al-Qaida.

"Some like to claim that the president's policies somehow represent a wholesale dismantling of counter-terrorism policies and practices adopted by his predecessor," Brennan said. "Others claim that the president's policies constitute a wholesale retention of his predecessor's policies. … Both are wrong … (the president's) views are nuanced. …He understands the complexities and many dimensions of the challenges presented by violent extremism." ....

.... In addition to being comprised of many professionals, Hezbollah also is the single largest minority bloc in the Lebanese parliament, holding some 57 of 128 seats. In addition, it is allied with the Amal, headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and the Christian leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, former Gen. Michael Aoun.

Brennan pointed out the U.S. already has relayed its willingness to engage with Hezbollah and other terrorist or insurgent groups which seek to change. He pointed out that in Lebanon and among Palestinians the Obama administration has demonstrated it is prepared to engage organizations and groups and have a dialogue with them if they dedicate themselves to peaceful solutions to existing problems. ....

Obama participated in socialist party Activist recalls president's time with radical Chicago political group

By Aaron Klein

President Obama participated in a controversial 1990s political party with a socialist agenda, recalls a major member of the organization known as the New Party. .... socialist-oriented goals of the New Party were enumerated on its old website.

Among the New Party's stated objectives were "full employment, a shorter work week, and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults; a universal 'social wage' to include such basic benefits as health care, child care, vacation time and lifelong access to education and training; a systematic phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure gender equity."

The New Party stated it also sought "the democratization of our banking and financial system – including popular election of those charged with public stewardship of our banking system, worker-owner control over their pension assets [and] community-controlled alternative financial institutions."

Many of the New Party's founding members were Democratic Socialists of America leaders and members of Committees of Correspondence, a breakaway of the Communist Party USA. ....

Fed-Up U.S. Marine helped lead the initial charge into Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein Runs for Office

.... Regarding his "tough guy" theme, Kelly said, "People are sick of politicians from all parties. They're lying to them. People want someone to fight for them in Washington and that's the message I want to convey." After being honorably discharged in 2004 and taken off inactive reserve last year, Kelly now works in the private sector as a project manager ....

U.S. military says force in Afghanistan isn't big enough

By Helene Cooper

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — Military commanders with the NATO mission in Afghanistan told President Barack Obama's chief envoy to the region this weekend that they did not have enough troops to do their job, pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operated across borders.

The commanders emphasized problems in southern Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents continue to bombard towns and villages with rockets despite a new influx of U.S. troops, and in eastern Afghanistan, where the father-and-son-led Haqqani network of militants has become the main source of attacks against U.S. soldiers and their Afghan allies.....

Afghanistan War 'Serious' and 'Deteriorating,' Mullen Says

from FoxNews

The situation in Afghanistan is "serious" and "deteriorating," the top U.S. military officer said Sunday, warning that the Taliban insurgency has gotten more sophisticated while the Afghan people increasingly fear for their safety.

Adm. Mike Mullen would not say whether the fight would require more than the 68,000 troops the administration has committed, but expressed concern about falling public support for the war which President Obama has called one of "necessity."

"This is the war we're in," Mullen said matter-of-factly, when asked about public perception of a conflict entering its ninth year.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the situation needs to be reversed in the next 12 to 18 months.

"I think it is serious and it is deteriorating," Mullen said. "And I've said that over the last couple of years, that the Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated." .....

Congressman Herger calls Obama plan 'threat to democracy'

By Paul Boerger

Republican Congressman Wally Herger held a health care town hall meeting Aug. 18 at Simpson University in Redding, where a partisan crowd of over 2,000 people loudly cheered Herger’s position that a public option was “unacceptable.” ....

Lawyers can question 9/11 suspect in writing

By DEVLIN BARRETT

WASHINGTON Lawyers for a Guantanamo Bay detainee will be allowed to question - in writing - accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a federal judge has ruled. The decision is a setback for government lawyers who had sought to limit the scope of detainee lawyers' challenges to the detention and prosecution of terror suspects.

In a written ruling, Judge Ricardo Urbina says lawyers for detainee Abdul Raheem Ghulam Rabbani can submit written questions about their client to Mohammed. Prosecutors say he worked for Mohammed, but Rabbani's lawyers contend he was just a menial servant, not a part of any terror network.

The ruling says prosecutors may review the answers before delivering them to Rabbani's lawyers to remove any national security information. ....

The necessary war: Americans must rally to battle terrorism in Afghanistan

A disheartening new poll says more than half of Americans think the war in Afghanistan isn't worth fighting. In increasing numbers, people are asking: Why are we even over there?

This week's election was a powerful reminder: To stop terrorists from planting their evil seed in that fertile ground ever again.

On Thursday, Afghans proved, as people repeatedly have proven throughout history, that hope can triumph over fear. They went to the polls in the face of violence and threats by the Taliban.

While fear did suppress the turnout, some northern districts reported 100% participation. In Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand Province, the center of the Taliban insurgency, hundreds cast ballots.

This is why we fight. Our terrorist enemies live in Afghanistan. But, as the week's election proved, so may our future allies. ....

Pentagon shift gives Red Cross names of detainees

By Eric Schmitt - The New York Times

Washington » In a reversal of Pentagon policy, the military for the first time is notifying the International Committee of the Red Cross of the identities of militants who were being held in secret at a camp in Iraq and another in Afghanistan run by U.S. Special Operations forces, according to three military officials.

The change begins to lift the veil from the U.S. government's most secretive remaining overseas prisons by allowing the Red Cross to track the custody of dozens of the most dangerous suspected terrorists and foreign fighters plucked off the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is a major advance for the organization in its long fight to gain more information about these detainees. The military had previously insisted that disclosing any details about detainees at the secretive camps could tip off other militants and jeopardize counterterrorism missions. ....

Outcry Over Vets' End-of-Life Guide

from FoxNews

The guide, called "Your Life, Your Choices," was suspended under the Bush administration but has been revived under the current Department of Veterans Affairs.

Specter calls for Senate hearings to scrutinize end-of-life care guide that one former Bush official calls a 'hurry-up-and-die' message to veterans. ....

Click here to read the End of Life Guide being discussed above

New York Times puts American lives at risk, again

(Michael Goldfarb) What possible value does this information have to readers of the New York Times that would justify the increased risk to the military personnel and contractors? ...

Khadafy to set up his tent in New Jersey suburb

(New York Post) A leafy New Jersey suburb will soon turn into a seething oasis of outrage when Libyan President Moammar Khadafy plops down a Bedouin tent in the middle of town next month while here for a UN General Assembly meeting. ....

White House plan emerges: Two-faced talk on purpose

(Washington Times) If it's Sunday, it's time for allies of President Obama to fan out on the talk shows. And if it's Monday, it may be time for the White House to walk back everything said on Sunday ...

Large Texas bank shut down by federal regulators

By MARCY GORDON

WASHINGTON (AP) - Guaranty Bank became the second-largest U.S. bank to fail this year after the Texas lender was shut down by regulators and most of its operations sold at a loss of billions of dollars for the U.S. government to a major Spanish bank.

The transaction approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. marked the first time a foreign bank has bought a failed U.S. bank.

The bank failure, the 10th largest in U.S. history, is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund an estimated $3 billion. ....

Video: Mexican Flag-Wearing La Raza Member Attacks Texas Town Hall Attendees

Guess who admits they are taking over America ....

Is Obama constitutionally eligible to serve?

WND's complete archive of news reports on the issue ....

White House Reveals Identity of Firm That Sent Unsolicited E-Mails on Health Reform

The White House revealed to FOX News that it hired a private communications firm to distribute mass e-mails, including unsolicited spam to help sell President Obama's health care plan. .... It is still unknown how much taxpayer money the White House provides to Govdelivery for its services.

New Video Highlights Need for your Activism!

By Jennifer Magyari

Hello NumbersUSA members! Some of you may have spoken with me if you’ve called our Arlington office. Communicating with members on a daily basis, I’ve heard so many of you express your frustration with your elected officials. Many of us can’t help but feel that our government has strayed from being an institution “of the People, by the People.” Our country was founded on the premise that Congressmen were supposed to represent their constituents, and it’s difficult not to become disillusioned when many of them vote in their own self interests.

Jim has shared many of the emails you have sent him with me, and it’s disheartening how many of you have told him that your Congressmen are not listening to you. It’s empowering, however, that our members continue to fight to have our voices heard! The new video, “Grassroots America”, explains the importance of taking a stand and forcing our Congressmen to listen to our opinions. Immigration experts explain how our elected officials make their decisions and how inimical their intentions are to our prosperity.

The grassroots movement is picking up speed and strength. What we value most at NumbersUSA is providing a simple way for our members in this grassroots movement to contact their Congressmen.

Socialism by Any Other Name

Col. Bob Pappas (USMC, Retired)

The debate is not about health care, it is about control and changing of the U.S. free market system to a socialist/communist government economic system. ....

WRAPUP 7-Gaddafi hugs Lockerbie bomber; Britain denies deal

By Salah Sarrar and Luke Baker TRIPOLI/LONDON

London and Washington have condemned the 'hero's welcome' given to Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on his return to Libya after being freed from a life sentence in a Scottish jail on compassionate grounds because he is dying of cancer.

'The idea that the British government ... would sit down and somehow barter over the freedom or the life of this Libyan prisoner and make it all part of some business deal ... it's not only wrong, it's completely implausible and actually quite offensive,' said British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson.

In Washington, FBI director Robert Mueller released an angry letter he sent to Scottish minister Kenny MacAskill, who ordered the release, calling it inexplicable and detrimental to justice.

'Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law. Your action gives comfort to terrorists around the world,' Mueller wrote in the letter posted on the FBI's website.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office issued a copy of a letter he wrote to Gaddafi on Aug. 20 expressly asking him to refrain from a 'high-profile' welcome for Megrahi.

Gaddafi met Megrahi on Friday, embracing him and getting a kiss on the hand in return. The beaming Libyan leader expressed gratitude to Brown and Queen Elizabeth.

'This step is in the interest of relations between the two countries...and of the personal friendship between me and them and will be positively reflected for sure in all areas of cooperation between the two countries,' he told Libyan TV.

His son Saif al-Islam went further, saying that whenever he had met British officials to discuss business, the issue of Megrahi's release was a condition of any deal being struck. ....

After years of wrangling and sanctions, Libya handed the former intelligence agent over for trial and he was sentenced by a special Scottish court sitting in the Netherlands in 2001. He was freed on Thursday because of terminal prostate cancer. ....

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.... Click here and here for additional information

Raw Videos:

• Libyan President Gadhafi Greets Pan Am Bomber
• Lockerbie Bomber Receives Hero's Welcome

Before he became FBI director, Mueller spent years as a Justice Department lawyer leading the investigation into the 1988 airplane bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans.

Mueller said Thursday's release was "as inexplicable as it is detrimental to the cause of justice. Indeed your action makes a mockery of the rule of law."

His letter was dated Friday, and was made public Saturday.

Releasing the convicted bomber "gives comfort to terrorists around the world who now believe that regardless of the quality of the investigation ... the terrorist will be freed by one man's exercise of 'compassion.'"

• Video: Victims' Families Furious Over Lockerbie Bomber's Release

Iraqi security forces collaborated with bombers: FM

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Saturday alleged there had been collaboration between Iraqi security forces and the insurgents whose massive truck bombings killed 95 people three days ago.

Zebari, whose ministry lost 32 workers in the blast at its headquarters, admitted the attacks were a serious security setback and that the government had failed to protect its citizens.

Wednesday's bombings at the ministeries of foreign affairs and finance culminated in the worst day of violence seen in the conflict-hit country in 18 months, with around 600 people also wounded.

"How could this truck pass unless there is collaboration?" Zebari told reporters in Baghdad.

"There was collaboration between security forces and the terrorist group to facilitate the passing of this truck through such a sensitive area."

Zebari said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered the arrest of 11 senior security officers on Thursday so they could be questioned on how a four-tonne truck had entered an area where even two-tonne vehicles were barred. ....

Jordan's Board of Fatwas: "Anything that contradicts the Sharia" in UN anti-discrimination convention is prohibited

from Jihad Watch

The advancement of human rights in Islamic countries is perennially blocked by Sharia. It's promoters argue that, sure, it allows for human rights, but all the "rights" one is allowed -- supposedly by divine fiat -- are spelled out in Sharia. Stories like this show the obvious limitations on Sharia's respect for human rights by modern standards, and should serve as a cautionary tale for the West. "Amman accused by Islamists of "destroying the family," from Ennehar Online, August 22:

Gitmo Detainees Shown CIA Officers' Photos

(Analyst's Note: The Washington Post broke the story that CIA people were "outed" to some of the Gitmo detainees! Now our "openness" is putting our heroic people and their families in peril. Do you think CIA recruiting might be affected? What will be the benefit to American security if we put our operatives in public jeopardy of life and limb? What is going on? This is just wrong. Why hurt those sworn to protect America in the worst of places and situations?)

from FoxNews:

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is investigating whether Guantanamo Bay detainees charged with roles in the Sept. 11 attacks were improperly given photos of CIA officers or contractors, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

The investigation, headed by the Justice Department's counterespionage chief, John Dion, is trying to determine if military lawyers defending the detainees divulged classified information or compromised covert CIA officers, according to the person, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

It is a violation of federal law to identify CIA covert personnel, and it is a violation of military commission rules to disclose classified information, even if only to the defendants.

The person who spoke to The Associated Press said the photos at issue were provided by the John Adams Project, a combined effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to assist in the defense of the detainees.

The investigation was first reported by The Washington Post on its Web site Thursday night. The ACLU told the Post the organization was confident no laws or regulations had been broken.

The lawyers defending terrorist suspects held at the Navy-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have sought to expose their clients' treatment at the hands of government interrogators, particularly those held in CIA "black sites" overseas, where harsh interrogation tactics were used. Critics of those tactics say they are torture.

Such treatment is likely to play a central role in expected trials for the detainees, either in federal criminal courts or at military commissions, and defense lawyers are expected to try to call CIA personnel and CIA contractors to testify.

Another lawsuit challenges D.C. gun limits

Analyst's Note: An interesting article by Bob Unruh of WorldNetDaily indicates that the Second Amendment Foundation people are filing another lawsuit against the District of Columbia government over gun laws. They are attempting to restore an old D.C. law allowing for permits to carry concealed weapons. Their issuance has effectively been stopped by the council rescinding the authority of the police chief to issue them. To read the article click here. Fundamental second amendment rights are being restored slowly in the capital but they do seem to be returning.

Obama to raise 10-year deficit to $9 trillion, increase is $2 trillion

(Analyst's Note: This Reuters article announces an increase in the estimated national budget deficit of another $2 Trillion. You will recall that Obama complained he inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit from former President George W. Bush. This announcement of the increased threat to the American economic security comes on a Friday evening when the President joins the Congress in the August recess.

America has a major debt crisis. This problem should be the number one concern of government. National well-being demands we protect the economy and jobs; they are primary over government expansion and growth in entitlements. Priorities, gentlemen, priorities. )

The following is an article excerpt. Read the whole article here.

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration will raise its 10-year budget deficit projection to approximately $9 trillion from $7.108 trillion in a report next week, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday.

The higher deficit figure, based on updated economic data, brings the White House budget office into line with outside estimates and gives further fuel to President Barack Obama's opponents, who say his spending plans are too expensive in light of budget shortfalls.

The White House took heat for sticking with its $7.108 trillion forecast earlier this year after the Congressional Budget Office forecast that deficits between 2010 and 2019 would total $9.1 trillion.

"The new forecasts are based on new data that reflect how severe the economic downturn was in the late fall of last year and the winter of this year," said the administration official, who is familiar with the budget mid-session review that is slated to be released next week.

"Our budget projections are now in line with the spring and summer projections that the Congressional Budget Office put out."

The White House budget office will also lower its deficit forecast for this fiscal year, which ends September 30, to $1.58 trillion from $1.84 trillion next week after removing $250 billion set aside for bank bailouts.

Record-breaking deficits have raised concerns about America's ability to finance its debt and whether the United States can maintain its top-tier AAA credit rating.

Politically, the deficit has been an albatross for Obama, a Democrat who is pushing forward with plans to overhaul the U.S. healthcare industry -- an initiative that could cost up to $1 trillion over 10 years -- and other promises, including reforming education and how the country handles energy.

The Pay Czar's Power Grab

By: Michelle Malkin
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, August 20, 2009

Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg's official government title is "Special Master for Compensation." You'll be happy to know that he's really getting into the confiscatory spirit of his role. Asked by Reuters whether his powers include reaching back and revoking bonuses awarded to financial industry executives before his office was created earlier this year, Feinberg asserted broad and binding authorities — including the ability to "claw back" money already paid out.

Regulations governing his office explicitly limit his jurisdiction over contracts signed before Feb. 11, 2009. But the fine print is no obstacle to Obama's czars. "The statute provides these guideposts, but the statute ultimately says I have discretion to decide what it is that these people should make and that my determination will be final," Feinberg claims. "Anything is possible under the law."

Yes, he said "anything." It's not just senior executive officers who fall under Feinberg's purview. "These people" also includes "the next 100 most highly paid employees" of all bank bailout recipients, who must file compensation proposals with their pay overlord by Friday.

But why stop there? The Troubled Asset Relief Program has morphed from a toxic asset buy-up to a capital injection plan and back to a toxic asset buy-up. The money has been doled out to auto supply companies and life insurance companies. Congress wants to siphon off more of it to bail out bankrupt California and create a "national housing trust fund" to bail out low-income renters. Grabby-handed politicians have used TARP as a crowbar to pry open new areas for command-and-control meddling under the guise of saving the economy.

How much longer until the pay czar is determining all corporate pay he wishes to deem "inappropriate, unsound or excessive"? House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has yapped all year long about extending pay curbs to all financial institutions and perhaps to all U.S. companies.

Let's remember that the Beltway hysteria over bonuses served as a convenient distraction from the responsibility of subprime meltdown-enabling lawmakers like Frank and Obama's crony economic team. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner landed his previous job as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York thanks to heavy lobbying by his Wall Street mentors Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, both of whom sat on the New York Fed's selection committee. Their cronyism had multibillion-dollar consequences for taxpayers.

Rubin was also an executive at New York-based Citigroup, which Geithner regulated. Or was supposed to regulate. Instead, he helped foster Citi's spending binge and engineered the teetering company's $52 billion federal bailout. This makes the Obama administration's recent protestations about one Citi employee's $100 million compensation package look like the very kind of manufactured outrage of which it incessantly accuses its political opponents.

Geithner also had a hand in the $30 billion Bear Stearns bailout and the multilevel AIG bailouts ($85 billion and $38 billion under President Bush and another $30 billion in March 2009 under Obama). Massive sums of that taxpayer money went to major financial institutions that had employed Obama's moneymen and their closest confidants. Goldman Sachs, for example, raked in nearly $13 billion in December 2009 from AIG in federal TARP funds — and reported record profits this quarter with a bonus pool of more than $11 billion.

The "solution" isn't to empower a pay czar to curb bonus payouts ex post facto. The solution is to stop dumping billions into failing companies in the first place.

As for private businesses (what's left of them, anyway), this is a teachable moment, to borrow one of the president's favorite phrases. Government strings are like sexually transmitted diseases: They attach forever. If a basket-case company is willing to take bailout money, it will pay an interminable price. The long arm of regulators can and will reach back and open sealed deals and signed contracts on a whim. The Obama campaign chant is the czars' chant, too: "Yes, we can!"

Drop in world temperatures fuels global warming debate

(Analyst's Note: This McClatchy article shows the debate over global warning is not yet completely quiet. Still, the administration's action is swift on this issue, regardless if it costs America astronomical amounts. How is it we can legislate the planet's climate but can not yet pay the car dealers for their "clunker rebates"; because we "never let a good disaster go to waste?"

Lets' fix the current failing government programs and our national economic crisis before we buy into fixing more new supposed "disasters".)

By Robert S. Boyd | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Has Earth's fever broken?

Official government measurements show that the world's temperature has cooled a bit since reaching its most recent peak in 1998.

That's given global warming skeptics new ammunition to attack the prevailing theory of climate change. The skeptics argue that the current stretch of slightly cooler temperatures means that costly measures to limit carbon dioxide emissions are ill-founded and unnecessary.

Proposals to combat global warming are "crazy" and will "destroy more than a million good American jobs and increase the average family's annual energy bill by at least $1,500 a year," the Heartland Institute, a conservative research organization based in Chicago, declared in full-page newspaper ads earlier this summer. "High levels of carbon dioxide actually benefit wildlife and human health," the ads asserted.

Many scientists agree, however, that hotter times are ahead. A decade of level or slightly lower temperatures is only a temporary dip to be expected as a result of natural, short-term variations in the enormously complex climate system, they say.

"The preponderance of evidence is that global warming will resume," Nicholas Bond, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said in an e-mail.

"Natural variability can account for the slowing of the global mean temperature rise we have seen," said Jeff Knight, a climate expert at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Exeter, England.

According to data from the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala., the global high temperature in 1998 was 0.76 degrees Celsius (1.37 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average for the previous 20 years.

So far this year, the high has been 0.42 degrees Celsius (0.76 degrees Fahrenheit), above the 20-year average, clearly cooler than before.

However, scientists say the skeptics' argument is misleading.

"It's entirely possible to have a period as long as a decade or two of cooling superimposed on the long-term warming trend," said David Easterling, chief of scientific services at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

"These short term fluctuations are statistically insignificant (and) entirely due to natural internal variability," Easterling said in an essay published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in April. "It's easy to 'cherry pick' a period to reinforce a point of view."

Climate experts say the 1998 record was partly caused by El Nino, a periodic warming of tropical Pacific Ocean waters that affects the climate worldwide.

"The temperature peak in 1998 to a large extent can be attributed to the very strong El Nino event of 1997-98," Bond said. "Temperatures for the globe as a whole tend to be higher during El Nino, and particularly events as intense as that one."

El Nino is returning this summer after a four-year absence and is expected to hang around until late next year.

"If El Nino continues to strengthen as projected, expect more (high temperature) records to fall," said Thomas Karl, who's the director of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville.

"At least half of the years after 2009 will be warmer than 1998, the warmest year currently on record," predicted Jeff Knight, a climate variability expert at the Hadley Centre in England.

John Christy, the director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, who often sides with the skeptics, agreed that the recent cooling won't last.

"The atmosphere is just now feeling the bump in tropical Pacific temperatures related to El Nino," Christy said in an e-mail. As a result, July experienced "the largest one-month jump in our 31-year record of global satellite temperatures. We should see a warmer 2009-2010 due to El Nino."

Christy added, however: "Our ignorance of the climate system is still enormous, and our policy makers need to know that . . . We really don't know much about what causes multi-year changes like this."

In addition to newspaper ads, the Heartland Institute sponsors conferences, books, papers, videos and Web sites arguing its case against the global warming threat.

The skeptics include scientists such as Richard Lindzen, a meteorologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who thinks that climate science is too uncertain to justify drastic measures to control CO2. He calls the case for action against global warming "silly" and "grotesque."

Others go further. For example, Don Easterbrook, a geologist at Western Washington University in Bellingham, thinks the world is in a 30-year cooling phase.

"The most recent global warming that began in 1977 is over, and the Earth has entered a new phase of global cooling," Easterbrook said in a talk to the American Geophysical Union's annual meeting in San Francisco in December.

Government scientists strongly disagree. "Claims that global warming is not occurring . . . ignore this natural variability and are misleading," said NOAA's Easterling.

In reality, global warming "never ceased," said Karl, the climate data center director.

Lockerbie bomber flies home to a hero's welcome

(Analyst's Note: Click Here to access an extensive article article from the UK about the recent release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the only person ever convicted in the Lockerbie bombing. Of the 270 people who died on that flight, 189 were Americans. The article includes photos and videos of the story. It raises many questions of the message that mercy represents to those who are shown celebrating the man on his return to Libia. Do we reduce the threat to our nation by showing mercy? Can mercy rob justice?)

Buffett: U.S. economy recovering but debt an 'ominous' threat

(Analyst's Note: Mr. Buffett has been a strong supporter of Obama from well before the election. He now expresses strong concern about US debt progression. Is this timed to aim at health care proposals or just at more spending in general? Eight months into his term Obama is frightening financial expert supporters with his spending to date? It would appear the US is near danger! )

From the Baltimore Business Journal:

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who has the ear of President Barack Obama, says the U.S. economy is improving, but the financial price of the stimulus and other big spending bills are looming as a new threat.

Buffett, chairman of Omaha, Neb.-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK), wrote a guest op-ed for the New York Times in Wednesday's issue titled "The Greenback Effect" and said that while mistakes were made in the attempts to end the recession and restart the lagging economy, a meltdown of our economy was avoided by a "gusher of federal money."

"The United States economy is now out of the emergency room and appears to be on a slow path to recovery. But enormous dosages of monetary medicine continue to be administered and, before long, we will need to deal with their side effects," Buffett wrote in the op-ed. "For now, most of those effects are invisible and could indeed remain latent for a long time. Still, their threat may be as ominous as that posed by the financial crisis itself."

He said that the country's "net debt" - that which is publicly held - is mushrooming and that it is growing at one percentage point per month. And while much of the driving force behind the economic recovery plans lies with the executive branch in the form of Obama, the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve, Buffett said the ultimate solution to the debt problem lies with Congress.

"Our immediate problem is to get our country back on its feet and flourishing — 'whatever it takes' still makes sense," Buffett wrote. "Once recovery is gained, however, Congress must end the rise in the debt-to-G.D.P. ratio and keep our growth in obligations in line with our growth in resources."

In July, Buffet told cable TV network CNBC that it's a good time to invest in stocks, even with the Dow having recovered to back over 9,000. He said in that interview that investors shouldn't wait until businesses turn around before investing in stocks again.

"If you wait until you see the robin, spring will already be over," he said then.

Weiss Global Forum - Expert Economic Insight

Analyst's Notes: A Must Read Article: You could not do better than follow Dr. Martin Weiss and friends as they watch investments and other economic trends. Recently, they fielded a "Weiss Global Forum" that has better insight and advice on our current economic times and trends than I have ever seen, bar none.

Here are some notes I took:

* Investment capital is moving from the West to the East. China is the major center of economic activity in the East. Over recent years, despite the economic crisis in the West, China has continued strong growth with little in the way of hesitation. That government has cleared its debts and become a storehouse of capital from commercial activity with the west.

* Some of the former "Third World" nations have overcome their debts, inflation, and economic troubles and become stable. Their national management of debt and relaxation of oppressive regulation of commerce have yielded huge profits for investors that are not available in America or Europe. Nations like Brazil, China, and Indonesia are strong candidates for investment by private individuals and public organizations.

* China has moved ever more aggressively toward national investments in foreign natural resources (Oil, iron, gold, etc.) to support their ever growing manufacturing activities. China has begun to invest in its own rural development and opened access to its huge rural population to projects, products, and growth. Demand is great and needs are great. The economic growth potential is huge. The Chinese government is making the business environment very favorable for growth and investment. China has become the world's largest car manufacturer.

* European economic troubles and EU advancing business regulations mirror American problems except they may be worse. Weiss people recommend avoiding investment in Europe, including Eastern Europe (who have "swallowed the Koolaid" along with all other European countries.)

* National demographics (Percentages of citizens by age group, birth rates, etc. affecting economic performance both in production and in purchases.) strongly favor business in China, other eastern nations, Brazil, and several former "3rd World" nations. They are exactly opposite those of the US and Europe.

Readers who want to know the economic outlook for the next few years and who want to avoid blackhole investment would do well to watch the video of this Forum broadcast. It speaks volumes to those of us who have great concern about US national security and current economic decisions/stimulus and our national debt issues. The consequences of these observations and predictions should be drivers to analysts seeking a strong national economy.

The Forum video is available for a few days only... if you click here. Please do!

Counterterrorism in Obama's Washington

Barack Obama's assistant for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, John O. Brennan, conveniently outlined the administration's present and future policy mistakes in a speech on August 6, "A New Approach for Safeguarding Americans."

To start with, his address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, has an unusual tenor. "Sycophantic" is the word that springs to mind, as Brennan ninety times in five thousand words invokes either "President Obama," "he," "his," or "the president." Disturbingly, Brennan ascribes virtually every thought or policy in his speech to the wisdom of the One. This cringe-inducing lecture reminds one of a North Korean functionary paying homage to the Dear Leader.

Specifics are no better. Most fundamentally, Brennan calls for appeasing terrorists: "Even as we condemn and oppose the illegitimate tactics used by terrorists, we need to acknowledge and address the legitimate needs and grievances of ordinary people those terrorists claim to represent." Which legitimate needs and grievances, one wonders, does he think Al-Qaeda represents?

Brennan carefully delineates a two-fold threat, one being "Al-Qaida and its allies" and the other "violent extremism." But the former, self-evidently, is a subset of the latter. This elementary mistake undermines his entire analysis.

He also rejects any connection between "violent extremism" and Islam: "Using the legitimate term jihad, which means to purify oneself or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal, risks giving these murderers the religious legitimacy they desperately seek but in no way deserve. Worse, it risks reinforcing the idea that the United States is somehow at war with Islam itself."

This passage regurgitates a theory of radical Islam that, according to Lt. Colonel Joseph C. Myers of the U.S. Air Command and Staff College, "is part of a strategic disinformation and denial and deception campaign" developed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Discredited in 2007 by Robert Spencer, the theory distinguishes between good jihad and bad jihad and denies any connection between Islam and terrorism.

It's a deeply deceptive interpretation intended to confuse non-Muslims and win time for Islamists. The George W. Bush administration, for all its mistakes, did not succumb to this ruse. But Brennan informs us that his boss now bases U.S. policy on it.

The speech contains disquieting signs of ineptitude. We learn that Obama considers nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists to be "the most immediate and extreme threat to global security." Fine. But how does he respond? With three feeble and nearly irrelevant steps: "leading the effort for a stronger global nonproliferation regime, launching an international effort to secure the world's vulnerable nuclear material …, and hosting a global nuclear summit."

Nor can Brennan think straight. One example, requiring a lengthy quote.

"Poverty does not cause violence and terrorism. Lack of education does not cause terrorism. But just as there is no excuse for the wanton slaughter of innocents, there is no denying that when children have no hope for an education, when young people have no hope for a job and feel disconnected from the modern world, when governments fail to provide for the basic needs of their people, then people become more susceptible to ideologies of violence and death."

Summary: Poverty and a lack of education do not cause terrorism, but a lack of education and a job make people more susceptible to the ideas leading to terrorism. What is the distinction? Woe on us when the White House accepts illogic as analysis.

Further, let's focus on the statement, "when governments fail to provide for the basic needs of their people, then people become more susceptible to ideologies of violence and death," for it contains two stunning errors. First, it assumes the socialist fiction that governments provide basic needs. No. Other than in a few commodity-rich states, governments protect and offer legal structures, while the market provides.

Second, every study on the subject finds no connection between personal stress (poverty, lack of education, unemployment) and attraction to radical Islam. If anything, massive transfers of wealth to the Middle East since 1970 contributed to the rise of radical Islam. The administration is basing its policy on a falsehood.

Where, as they say, is the adult supervision? Implementation of the inept policies outlined by Brennan spells danger for Americans, American interests, and American allies. The bitter consequences of these mistakes soon enough will become apparent.

Iran still won't agree to talks with Obama & Israel's Concerns

(Analyst's Notes: Jerome Corsi of WorldNetNews updates us on Iran's resistance to Obama's pleas to talk. Israel prepares for the worst: "flying death camps". Time is getting shorter and the risks to Israel are real and near. Must read, click the link.)

NEW YORK – Iran's state television reported Tehran was ready to engage in direct talks, only to retract the statement within hours in a move that appears to diminish the probability of any action before the White House's September deadline.

If Iran does not accept by next month the Obama administration offer to engage in direct talks, the White House has threatened to seek increased U.N. economic sanctions.