Bin Laden's plan for 'global fireball'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obscure Tax Breaks Increase Cost of Financial Rescue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Taliban beheads bus passengers

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

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

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

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

The defence ministry denied they were troops.

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

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

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

"We are still trying to find them."

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

Bailout means we'll all suffer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obama Born In Kenya? His Grandmother Says Yes.

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

by 13 Tishrei 5769

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watch this interesting and important video clip.

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

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

and here it says:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

from Jihad Watch

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Traditionalist."

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

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

Study: Airport Security Badges Need Improved Tracking

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

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

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

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

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

A veiled threat from a "moderate Muslim"

by Robert Spencer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Liberal Supermajority

From the Wall Street Journal

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

AP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Plague Vaccine

by: Gwyn Bevel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Link between child porn and Muslim terrorists discovered in police raids

Richard Kerbaj and Dominic Kennedy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Invisible ink for the internet age

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

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

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

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

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

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

OBAMA FIRES A 'ROBIN HOOD' WARNING SHOT

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

MORE: Mac's Tax Ax A Saving Grace

MORE: O Poster Expelled At City HS

MORE: McCainiac Names Tot After GOP Ticket

MORE: Barack Backs Away From ACORN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Critics said Obama let the cat out of the bag.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No explosives were discovered on the passenger.

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

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

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

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

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

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

from Winds of Jihad

Al-Qaeda Number Two Dead! Rest in pieces!

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

* Taliban mock West for calling Afghanistan unwinnable

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

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

Innovation of the Week: Providing power when unthinkable disaster strikes

by David Schwartz

Researchers at Frostburg (MD) State University are working with Instant Access Networks, LLC, to perfect a system that would use renewable energy to power electromagnetic pulse-protected microgrids. The microgrids are designed to provide electricity for critical infrastructure facilities in case of a disaster, such as nuclear explosion or massive solar storm, that wipes out conventional electrical systems. IAN has developed a patent-pending shielding technology that encloses a room or similar structure and protects it from electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events. The shielding, using electrically isolated layers of steel and aluminum, is up to 70% lighter than materials traditionally used by the military and other sources for EMP protection, enabling EMP-safe rooms to be portable, the company says. These shielded rooms can protect fiber optic network nodes and data or communication centers and house generators. When several are connected, they can create microgrids that could provide power to entire communities. “The idea is to create islands of power to reduce the cascading effects of a wide-scale failure,” says IAN president Charles Manto. Though it may be unthinkable, he points out, such an event is far from impossible. “A rogue state or terrorist organization could easily acquire nuclear material for a smaller weapon for $20 million,” Manto says. “That weapon could be fitted onto a Scud missile for as little as $100,000, fired and detonated 80 miles into the air and affect the entire U.S. east coast, causing up to $10 trillion in damage before you spend a nickel to fix anything.” A natural disaster in the form of a devastating solar storm is not unprecedented, he added. An event like the 1859 solar storm that shorted out telegraph wires in the U.S. and Europe could wreak havoc on today’s electrical systems.

The challenge FSU researchers will be tackling is finding a long-term energy source for microgrids, since it could take years to rebuild power infrastructure after a strong EMP event. A research team at the school will evaluating wind and solar solutions, calculate the energy consumption profile of mission-critical facilities and infrastructures, and develop an optimal design for the sustainable energy supply units and microgrid. “Long-term, renewable energy is critical for powering back-up electrical systems,” says Manto. “What’s more, in EMP scenarios the cost model for renewable energy changes because you have to eliminate the cheap, non-renewable fuels and the availability of the present electric grid. Renewable energy, even at a higher price, becomes cost-justified.” FSU is acquiring a residential-scale wind turbine for the project, which will be used to develop models for powering the microgrid. University researchers and IAN staff will also create designs to protect a wind turbine from an EMP attack. In addition, the university and IAN are planning to build the nation’s first EMP-protected business continuity park. The park will give urban area businesses and government agencies a remote place to backup their data and an alternative place to work in the wake of a disaster, in keeping with a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP) all federal agencies are required to have. Go to: MarketWatch

Obama – ‘Spread the Wealth Around’ Reveals Socialist Plan for America

At a recent campaign appearance in Ohio, Sen. Obama was approached by plumber Joe Wurzelbacher, who has concerns about Obama’s proposed tax policies. FamilySecurityMatters.org’s Pam Meister had a candid conversation with him about his experience. ....

About 200,000 Ohio voters have records discrepancies

By TERRY KINNEY

CINCINNATI (AP) - Close to one in every three newly registered Ohio voters will end up on court-ordered lists being sent to county election boards because they have some discrepancy in their records, an elections spokesman said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner estimated that an initial review found that about 200,000 newly registered voters reported information that did not match motor-vehicle or Social Security records, Brunner spokesman Kevin Kidder said. Some discrepancies could be as simple as a misspelling, while others could be more significant.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the Ohio Republican Party on Tuesday and ordered Brunner to set up a system that provides those names to county elections boards. The GOP contends the information will help prevent fraud.

"Things already are in motion to comply," Kidder said. "We're working to establish these processes on how we can make this work. The computer work actually began last week."

About 666,000 Ohioans have registered to vote since January.

Brunner previously cross-checked new-voter registrations with databases run by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle and the Social Security Administration and made the results available online, but the 6th Circuit said the information was not accessible in a way that would help county election boards ferret out mismatches.

Brunner, a Democrat, told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on Wednesday that she is concerned the court decision is a veiled attempt at disenfranchising voters. Brunner said she'll urge counties not to force these people to use provisional ballots.

The court gave Brunner until Friday to get election boards the information but it was unclear whether that deadline would be met. The court set no penalty for missing the deadline.

County election officials were trying to determine Wednesday how they will respond once they get the information.

"I'm very concerned with these new requirements as we get closer to Election Day," said Steve Harsman, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections in Dayton. He said his staff already is working 16 hours a day, seven days a week.

"It's clearly going to have an impact in regard to resources we have to expend to resolve discrepancies," said Jeff Hastings, chairman of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland.

"We've had about 100,000 (registrations) since January and of those about 34,000 since the primary. We will do whatever is required of us."

Also Wednesday, the Ohio Republican Party said it has filed public records requests with all 88 counties for copies of forms submitted by newly registered voters, especially those who registered and cast an absentee ballot on the same day during a one-week window earlier this month.

Brunner has said that 13,141 Ohioans registered and voted immediately during the window.

"We've seen reports of fraudulent registrations, and we want to see those forms first-hand," said Jason Mauk, the state GOP's executive director.

British government minister warns of terror threat

The threat of another major terrorist attack is building in Britain, a government security minister said Tuesday, a day after the House of Lords rejected a measure that would have extended the amount of time police can hold terror suspects without charge. ....

U.S. Drops “Dirty Bomb” Claim in Terror Case

The United States has dropped “dirty bomb” and poison gas accusations against an alleged co-conspirator of Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen who is serving a 17-year prison sentence for supporting terrorism, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, June 4).

British resident Binyam Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and, after spending more than two years in unknown locations, was placed at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004. U.S. Justice Department officials originally alleged that he and Padilla planned to detonate a radiological weapon in the United States or release cyanide gas in nightclubs. Those charges were eventually dropped from the case against Padilla, and the department recently removed them Mohammed as well (see GSN, Jan. 22).

“There are no serious, hard charges against Mohammed," said his attorney, Air Force Lt. Col. Yvonne Bradley. “The whole thing the government was hanging its hat on, pursuing Mr. Mohammed, was the dirty bomb.”

Mohammed attorneys told the Post that they believe the charges were dropped so the Justice Department would not be forced to reveal classified documents showing that Mohammed had been tortured.

A U.S. judge had ordered the department to provide exculpatory material to Mohammed’s lawyers by Oct. 6. Serious charges were dropped that day.

“It's no coincidence that this happened when the judge ordered discovery,” said Clive Stafford Smith, another Mohammed attorney. “It's clear they think that by dropping the allegations they can avoid having to turn over the documents.”

Mohammed now faces a remaining charge of receiving al-Qaeda training in Afghanistan, and British officials have asked that he be released to their custody, Bradley said (Peter Finn, Washington Post, Oct. 15).

U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Continues

The U.S. Army has made continuing progress in disposing of chemical weapons stored around the country, according to updates issued in September and October (see GSN, Sept. 10).

The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama as of yesterday had destroyed nearly 19,000 land mines filled with VX nerve agent, along with nearly 25,000 gallons of the chemical warfare material once contained in the weapons.

The plant has eliminated more than half of the weapons stored at the Anniston Chemical Depot. Hundreds of thousands of mustard blister agent weapons remain to be destroyed (see GSN, Sept. 29; Anniston Chemical Activity release, Oct. 14)...

U.N. Nuclear Agency Resumes Operations in North Korea

The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday resumed monitoring operations at North Korean nuclear facilities, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 14).

Pyongyang last week barred the U.N. nuclear inspectors from all facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. The move came during the latest deadlock in the North Korean denuclearization process and was reversed after the Bush administration removed the regime from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Agency seals are being reapplied to equipment at the plutonium processing facility at Yongbyon and surveillance cameras are being reactivated, according to one diplomat in Vienna.

Inspectors have also been allowed back into North Korea’s plutonium-producing nuclear reactor and the nuclear fuel fabrication plant at Yongbyon...

AUDIO INTERVIEW: Building Resiliency

What impact will the current economic turmoil have on homeland security? In his weekly chat with Federal News Radio, HSToday Editor David Silverberg discusses how homeland security may focus on civil projects to build resiliency into the nation's infrastructure.


Click here to listen to the interview

Schumer of Arabia

by Wall Street Journal

Here's a question for New York Senator Charles Schumer: Why can Arab allies of the United States be trusted to manufacture microprocessors here but not be trusted to manage the commercial activities of US ports? Two years ago the hyperactive Democrat led efforts to block a United Arab Emirates company -- Dubai Ports World -- from operating six US ports. So imagine our surprise to find the Senator at a press conference last week outside of Albany, where he was taking credit for a deal between computer chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund to build a plant in upstate New York. "Bringing AMD to New York is something we worked on long and hard, and I'm glad to see it bear fruit," said Mr. Schumer, who was flanked by former AMD Chairman Hector Ruiz. "I've worked closely with Dr. Ruiz over the last few years to make sure AMD has everything they need to bring this plant to the capital region." Standing nearby was Hillary Clinton, the junior Senator from New York who also opposed the Dubai deal. In 2006, Mr. Schumer said that letting a state-run company from a friendly Arab nation manage port operations was "a homeland security accident waiting to happen." Port security is the responsibility of the Coast Guard and US Customs officials, not port management companies. And the Dubai deal had already been cleared by the Departments of Treasury, Defense and Homeland Security. But thanks to Mr. Schumer's politically motivated alarmism, the deal fell through and Dubai Ports was forced to divest itself of US holdings. Now comes another foreign investment venture from the same Arab nation. Under the plan announced last week, Abu Dhabi's investment fund will own a majority stake in a new corporate entity being spun off from AMD. New York lured the company by offering $1.2 billion in grants and tax breaks to locate in the state. Mr. Schumer's reaction is to not only endorse the deal but also take more credit than he deserves for making it happen. Plans for the plant were first announced in 2006 by AMD and former Governor George Pataki but were stalled due to AMD's recent financial troubles. We're happy to see Mr. Schumer's change of heart about foreign direct investment in the U.S. Economically depressed upstate New York can certainly use the 1,500 jobs that the new facility is expected to create. But the Senator's about-face also exposes the faux outrage of his earlier claim that such investments threaten national security. Mr. Schumer's opposition to Dubai Ports World had everything to do with politics in an election year. Democrats wanted to play to their protectionist base while also appearing to take a tougher stance on homeland security than the Bush Administration. Republicans like New York Representative Peter King, who was looking to distance himself from an unpopular President, were all to willing to go along for the ride. Properly vetted foreign investment in the U.S. should be welcome, not rejected for political reasons. This investment often leads to domestic jobs and economic growth. And in the case of UAE, it's coming from one of America's strongest Middle East allies in the war on terror. Mr. Schumer might keep this in mind going forward, even for deals that don't directly benefit his home state.

CIA Tactics Endorsed in Secret Memos

By Joby Warrick

The Bush administration issued a pair of secret memos to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 that explicitly endorsed the agency's use of interrogation techniques such as waterboarding against al-Qaeda suspects -- documents prompted by worries among intelligence officials about a possible backlash if details of the program became public.

The classified memos, which have not been previously disclosed, were requested by then-CIA Director George J. Tenet more than a year after the start of the secret interrogations, according to four administration and intelligence officials familiar with the documents. Although Justice Department lawyers, beginning in 2002, had signed off on the agency's interrogation methods, senior CIA officials were troubled that White House policymakers had never endorsed the program in writing.

The memos were the first -- and, for years, the only -- tangible expressions of the administration's consent for the CIA's use of harsh measures to extract information from captured al-Qaeda leaders, the sources said. As early as the spring of 2002, several White House officials, including then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Cheney, were given individual briefings by Tenet and his deputies, the officials said. Rice, in a statement to congressional investigators last month, confirmed the briefings and acknowledged that the CIA director had pressed the White House for "policy approval." ....

Obama raised $1 million for foreign thug's election

Democrat joined Libya's Gadhafi among top contributors to Odinga

By Jerome R. Corsi

Raila Odinga

NEW YORK – Sen. Barack Obama, with a donation of nearly $1 million, and a son of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi were among the biggest contributors to the presidential campaign of controversial Kenyan leader Raila Odinga, according to an internal document obtained by WND.

The memo was prepared by the head of Odinga's campaign finance accounting section, Shakeel Shabbir, as an official report delivered to the national treasurer for Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement party, or ODM.

Among the 72 individuals and organizations that contributed money to Odinga's 2007 presidential run in Kenya, Shabbir lists "Friends of Senator B.O." as having donated 66,000,000 Kenyan schillings, about $950,000.

Saif el-Islam Gadhafi, the Libyan strongman's second oldest son, reportedly donated 53,450,000 Kenyan schillings, about $765,000.

According to several highly credible ex-ODM sources WND interviewed in Kenya, the $950,000 raised for Odinga's campaign came from a series of private meetings arranged for Odinga by Mark Lippert, a foreign policy adviser in Obama's U.S. Senate office. The meetings with top-dollar Obama fundraisers and donors took place during Odinga's 2006 trip to the U.S. ....

Obama’s terrorist co-chairman

J. Michael Sharman

Beginning in 1995, Barack Obama and Bill Ayers served together on the board of the Annenberg Challenge Project. Before it closed in 2003, CNN reports, it had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to social change projects promoted by Ayers. 1
Ayers was the person responsible for getting the Annenberg grant for Chicago. 2 He was one of the three founders of the Project. 3 The Project’s minutes note that Ayers and Obama wrote its bylaws together. 4 Ayers was the co-chair of the Project’s “Collaborative”, which shaped its educational policy. 5
In 1995, a few months after Obama became chairman of the Annenberg Challenge, his political career began when state Sen. Alice Palmer introduced Obama to a dozen-or-so folks gathered in the Hyde Park living room of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn as the person to take her place in the Illinois State Senate. 6
In 1997, Obama wrote a glowing review in the Chicago Tribune for one of Ayers’ books. 7 CNN also reported that he was listed with Ayers as a panelist at a forum organized by his wife, Michelle Obama. 8
From 1999 to 2001 9 , Ayers and Obama also served together on the board of the Woods Foundation of Chicago, and grants were made from it to Obama’s church, Trinity United Church of Christ, and to the Children and Family Justice Center, which is run by Ayers’ wife, Bernadine Dohrn. 10
So why, during an April 2008 debate with Hillary Clinton, did Obama claim that he knew Ayers simply “as a guy who lives in my neighborhood?” 11 William “Bill” Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn first met in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1967. Until recently, though, she was the more famous of the two, mainly because of her incendiary speeches: In 1969, when Charlie Manson went on his killing spree, Dohrn told an SDS rally, “Dig it! Manson killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach.” 12
It was she who made the public announcement on May 21, 1970: “Hello. This is Bernardine Dohrn. I’m going to read a declaration of a state of war. This is the first communication from the Weatherman Underground. … Within the next 14 days, we will attack a symbol or institution of Amerikan injustice.” 13
In 1970, Ayers’ then-girlfriend, Diana Oughton, and two other people were killed in a bombmaking accident in Greenwich Village. Ayers went underground. By that time, Bernadine Dorhn was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List” 14, and the Weather Underground 15 was listed as a “Domestic Terrorist Organization” by the FBI. 16
Ayers and Dohrn have three children: In 1977 they had Zayd Atheola, named after a Black Panther killed in a shootout with police four years earlier; In 1980 they had Malik Cochise, named after Malcolm X and the Apache war chief; and Chesa, Kathy Boudin’s son, has been raised by Dohrn and Ayers since his mother was jailed for a Brinks robbery when he was 14 months old. 17
In an August 22, 1996 PBS interview with Dorhn and Ayers, they were asked by interviewer Elizabeth Brackett, “As you look back now, the bombings, what the Weathermen did claim credit for, would you do it differently now?” Ayers said, “I doubt it…[W]hat we did was certainly serious and had consequences for us personally, but I don’t think it was, it was anything that was uncalled for. I mean, I think it was called for.”
Dorhn answered, “The movement was never not into violence.” 18
On September 11, 2001, in an incredible ironic coincidence of timing, under the headline, “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives”, The New York Times published an interview with Bill Ayers that had this now-famous opening line: “‘I don’t regret setting bombs,’’ Bill Ayers said. ‘I feel we didn’t do enough.’” 19
The NYT interviewer reminded Ayers that in 1970 he had summed up the Weatherman creed by saying, “Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at.” He told her, “It was a joke about the distribution of wealth.”
The reason for the NYT interview was to launch Ayers’ new book, “Fugitive Days”, in which he admitted participating in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972.
“Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,” he wrote.
In his book, Ayers also claimed responsibility for breaking Timothy Leary out of jail. Writer Richard Stern, reports of another prison break Ayers was involved in: during dinner with Dohrn and Ayers, Ayers was describing to Stern how “they’d gotten Eldridge Cleaver from a California prison to a Morocco haven” before Dohrn stopped him from saying more. 20
After Malik’s birth in 1980, they decided to come out of hiding. Their Federal charges had been dropped years earlier due to prosecutorial misconduct, and Dorhn pleaded guilty to reduced state charges and got a fine and three years probation. A few months later, when she was asked to testify about Kathy Boudin’s Brinks robbery, she claimed she knew nothing about it. The feds then asked for a writing sample, Dorhn refused, and she was given 7 months for refusing to testify. “I felt grand juries were illegal and coercive,” said Dorhn, a law school graduate. 21
It was during a jail furlough that Dorhn and Ayers married. 22
The August 2001 issue of Chicago Magazine had an article about Ayers titled “No Regrets” accompanied by a posed photo of Ayers in an urban alleyway, nonchalantly standing on a crumbled American flag.
In that month before 9/11, the article recites his past of domestic terrorism and reports: “This—violence, death, and white-hot rhetoric—is his past and Ayers insists he has no regrets. ‘I acted appropriately in the context of those times,’ he says.” 23
Three days after 9/11, David Horowitz wrote of an interview he did with Ayers ten years before: “Ayers reviewed his activities as a terrorist for my tape recorder. When he was done, he broke into a broad, Jack Horner grin and summed up his experience: ‘Guilty as hell. Free as a bird. America is a great country.’” 24
In 2003, the film “The Weather Underground”, with interviews of Dorhn, Ayers, and two other Weather Underground members, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary.
In a January 2004 interview of Dorn and Ayers posted on the film’s website, they were asked, “Would you do it again under similar circumstances?”
Ayers answered, “Being almost 60, it’s impossible to not have lots and lots of regrets about lots and lots of things, but the question of did we do something that was horrendous, awful?… I don’t think so.”
Dorhn’s answer was, “At the end of the day, I feel like we were lucky to be in that history. We were lucky to be in that history. We were lucky to be in that moment where there was hope and a sense of libratory possibility.” 25
In 2006, Bill Ayers took his fourth trip to Venezuela to speak to educational “reformers” who are part of Hugo Chavez’ Bolivarian Revolution. On Ayers’ website is the content of his speech. He said, “We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution…” He encouraged them to “continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane… Capitalism promotes racism and militarism – turning people into consumers, not citizens.”
In Spanish, Ayers told his fellow reformers, “La educacion es revolucion! Viva Presidente Chavez! Viva La Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta La Victoria Siempre!” 26
Chairman Obama. Co-Chairman Ayers. They are more than simply two guys who live in the same neighborhood.
J. Michael Sharman is an independent columnist who practices law in Culpeper. His column appears Tuesdays in the Star-Exponent.
1 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/ 2 http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/ 3 Kurtz, Stanley “Founding Brothers: What’s behind Obama’s early rise?” Sep 24, 2008 http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTM4ZmU1NGFkODJlMjhmYjkxMjg4Y2Q0NTVlYjAzMmY= 4 Chicago Annenberg Challenge Board Of Directors Minutes, 3/15/95 5 Kurtz, Stanley “Obama and Ayers Pushed Radicalism On Schools” Wall Street Journal, Sep 23, 2008 6 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/ 7 Chicago Tribune, 12/21/97 8 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/ 9 http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/ 10 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/ 11 http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/07/obama.ayers/ 12 Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 13 http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/pacificaviet/scheertranscript.html 14 Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 15 “The FBI’s analysis of its motivations, beliefs, and international travels are outlined in this summary.” http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/weather.htm 16 http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/05/fact-check-is-obama-palling-around-with-terrorists/ 17 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/radicals_8-22.html, TALES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, AUGUST 22, 1996, TRANSCRIPT; and Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 18 http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/weather/radicals_8-22.html, TALES FROM THE UNDERGROUND, AUGUST 22, 1996, TRANSCRIPT 19 Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 20 http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/the_william_ayers_he_knows.php 21 Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 22 Smith, Dinitia “No Regrets for a Love Of Explosives; In a Memoir of Sorts, a War Protester Talks of Life With the Weathermen”, The New York Times, September 11, 2001 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE 1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all 23 Coburn, Marcia “No Regrets” Chicago Magazine, August 2001 http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2001/No-Regrets/ 24 Horowitz, David “Allies in War”, FrontPageMagazine.com , September 14, 2001 http://www.islet.org/horowitz/20010914.htm 25 “The Weather Underground: Exclusive Interview : Bernadine Dorhn and Bill Ayers” , January 2004 http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/weatherunderground/interview.html 26 http://billayers.wordpress.com/2006/11/07/world-education-forum/