California to Investigate Mormon Aid to Gay Marriage Ban

AP -- SAN FRANCISCO — California officials will investigate whether the Mormon church accurately described its role in a campaign to ban gay marriage in the state.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday a complaint by a gay rights group merits further inquiry.

Executive director Roman Porter says the decision does not mean any wrongdoing has been determined.

Fred Karger, founder of Californians Against Hate, accuses the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of failing to report the value of work it did to support Proposition 8, which amended

California's constitution to define marriage exclusively as a union between a man and woman.

A representative from the Salt Lake City-based church could not be reached for comment.

Click to view photos from a Prop 8 protest.

The Great Birth Certificate Scandal-Cover-Up of the 2008 Election

(Compiler's note: A must read article. I certainly don't know the answer to this scandal, but this author is pointing out a number of related facts and asking the right questions.)

by Joan Swirsky

This week, newscasters reported that al Qaeda's #2 terrorist disparaged the election of Barack Obama, and hurled racial slurs at Obama himself. "The report has not been confirmed by the State Department," they all said, but they reported it anyway.

Last week, Fox News reporter Carl Cameron told viewers that three "anonymous" insiders of Sen. McCain's campaign said that Sarah Palin was, in essence, a diva and a dunce. He - and dozens of others who picked up the story on other channels - never identified, or even verified, the sources of the quotes, but they reported them anyway.

Contrast these shabby examples of "journalism" with the legions of identifiable, verifiable and credible sources who for months have been investigating the disturbing allegation that Barack Obama is ineligible for the presidency because he has failed to meet one of the three requirements that the U.S. Constitution mandates, specifically that he provide proof of his "natural born" U.S. citizenship.

What follows is a partial list of people and organizations that have challenged Obama's eligibility. Further on I will comment on how egregious the media's failure to cover this story has been. And last, I will speculate on the reason for the cover-up of this full-blown scandal.

Attorney Philip J. Berg, former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania and a longtime Democrat partisan, sued Obama and the Democratic National Committee for what he alleged was the DNC's failure to vet Obama, and Obama's failure to provide an authentic and verifiable U.S. birth certificate. The suit was dismissed as "too vague..." Berg filed a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct.30, to force Obama to produce his birth certificate. On Nov. 3, Justice David Souter rejected Berg's emergency appeal for the court to halt the tabulation of the 2008 presidential election results, but set a schedule for a response from Obama, the DNC and all co-defendants on or before Dec. 1. Berg claims to have a tape recording of Obama's Kenyan grandmother saying that she was present at Obama's birth in Kenya, along with his half-brother and half-sister. Here is his website.

According to WorldNetDaily, blogger Jeff Schreiber said a second case was presented to the Supreme Court on the same issue, i.e., the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has waived its right to respond to a complaint brought by attorney Philip Berg, possibly - among other reasons - because they liked their odds of Berg's petition getting denied. Berg said that if the FEC filed not solely on its own behalf but "on behalf of the DNC and Barack Obama too, it reeks of collusion."

Dr. T.B. Bradley, a forensic psychologist, stated, as part of the Berg case, that, "Upon reading all of the books written by or about Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. aka Barry Soetoro (hereinafter Obama) Applicant discerned that Obama was not a natural born citizen of the United States or if he was a natural born citizen that he had lost his citizenship when his biological mother married Lolo Soetoro, a citizen of Indonesia. Obama then became a citizen of Indonesia as a result of his mother's expatriation of herself and her son, by self declaration on legal public educational records that Obama was formally known as Barry Soetoro, a citizen of Indonesia [and] was not US Constitutionally qualified to hold the Office of the United States Senator from Illinois or the Office of the President of the United States."

Author, radio host, blogger, and Chicago attorney Andy Martin filed a suit in Hawaii's Supreme Court to compel Gov. Linda Lingle to release a certified copy of Obama's vital statistics record. His request was denied. On Nov. 18, he petitioned a judge in Hawaii for access to Obama's original 1961 birth certificate, and reported that "the judge reserved judgment." But when he arrived back in the states, he learned that Judge Bert Ayabe had dismissed the case.

Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes filed a suit with the California Secretary of State asking that the state's 55 Electoral College votes not be cast on December 15 until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. Keyes' suit was filed by Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation, along with California Electors Wiley S. Drake and Markham Robinson. The action states: "Should Senator Obama be discovered, after he takes office, to be ineligible for the Office of President of the United States, and, thereby, his election declared void....(a) usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal." Former California Secretaries of State have reviewed background documents to verify the eligibility of candidates.

In 1968, the Peace and Freedom Party submitted the name of Eldridge Cleaver as a qualified candidate for POTUS. Then Secretary of State, Frank Jordan, found that according to Cleaver's birth certificate, he was only 34 years old, one year shy of the age needed to be on the ballot. Mr. Jordan removed Mr. Cleaver from the ballot. Cleaver unsuccessfully challenged this decision to the Supreme Court of the State of California and to the Supreme Court.

Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan, a retired 23-year veteran of the Army, National Guard, and Air Force filed another suit in North Carolina, which claimed Obama should not have been on the state's election ballot because his citizenship is in doubt.

David M. Neal of Ohio filed a suit in Warren Common Pleas Court to force the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.

Cort Wrotnowski of Connecticut asked the court to order Secretary of State, Susan Bysiewicz, to verify Obama's citizenship before allowing the candidate to appear on the state ballot. The case was denied.

Steven Marquis filed a suit Washington State Superior Court, calling for Secretary of State, Sam Reed, to determine whether Obama is a citizen before Election Day, claiming the Hawaii birth certificate reveals neither the hospital where Obama was born nor a doctor's name the baby's footprint. The case was denied.

Rev. Tom Terry of Georgia appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court the day before the election to determine authenticity of Obama's original birth certificate and his qualifications to be president. Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter denied Terry's request for an injunction against Secretary of State Karen Handel.

Author Jerome Corsi, who has written extensively about this case, traveled to Hawaii and Kenya. He learned that the Certification of Live Birth that the Obama campaign posted is, according to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, not the same as a Certificate of Live Birth, which authenticates Hawaiian birth.

Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born. In November 2004 she said he was born at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu, but in February 2008, she said he was born in the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children. Before the election, the Internet site, WorldNetDaily, retained a private investigator in Hawaii to visit both hospitals, but he reported that sheriff's deputies were stationed at both hospitals to fend off inquiries.

Leo C. Donofrio a retired attorney, started a website (supporting link) and filed a suit in New Jersey on November 3, asking Secretary of State, Nina Mitchell Wells, for an emergency stay prohibiting Obama, Sen. McCain, and Socialist Worker's Party candidate Roger Calero, from appearing on New Jersey's ballot, claiming all three are not "natural born citizens." On Nov. 6, Supreme Court Justice David Souter denied Donofrio's application. But the case has now entered the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court and Justice Clarence Thomas has decided to send it to conference on December 5th! This means that only 10 days before the Electoral College votes, the nine Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will meet privately to discuss Donofrio's case.

Douglas J. Hagmann, director of HomelandSecurityUS.com, has reported that 17 lawsuits in 12 states are challenging the eligibility of Obama to become the next President of the United States.

Numerous activist groups have undertaken letter-writing campaigns to the Supreme Court Justices, members of the Electoral College, and elected officials, as well as sending urgent appeals to the White House and the Department of Justice.

Websites like Citizens for the United States Constitution, We The People, PeoplesPassion, America Must Know, and Faith2Action have sprung up in passionate defense of our Constitution's integrity. The last of these has even posted the names and addresses of Electoral College members from each state, as well as an ad in The Washington Times.

Dozens of petitions, like this one, have been circulated.

And dozens of mostly-conservative writers (including Devy Kidd and Miichelle Malkin), bloggers and journalists have written about his strange case and potential Constitutional crisis, as I have in a series of articles - here and here and here and here.

Coverage of the above by the media: Zero.

A DEAFENING SILENCE

It is no mystery that the leftist media have refused to mention this potentially looming Constitutional crisis in virtually all of their print and electronic coverage. Having shilled for Obama for the past two years - dismissing his longtime radical associations, obfuscating his radical voting record, and taking a pass at their jobs of vetting a presidential candidate - their failure to cover the most explosive story of the 2008 campaign speaks volumes about collusion of the highest order.

Then there are the late-night comics, as well as snarky "humorists" like Bill Maher and Jon Stewart, who take pride in being irreverent and "outing" both people and subjects that others avoid. Not a word.

But what about the failure of the powerful conservative media - how to explain their total blackout of this story? Let's look at their reactions:

Fox News: Total Silence. Did the healthy shares that Saudi Arabia bought of Fox influence the network's non-coverage of this story? After all, it's no secret which candidate the Saudis endorsed! We know that TV shows, including Fox, are on a seven-second delay, the better to bleep out offensive or inappropriate material. Doesn't it strike Fox viewers as strange that not one of their outspoken guests, even once, mentioned this story? Who warned them not to?

Rush Limbaugh: Total Silence. Why has the Excellence-in-Broadcasting's "Dr. of Democracy" - the man who eats sacred cows for breakfast - not touched this story?

Mark Levin: Total Silence. Why has this popular radio host, commonly known as "the Great One," abandoned his well-deserved reputation as a Constitutional scholar to studiously not address this Constitutional issue?

Laura Ingraham: Total Silence. Here is another radio powerhouse and former clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas taking pains not to mention this case...not a word!

Bill O'Reilly: Total Silence. Yes, the guy who claims he's "just looking out for the folks"...voiceless!

Sean Hannity: Total Silence. The iconic radio and TV host who tackles every controversial subject under the sun...missing in action!

I could go on and on, but you get the picture. The very people - the so-called loyal opposition - who should have been shouting this story from the rooftops for months on end went mute. Ordinarily they would be the first to tell you that our Republic has no more precious document than the U.S. Constitution - a document that set the stage for the greatest experiment in human freedom since the beginning of recorded history. People like me - and multi-millions of others - are aware of what happens when the "salami tactics" of tyrants are employed in the service of leftwing ideology.

First, there is a charismatic character promising "change" and "hope," but who changes his tune once in power. Second there is a whittling down of the laws of the land and the arrogant dismissal of the documents on which the nation was founded. Third there is the blacking-out of all media that disagree with Dear Leader's message. And fourth there is the rounding-up and incarceration - or worse - of all dissidents.

This is not theory. This is history. But while both left and right media thought it appropriate to comment at length about Obama's seven-page Questionnaire for those seeking work in his administration - a probing that makes a Pap Test, mammogram, colonoscopy, and endoscopy in one visit seem mild by comparison - not one of these cowardly journalists has asked the simple question: Mr. Obama, where is your birth certificate?

Or were they not cowards but patriots?

SCROUNGING FOR ANSWERS

I've written several books, not one of them fictional. And thousands of articles, not one of them based on sinister suspicions or conspiracy theories. But the case of the U.S. media's complete non-coverage of this major story has gotten me to speculate on what - or who - may be behind this phenomenon. What force could be so powerful as to silence our country's putative guardians of free speech - the titans of the Fourth Estate?

Perhaps the mystery goes back to 2004, when President Bush won his second term in office and in his first press conference in the White House said that he had "earned political capital and intended to spend it."

Then - suddenly and inexplicably - he went into a year-long hibernation. He rarely appeared in public and gave no major speeches. Finally he reemerged - albeit weakly - in late November or early December of 2005

Could it be that shortly after the president's reelection, he and major government officials received highly credible evidence from America's ruthless Islamist enemies that they had a number of devastating (probably nuclear suitcase) weapons - set up and ready to be activated in as many as six-to-10 of our major cities - unless he (the president) tacked left and played nice for the following two years?

Was America taken hostage?

The president, one could speculate, had only two choices: (1) play "chicken" and possibly sacrifice the lives of millions of Americans and the destruction of major American cities, or (2) opt for the lesser of two evils, the second being to pave the way for a dangerous Trojan Horse - qualified or not - to capture the White House.

Could it be that the media blackout of the most explosive story of any presidential election in American history has been choreographed by none other than the current POTUS - the most powerful man in the entire world? This would certainly explain why President Bush has not "been himself" since January 20, 2005. It would also explain why the all-powerful media have taken his marching orders - including the New York Times, which takes particular pleasure in undermining and sabotaging the president, even when it comes to national security issues.

If this happened, it would have had to involve the highest echelon in our intelligence services, who might have paid personal visits to publishers throughout the United States, as well as to top TV and radio executives, who themselves would have passed down iron-clad orders - to their anchors, broadcasters, even comedians - to follow the blackout order or face Draconian consequences. Clearly, they followed their marching orders.

On November 4 - Election Day - the Dow was above 9,000. It is now plummeting to below 7,000, suggesting that even the "globalists" among us prefer tax cuts and capitalism to tax hikes and not creeping but galloping socialism - or what the esteemed Dr. Jack Wheeler insists is fascism.

Buyers' remorse is in the air. America has been hijacked. What a price we will pay if the Supreme Court and the Electoral College abandon their oaths to uphold the U.S. Constitution by capitulating - as the media have - to our enemies. God Save America!

Surprise! CAIR officials slapped with subpoenas

(Compiler's note: A must read to know who is involved - at least at the highest levels.)

By Joseph Farah

Terror-linked Muslim lobby's dinner turns into public relations nightmare

WASHINGTON – When the Council on American-Islamic Relations held its 14th Annual Banquet at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel tonight, it was planning to raise funds and honor some of its supporters, but instead several top officials of the Muslim lobby group were served with subpoenas for various civil and criminal offenses.

The dramatic surprise, caught on video, was a result of the research work of the Mapping Sharia Project, headed by Dave Gaubatz. He personally served CAIR Director Nihad Awad at the banquet tonight while North Carolina state Sen. Larry Shaw, D-N.C., a CAIR national board member, was addressing the festivities.

Four CAIR clients have filed a federal civil complaint alleging criminal fraud and racketeering against CAIR, a self-described public interest civil rights law firm. The lawsuit also names CAIR's national leadership as individual defendants.

The lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Morris Days, the "resident attorney" and "manager for civil rights" at the now defunct CAIR MD/VA chapter in Herndon, Va., was in fact not an attorney and that he failed to provide legal services for clients who came to CAIR for assistance and who had paid for CAIR legal services.

While attorney David Yerushalmi represents the four plaintiffs in this particular lawsuit, two of whom are African-American Muslims, the complaint alleges that, according to CAIR internal documents, there were hundreds of victims of fraud scheme by CAIR and Days.

According to the complaint, CAIR failed to conduct a background check on Days prior to hiring him and when the group discovered the fraud, it set about a cover-up.

The suit charges CAIR officials purposefully concealed the truth about Days from their clients, law enforcement, the Virginia and D.C. state bar associations and the media. When CAIR got irate calls from clients about Days' failure to provide competent legal services, CAIR is charged with fraudulently deceiving clients about Days' relationship to CAIR, concealing the fact that CAIR had fired him for criminal fraud.

"The evidence has long suggested that CAIR is a criminal organization set up by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas to further its aims of stealth Jihad in the U.S.," Yerushalmi said referring to the fact that CAIR has been named by the federal government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial. "But our investigation and this complaint makes clear that CAIR’s criminal activities know no bounds."

Yerushalmi alleges CAIR has engaged in a massive cover-up of a criminal fraud in which hundreds of CAIR clients have been victimized.

"The fact that CAIR has victimized Muslims and non-Muslims alike demonstrates that CAIR is only looking out for CAIR and its ongoing effort to bilk donors out of millions of dollars of charitable donations thinking they are supporting a legitimate organization," he said.

The complaint also alleges that in addition to covering up the Days fraud scheme, CAIR officials in D.C. forced angry clients who were demanding a return of their legal fees to sign a release that bought the client-victims' silence by prohibiting them from informing law enforcement or the media about the CAIR-Days fraud. According to the agreement, if the "settling" clients said anything to anyone about the fraud scheme, CAIR would be able to sue them for $25,000.

The four plaintiffs contacted their attorney David Yerushalmi only after they had spoken to Gaubatz, a private researcher who had been investigating CAIR for its connections to the Muslim Brotherhood and its ties to global jihad.

The complaint identifies CAIR as a racketeering enterprise under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which is a criminal racketeering statute that allows victims to sue the defendants in civil court. In addition to damages, the plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief under this and other statutes to shut down CAIR and to prevent the individual defendants from engaging in public interest legal work in the future.

The named defendants are: the Council on American-Islamic Relations Action Network Inc. (dba CAIR); Nihad Awad aka Nihad Hammad, who serves as executive director of CAIR National; Parvez Ahmed, who was the chairman of the board of CAIR National during the relevant time period; Tahra Goraya, who was the national director of CAIR but who has since resigned; Khadijah Athman, who is the manager of the "civil rights" division of CAIR; and Nadhira al-Khalili, Esq., who is in-house legal counsel for CAIR. All were handed subpoenas this evening.

According to the complaint, CAIR's in-house Washington, D.C.-based attorney Khalili was directly involved in taking the legal files out of the CAIR Virginia office and concealing them in the D.C. office.

Also named as defendants are Ibrahim Hooper and Amina Rubin, CAIR's director of communications and coordinator of communications, respectively. According to the complaint, these two were directly responsible for issuing fraudulent press releases about the Days fraud scheme, thus aiding and abetting the CAIR cover-up.

CAIR officials were not available for comment tonight.

Also addressing the dinner was Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the nation's first Muslim member of Congress. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, reportedly turned down an invitation to address the banquet.

As WND previously reported, CAIR allegedly defrauded a number of Muslims recently seeking help with citizenship delays, and then threatened to sue them if they complained to the media, according to a security watchdog group which has obtained internal CAIR documents.

The former legal director of CAIR's Maryland/Virginia chapter shook down Muslim hardship cases for thousands of dollars without providing promised services, officials with the Mapping Sharia Project charge.

CAIR, a nonprofit group, promoted the services of the employee, Morris L. "Jamil" Days, whom it publicly described as a civil-rights attorney, even after discovering Days was unlicensed and was fraudulently representing CAIR's clients.

CAIR's board allegedly covered up the scandal by paying defrauded Muslim families partial restitution payments while insisting they sign agreements releasing CAIR from legal liability, officials said.

A video of the encounter is here:



The Mapping Sharia Project had threatened to sue CAIR for "damages in the amount of $25,000 for the purpose of conducting meetings, workshops, press releases, flyers and the like to reverse ... the damage to CAIR's reputation caused by the recipient's breach" of the agreement to remain silent about the "incident."

Earlier this year, the board also fired Days and closed the chapter's offices in Herndon, Va. The chapter director, Khalid Iqbal, is no longer with CAIR.

CAIR refused to respond to the allegations, which came to light only after American Muslims provided evidence to the Mapping Sharia Project.

"I really don't know anything about this," CAIR spokesman Ahmed Rehab said. He referred questions to CAIR communications director Ibrahim Hooper, who declined comment.

Earlier this year, CAIR launched a $250,000 fundraising campaign that included a promotional on its website touting its mission to help Muslims, particularly those confronting citizenship problems.

"Everyday, CAIR works hard to defend the rights of American Muslims who encounter a delay in gaining citizenship," the group said.

In fact, CAIR has "victimized" poor Muslim immigrants, says Gaubatz.

"CAIR continues to put Muslim Americans at risk through the pretense that they represent them in any way," Gaubatz said. "CAIR is receiving support from big foreign donors, not because of their effectiveness in discrimination cases, but because of their false image in the media."

Gaubatz says CAIR, which last year was named an unindicted co-conspirator in a federal terror-financing case involving Hamas, controls some $7 million in real estate assets in Washington through a limited liability holding company that includes silent Middle Eastern investors.

He says his group has filed a formal complaint against CAIR concerning the alleged fraud with the District of Columbia.

WND has previously reported on CAIR's extensive ties to terrorism and extremism. Although CAIR is a nonprofit organization, it does not disclose complete directories of its staff or advisory boards, and even refuses to make its federal tax filings readily available to the public. But a review of federal criminal court documents, past IRS 990 tax records and Federal Election Commission records detailing donor occupations, reveals that Washington-based CAIR has been associated with a disturbing number of convicted terrorists or felons in terrorism probes, as well as suspected terrorists and active targets of terrorism investigations.

"Their offices have been a turnstile for terrorists and their supporters," said one FBI veteran familiar with recent and ongoing cases involving CAIR officials.

WND has reported that at least 14 CAIR officials have been caught up in terror investigations.

Congressional leaders say they are warning lawmakers and other Washington officials to disassociate from the group due to its growing terror ties.

"Groups like CAIR have a proven record of senior officials being indicted and either imprisoned or deported from the United States," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., co-founder of the House Anti-Terrorism/Jihad Caucus.

CAIR itself recently was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged scheme to funnel $12 million to the terrorist group Hamas. In the Holy Land Foundation case, federal prosecutors also listed CAIR as a member of the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, a worldwide jihadist movement that gave rise to Hamas, al-Qaida and other terrorist groups. The government will retry the Holy Land case, which ended in a hung jury.

"There was a lot of evidence presented at the recent Holy Land Foundation trial which exposed CAIR and others as front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood in the United States," Myrick said.

Still, CAIR is lobbying House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and other sympathetic members of Congress to pressure the Justice Department to expunge its name from the case, arguing the negative publicity has hurt membership and fundraising.

The federal judge during the trial refused a written request by the group to strike its name from the list of co-conspirators. The petition is still pending before the court.

Here is another brief clip showing the delivery of the legal documents:

CAIR, which runs 33 offices and chapters nationwide, also recently helped defeat an anti-terror plan by Los Angeles police to map the local Muslim community for extremist neighborhoods.

Critics counter that CAIR has no legitimate voice to make such complaints, because the group is itself an extremist organization that has employed or appointed to its boards of directors and advisers an inordinate number of radical co-conspirators, suspected and convicted terrorists, and other criminals.

Indeed, the list is long and growing, and includes:

• Muthanna al-Hanooti: The CAIR director's home was raided last year by FBI agents in connection with an active terrorism investigation. Agents also searched the offices of his advocacy group, Focus on Advocacy and Advancement of International Relations, which al-Hanooti operates out of Dearborn, Mich., and Washington, D.C.

  FAAIR claims to be a consulting firm raising awareness of Sunni grievances in Iraq, but investigators suspect it's a front supporting the Sunni-led insurgency.

  Muthanna al-Hanooti, wearing traditional headgarb

  Al-Hanooti, who emigrated to the U.S. from Iraq, formerly helped run a suspected Hamas terror front called LIFE for Relief and Development. Its Michigan offices also were raided last September. In 2004, LIFE's Baghdad office was raided by U.S. troops, who seized files and computers.

  Al-Hanooti is related to Shiek Mohammed al-Hanooti, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He currently leads prayers at a Washington-area mosque that aided some of the 9/11 hijackers.

  The FBI alleges al-Hanooti, an ethnic-Palestinian who also emigrated from Iraq, raised money for Hamas. In fact, "Al-Hanooti collected over $6 million for support of Hamas," according to a 2001 FBI report, and was present with CAIR and Holy Land officials at a secret Hamas fundraising summit held last decade at a Philadelphia hotel.

  Prosecutors recently added his name to the list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land case.

  Al-Hanooti denies supporting Hamas, although he's praised Palestinian suicide bombers as "martyrs" who are "alive in the eyes of Allah."

  Earlier this year, his younger brother, Hamid al-Hanooti, was found dead in Iraq after reportedly being held by local security forces as a suspected terrorist.

• Laura Jaghlit: A civil-rights coordinator for CAIR, her Washington-area home was raided by federal agents after 9/11 as part of an investigation into terrorist financing, money laundering and tax fraud. Her husband Mohammed Jaghlit, a key leader in the Saudi-backed SAAR network, is a target of the still-active probe.

  Last decade, Jaghlit sent two letters accompanying donations – one for $10,000, the other for $5,000 – from the SAAR Foundation to Sami al-Arian, now a convicted terrorist. In each letter, according to a federal affidavit, "Jaghlit instructed al-Arian not to disclose the contribution publicly or to the media."

  Investigators suspect the funds were intended for Palestinian terrorists via a U.S. front called WISE, which at the time employed an official who personally delivered a satellite phone battery to Osama bin Laden. The same official also worked for Jaghlit's group.

  In addition, Jaghlit donated a total of $37,200 to the Holy Land Foundation, which prosecutors say is a Hamas front. Jaghlit subsequently was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the ongoing case.

• Abdurahman Alamoudi: Another CAIR director, he is serving 23 years in federal prison for plotting terrorism. Alamoudi, who was caught on tape complaining bin Laden hadn't killed enough Americans in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, was one of al-Qaida's top fund-raisers in America, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.

  Nihad Awad

• Nihad Awad: For the first time, wiretap evidence from the Holy Land case puts CAIR's executive director at a Philadelphia meeting of Hamas leaders and activists that was secretly recorded by the FBI. Participants allegedly hatched a plot to disguise payments to Hamas terrorists as charitable giving.

  During the meeting, according to FBI transcripts, Awad was recorded discussing the propaganda effort. He mentions Ghassan Dahduli, whom he worked with at the time at the Islamic Association for Palestine, another Hamas front. Both were IAP officers. Dahduli's name also was listed in the address book of bin Laden's personal secretary, Wadi al-Hage, who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in the U.S. embassy bombings. Dahduli, an ethnic-Palestinian like Awad, was deported to Jordan after 9/11 for refusing to cooperate in the terror investigation.

  Awad's and Dahduli's phone numbers are listed in a Muslim Brotherhood document seized by federal investigators revealing "important phone numbers" for the "Palestine Section" of the Brotherhood in America. The court exhibit shows Hamas fugitive Mousa Abu Marzook listed on the same page with Awad.

  Omar Ahmad

• Omar Ahmad: U.S. prosecutors also named CAIR's founder and chairman emeritus as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land case. Ahmad too was placed at the Philly meeting, FBI special agent Lara Burns testified at the trial. Prosecutors also designated him as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's "Palestine Committee" in America. Ahmad, like his CAIR partner Awad, is ethnic-Palestinian.

  (Though both Ahmad and Awad were senior leaders of IAP, the Hamas front, neither of their biographical sketches posted on CAIR's website mentions their IAP past.)

• Nabil Sadoun: A current CAIR board member, Sadoun has served on the board of the United Association for Studies and Research, which investigators believe to be a key Hamas front in America. In fact, Sadoun co-founded UASR with Hamas leader Marzook. The Justice Department added UASR to the list of unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land case.

  Mohamed Nimer

• Mohamed Nimer: CAIR's current research director also served as a board director for UASR, the strategic arm for Hamas in the U.S.

  (Tellingly, CAIR neglects to mention Nimer's and Sadoun's roles in UASR in their bios.)

• Rafeeq Jaber: A founding director of CAIR, Jaber was the long-time president of the Islamic Association for Palestine. In 2002, a federal judge found that "the Islamic Association for Palestine has acted in support of Hamas." In his capacity as IAP chief, Jaber praised Hezbollah attacks on Israel. He also served on the board of a radical mosque in the Chicago area.

• Rabith Hadid: The CAIR fund-raiser was a founder of the Global Relief Foundation, which after 9/11 was blacklisted by Treasury for financing al-Qaida and other terror groups. Its assets were frozen in December 2001. Hadid was arrested on terror-related charges and deported to Lebanon in 2003.

  Siraj Wahhaj

  Siraj Wahhaj: A member of CAIR's board of advisers, Wahhaj was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The radical Brooklyn imam was close to convicted terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, and defended him during his trial.

  He was also a featured speaker at tonight's dinner.

• Randall "Ismail" Royer: The former CAIR communications specialist and civil-rights coordinator is serving 20 years in prison in connection with the Virginia Jihad Network, which he led while employed by CAIR at its Washington headquarters. The group trained to kill U.S. soldiers overseas, cased the FBI headquarters, and cheered the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Al-Qaida operative Ahmed Abu Ali, convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bush, was among those who trained with Royer's Northern Virginia cell.

• Bassam Khafagi: Another CAIR official, Khafagi was arrested in 2003 while serving as CAIR's director of community affairs. He pleaded guilty to charges of bank and visa fraud stemming from a federal counterterror probe of his leadership role in the Islamic Assembly of North America, which has supported al-Qaida and advocated suicide attacks on America. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison and deported to his native Egypt.

  Ghassan Elashi

• Ghassan Elashi: One of CAIR's founding directors, he was convicted in 2004 of illegally shipping high-tech goods to terror state Syria, and is serving 80 months in prison. He's also charged with providing material support to Hamas in the Holy Land Foundation trial. He was chairman of the charity, which provided seed capital to CAIR. Elashi is related to Hamas leader Marzook.

• Hamza Yusuf: The FBI investigated the CAIR board member after 9/11, because just two days before the attacks, he made an ominous prediction to a Muslim audience.

  "This country is facing a terrible fate and the reason for that is because this country stands condemned," Yusuf warned. "It stands condemned like Europe stood condemned because of what it did. And lest people forget, Europe suffered two world wars after conquering the Muslim lands."

CAIR, which receives financial backing from Saudi and Emirati royalty, denies charges that it has a secret agenda to Islamize America. But a Muslim Brotherhood document declassified in the Holy Land case reveals that CAIR's parent was among Muslim organizations enlisted in a secret plot to destroy the American system from within and eventually take over the country.

Written early last decade in Arabic, the manifesto lays bare the subversive role of CAIR's forerunner, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and other Muslim groups in America to carry out a "grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by the hands of the believers, so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions."

CAIR's founder Ahmad, while claiming to be a moderate and patriotic American, last decade told a group of Muslims in Northern California that they are in America to help assert Islam's rule over the country.

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant," a local reporter quoted him as saying, adding, "The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."

Ahmad insists he was misquoted. However, an FBI wiretap transcript quotes Ahmad agreeing with terrorist suspects gathered last decade at the secret Philly meeting to "camouflage" their true intentions.

He compared it to the head fake in basketball. "This is like one who plays basketball: He makes a player believe that he is doing this, while he does something else," Ahmad said. "I agree with you. Like they say, politics is a completion of war."

What's more, Hooper, CAIR's communications director, also has expressed his wish to overturn the U.S. system of government in favor of an "Islamic" state.

"I wouldn't want to create the impression that I wouldn't like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the future," Hooper said in a 1993 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "But I'm not going to do anything violent to promote that. I'm going to do it through education."

Though conceding he made the remark, Hooper argues that he's never advocated violence. He says he and Muslims like him should work instead through the media and use "education" to help turn America into an Islamic state.

Attrition through Enforcement

Apprehensions decreased by 67 percent in southern Luna County in New Mexico thanks to the construction of a border fence and increased resources. Also, the completion of a pedestrian fence in Santa Teresa has allowed for the re-deployment of agents to other areas.

In Columbus, N.M., a 6-mile pedestrian fence has resulted in decreased apprehensions by 60 percent and a 100 percent decrease in narcotics.

“It is clear that the implementation of infrastructure in targeted areas of New Mexico has had a tremendous impact on reducing the volume of apprehensions in those areas,” El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Victor M. Manjarrez, Jr. said in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release.

The Department of Homeland Security is looking to complete 370 miles of fencing along the southern border by the end of 2008.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection website has more on this story.

Al-Qaeda Increases Efforts To Obtain Dirty Bomb

By Gordon Thomas

MI6 has issued a global priority warning to all security services that Islamic terrorists are now closer to obtaining material to create a “dirty bomb” to launch against Western targets.

Osama bin Laden has long made this a priority and reinforced it with regular messages from his mountain redoubt in the north-west province of Pakistan. He has repeatedly said every “true Muslim must make it his duty to assist in all ways possible to find the next powerful weapon to destroy our enemies”.

After the election of the new Pakistani president, the controversial Asif Ali Zardari, who has served a nine-year jail term on corruption charges he has strongly denied, MI6 fear there will be little ability to provide strong leadership against the new wave of Islamic extremism that al-Qaeda has launched across the country.

Groups such as the newly formed Pakistan Taliban have proclaimed it is focussing on creating a “dirty bomb”.

MI6 agents based in Islamabad fear the mounting instability in Pakistan will make it easier for them to do so.

While Pakistan is the only Muslim country with a nuclear arsenal, it has in the past provided its expertise to Iran.

Pakistan’s Islam bomb was developed in the 1990s by the rogue scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. He sold them to pariah states like North Korea and Libya. He was placed under house arrest by Pervez Musharraf.

But since Musharraf was forced to resign, restrictions on Khan’s detention have been virtually lifted–a decision that has alarmed Western diplomats in Pakistan.

While Musharraf readily agreed for the US to place stringent security around Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, there are serious concern that President Zardari will not be able to resist the rampant pressure al-Qaeda is mounting from its terrorist infrastructure base in Waziristan province in the north-west of the country.

A senior U.S. security official in Islamabad said: “Our concern is the sudden rise in intelligence which strongly indicates that al-Qaeda has renewed plans to gain access to nuclear material that could form a primitive nuclear device, one perhaps that a suicide truck bomber could use”.

In a “dirty bomb”, conventional explosives are surrounded with radioactive material.

The MI6 priority alert says such a device, while having a limited effect as a nuclear weapon, would create widespread panic.

An indication of how the threat has increased has been the number of terrorist-related websites which contain details of how to create a “dirty bomb”. As soon as the sites are discovered, they are eradicated by MI6’s experts. But within days they reappear elsewhere.

Forced marriage cases up 80 pc this year as investigators find parents using “bounty hunters”

.... A special Government unit dedicated to stopping teenagers being married off by their families dealt with 300 cases in the first half of this year, up from 168 in the same period of 2007.....

Iran receives al Qaeda praise for role in terrorist attacks

from Jihad Watch

So much for the notion that Sunnis and Shias can never cooperate. They certainly can -- at least where infidels are concerned. The-Enemy-Of-My-Enemy-Is-My-Friend Alert (a, coincidentally, Arabian proverb):

"Iran receives al Qaeda praise for role in terrorist attacks," by Con Coughlin for the Telegraph, November 23 (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

Fresh links between Iran's Revolutionary Guards and al-Qaeda have been uncovered following interception of a letter from the terrorist leadership that hails Tehran's support for a recent attack on the American embassy in Yemen, which killed 16 people.

Delivery of the letter exposed the rising role of Saad bin Laden, son of the al-Qaeda leader, Osama as an intermediary between the organisation and Iran. Saad bin Laden has been living in Iran since the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, apparently under house arrest.

The letter, which was signed by Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's second in command, was written after the American embassy in Yemen was attacked by simultaneous suicide car bombs in September.

Western security officials said the missive thanked the leadership of Iran's Revolutionary Guards for providing assistance to al-Qaeda to set up its terrorist network in Yemen, which has suffered ten al-Qaeda-related terror attacks in the past year, including two bomb attacks against the American embassy.

In the letter al-Qaeda's leadership pays tribute to Iran's generosity, stating that without its "monetary and infrastructure assistance" it would have not been possible for the group to carry out the terror attacks. It also thanked Iran for having the "vision" to help the terror organisation establish new bases in Yemen after al-Qaeda was forced to abandon much of its terrorist infrastructure in Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

There has been intense speculation about the level of Iranian support for al-Qaeda since the 9/11 Commission report into al-Qaeda's terror attacks against the U.S. in 2001 concluded that Iran had provided safe passage for many of the 9/11 hijackers travelling between Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia prior to the attacks.

Scores of senior al Qaeda activists - including Saad bin Laden - sought sanctuary in Iran following the overthrow of the Taliban, and have remained in Tehran ever since. The activities of Saad bin Laden, 29, have been a source of Western concern despite Tehran's assurances that he is under official confinement.

But Iran was a key transit route for al Qaeda loyalists moving between battlefields in the Middle East and Asia. Western security officials have also concluded Iran's Revolutionary Guards have supported al-Qaeda terror cells, despite religious divisions between Iran's Shia Muslim revolutionaries and the Sunni Muslim terrorists.

Iran is active in Yemen, Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland. The country has been a focal point for al-Qaeda, which has found relatively easy targets in its lawless environment. "Yemen is now a key strategic base for al-Qaeda's operations, as well as being fertile recruitment territory," said a senior Western security official. "Iran's Revolutionary Guards have provided important support in helping al-Qaeda to turn Yemen into a major centre of operations."

Apart from the terror attacks against the US embassy al-Qaeda has also threatened to attack the British and Saudi Arabian embassies in Yemen.

Intelligence Report Sees Higher Nuclear Risk as Technology Spreads

By Elaine M. Grossman

WASHINGTON -- The risk that terrorists will acquire and use atomic weapons will increase in coming decades as nuclear technology and expertise proliferate, according to a U.S. intelligence report released yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 19).

While the risk of a nuclear attack in the next 20 years remains "very low" -- probably lower than the possibility of a chemical or biological weapons strike -- it is "likely to be greater than it is today," according to the projection, published by the National Intelligence Council.

The panel, an arm of the national intelligence director's office, issued Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World to "stimulate strategic thinking about the future by identifying key trends, the factors that drive them, where they seem to be headed, and how they might interact," commission Chairman Thomas Fingar, U.S. deputy national intelligence director, said in a foreword to the report.

The 99-page document -- the fourth such report on long-term trends that the council has issued in recent years -- warns of the perils the United States might expect from the steady expansion of nuclear capabilities worldwide.

"The spread of nuclear technologies and expertise is generating concerns about the potential emergence of new nuclear-weapon states and the acquisition of nuclear materials by terrorist groups," according to the document.

The national intelligence director's office laid out the risks in a statement released yesterday.

"The world of the near future will be subject to an increased likelihood of conflict over scarce resources, including food and water, and will be haunted by the persistence of rogue states and terrorist groups with greater access to nuclear weapons," according to the DNI statement. "The likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used will increase with expanded access to technology and a widening range of options for limited strikes."

Of particular concern is the "growing risk of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East," where a number of states "are already thinking about developing or acquiring nuclear technology useful for development of nuclear weaponry," reads the global trends report.

A Middle East nuclear arms race tops the panel's list of dangerous developments that could threaten political or economic globalization. An act of terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction could have a similarly traumatizing effect, according to the assessment.

Fingar emphasized at an event this week that the publication is not meant to be predictive or inevitable. In fact, he said Tuesday, "even the word 'projection' is a little more determinative than we intend this to be."

Experts note that a number of nations have come close to gaining -- or actually acquired -- nuclear arms by masking illicit activities under the cloak of internationally permitted development of civil nuclear energy. For a time, Libya and Iraq maintained clandestine efforts to develop nuclear weapons, and Iran and Syria are now widely suspected of doing the same (see GSN stories on Iran and Syria, Nov. 19).

The global trends report "pulls its punch on exactly ... why the spread of nuclear power is a problem, said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "The way they describe the problem, it's not clear that you need to do very much to solve it other than to say something like, 'Well, we have diplomatic pledges or IAEA inspections to guard against these possibilities,' and then it just goes away."

The trend lines in the Middle East are discouraging, according to a February essay he wrote about the international community's challenges in verifying the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

"Since 2005, more than 15 countries have announced a desire to acquire large reactors of their own by 2020," wrote Sokolski, who serves on the U.S. Congressional Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism (see GSN, Nov. 19).

"Nine of these states -- Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen -- are located in the war-torn region of the Middle East," he explained. "Most are interested in developing a nuclear program capable of more than merely boiling water to run turbines that generate electricity. At least four have made it clear that they are interested in hedging their security bets with a nuclear weapons option." ....

Forced Islamic Indoctrination of British children

from Winds of Jihad

* ”Uninvited men of Asian-heritage appearance” turn up with weapons to break up birthday party at Nelson Cricket Club (”Asian Heritage” = PC speak for Pakistani Muzz/ed)

The future of British children?

* Not for the first time, and not only in Britain. Muhammedans are pretty crafty when it comes to proselytizing (da’awa) However, what’s really scary is that the schools and government are behind this concerted effort to muslimize British children.

With thanks to the Opinionator

Yet another example of the forced inculcation of the non muslim British children into Islam appears on a video today. (ITV Local West Country) Under the guise of “Islamic awareness”, school children were brought to a mosque to have Islam explained to them by a cleric. Clearly the schools and government are behind this concerted effort to muslimize British children and this is just the most recent example of such brainwashing.

Sir Winston: Stop this, NOW!

–In August, 2007 - British children were forced to practice their penmanship by copying lines from the Islamic call to prayer. Thought the original Daily Mail article has disappeared (as they so frequently do) there are many online copies and reference to this incident. See HERE for one.

–October 2007 - Another school forced teachers AND children to dress up in muslim garb even though there were only two muslims at the school.

“A SCHOOL was yesterday accused of MAKING teachers dress up as Asians for a day – to celebrate a Muslim festival. Kids at the 257-pupil primary have also been told to don ethnic garb even though most are Christians. The morning assembly will be open to all parents – but dads are BARRED from a women-only party in the afternoon because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men. ” For full article see HERE

Now this event is supposed to promote multicultural diversity at the school but apparently MEN DON’T HAVE TO BE MULTICULTURALLY DIVERSE AS A PARTY WAS HELD JUST FOR WOMEN -to placate the psychotic muslim husbands all of whom objected to their wives being anywhere near men who may be as predatory as they are - otherwise why the concern???

One has to wonder what the British boys thought when they were sequestered with the girls away from those big bad men. Let’s hope the school had counsellors on hand so the boys could discuss their resultant escalating fears of growing up and an explanation as to why Daddy is bad. I wonder if the lads were also told how women/girls dressed in Western clothes are considered “uncovered meat” for the taking/raping or how muslim men are encouraged to beat their wives. and all the other rubbish & sexual inequality that is part and parcel of the Religion of Peace.

One also wonder if the children were told that the body suffocating head to toe garb worn by muslims is the leading cause of RICKETS in the UK. (and likely worldwide)

Of course everyone participated in the clothing dhimmification - for fear of being labeled a “racist” if they did not —even though Islam is NOT a race.

–Just this past summer, July 2008, two non muslim British schoolboys were punished with detention for refusing to kneel and pray to allah:

“Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and ‘pray to Allah’ during a religious education lesson.Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing muslim headgear was a breach of their human rights.” See HERE

Parental outrage is more than understandable - yet even the outrage didn’t stop some from worrying about the ludicrous “racist” canard.

Can you imagine the loud moaning and angry protests if muslim students were forced to write a verse from the King James Bible? Or a prayer to Jesus? to practice THEIR “penmanship”?!? How many muslim faith schools have transported their students to a Catholic or Protestant Church to learn about the Christian religion - all for religious understanding and ”diversity”? I wonder just how much learning about Christianity is going on in non-muslim religion education classes. One also wonders how many other ”non publicized” school events and misguided if not idiotic teachers have forced British schoolchildren to act as muslims.

As I previously posted - Islam is invading British life of the non muslim Brit - from the cradle to the grave as dhimmi politicians and educators herd British adults and children down the one way street of Islamisation.

How TARP Is Totally Changing the Executive Pay Debate

by Joanna Ossinger

The executive compensation debate has already been shifted by the recent financial crisis and the Treasury Department’s bailout program, and even more changes are expected in the coming months.

What’s more, the changes could be coming to a lot more companies than just those financial-services firms participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program, as there’s talk of putting similar restrictions on a broad swath of companies – perhaps even many or all of those based in the U.S.

The changes range from advocate proposals, which are shifting to look at long-term performance metrics rather than immediate measures such as the stock price, to how compensation consultants and board compensation committees are approaching executive pay packages.

“We actually tore up our game card for proxy season,” said Rich Ferlauto, director of pension and benefit policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, who is a longtime advocate of corporate governance reform.

Much of the difficulty stems from the language in the Treasury’s provisions for limits on executive compensation that prohibit “excessive risk.”

“We believe that it is critical to provide more guidance on the meaning of such unnecessary and excessive risk,” said Richard L. Alpern of executive-compensation consulting firm Frederic W. Cook & Co. in a letter to the Treasury Department on this issue. “In the absence of guidelines, many compensation committees may be reluctant to adopt programs that encourage an appropriate level of risk taking.”

Frederic W. Cook isn’t the only firm wondering how to interpret the new guidance.

“How do you measure whether this pay program is going to cause excessive risk?” asked Steve Seelig, executive compensation counsel at consultancy Watson Wyatt. “There are easy ways, and more analytical ways. The easy thing to say is just to give salary and restricted stock. It’s probably going to make your behavior extremely conservative.”

Seelig gave the example of just one dilemma: “Perhaps it is the right thing to do, if you’re choosing a single industry, to say ‘my pay package in the same as everyone else in the industry, and I can attest that this is no more risky than anyone else’s.’ It also is equally plausible that you need to look at the entire market and compare your programs to the rest of the marketplace.”

The lack of clarity from Treasury could simply leave the interpretation of the regulations to be done by others.

“We liked the proposal, but it was rather vague, and we’re interpreting that through shareholder proposals,” Ferlauto of AFSCME said.

It might not be only financial companies participating in TARP that have to pay attention to these rules.

“I would also think that there will be broader follow-on legislation early in the next Congress,” Ferlauto said, that might extend these Treasury TARP rules out as far as “to any U.S.-based company.”

In particular, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has mentioned the possibility of introducing legislation to broaden the list of companies subject to these executive-pay limits.

It isn’t just the companies themselves that are being affected.

The Treasury’s rules could run counter to the efforts of corporate-governance activists, who have sought in recent years to link CEO pay to the company’s performance.

For example, it’s been suggested often that CEO pay levels be based on the stock price, or on some measure of earnings. But, would incentives to boost the stock price and earnings encourage executives to take “excessive risk?” Risk-taking, after all, is what gave so many companies their soaring stock prices and eye-popping profit increases for so long.

In response to these rules, corporate-governance advocates are moving away from linking pay to total shareholder return “and focusing on concepts like having long-term focuses in their pay metrics,” said Patrick McGurn, special counsel at RiskMetrics group, which owns Institutional Shareholder Services. He said provisions such as clawbacks and hold-to-retirement are being considered.

Ferlauto of AFSCME said the union, in response to these new rules, is now looking at two types of proposals they hope to get companies to implement.

“One requires long-term holding of any equity award for two years past the executive’s tenure with the company, so they couldn’t walk away with tens of millions of dollars and leave a mess. It puts the executive in the same position as the shareholder, as being a long-term equity holder,” he said.

The second, which Ferlauto noted was implemented by Swiss bank UBS earlier this week, would “require a short-term cash bonus incentive to be escrowed for three years, only paid out over time and only paid out if there’s continued performance at a benchmark level.”

Even though some companies have started to talk about reining in executive pay, a lot more needs to be done. For instance, Goldman Sachs (GS) recently announced that its seven top executives would get no bonus for 2008, just their $600,000 annual salaries.

“With Goldman, they’re sharing the pain -- but if you’re talking about tools to measure risk, forgoing pay is simply a weather vane,” McGurn of RiskMetrics said. “It’s showing that the wind blowing from Washington to Goldman is saying this year is not a good one.”

“We’ve yet to hear U.S. corporations, even those covered under TARP, really address the long-term focus versus short-term focus,” McGurn continued. “This issue is likely to come up in shareholder votes on board members -- I think you will see [shareholders] taking a closer look at the actual compensation plans.”

“The smart companies are the ones that are beginning to address this immediately,” he said.

Scalia Warns Judges against Relying on Foreign Law

by Jennifer Mesko, editor

He says the Founders of this country did not want us to emulate Europe.

The U.S. Constitution is not a "living document" and should not be filtered through foreign law.

That's the message U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had for a group of judges and lawyers in Houston this week.

"I fear the courts' use of foreign law in interpreting the Constitution will continue at an accelerated pace," the 72-year-old jurist told the local chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

Scalia called on judges to adhere to the constitutional authors' intent. He said the Founders of this country did not want us to emulate Europe.

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Scalia is right to criticize his colleagues for relying on foreign law to justify their decisions.

"If judges are just going to make stuff up, they should have the courage to admit it," he said. "If we're not vigilant as citizens to protect our law-making authority under the Constitution, the judiciary will increasingly take that authority from us and use it to create a society in their own image.

"We must cry 'foul' whenever the court dabbles in its fondness for the use of foreign law to justify its own excesses."

Wendy Long, legal counsel at the Judicial Confirmation Network, agreed.

"The whole idea of America was that we were going to be a nation built on the consent of the governed," she told Family News in Focus. "That means we’re only governed by laws that a majority of us have assented to — that includes the Constitution."

Mexican emigration drops 42% over last two years

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican emigration has dropped 42% over the last two years, a government study released Thursday showed, confirming that America has become less appealing amid an economic downturn and stepped up raids against illegal migrants.

About eight of every 1,000 Mexicans emigrated between February and May of this year, according to the survey conducted by the National Statistics and Geography Institute. That's a 42% drop from the same period in 2006. ....

Newt Gingrich Warns of ‘Gay Fascism’

By: Jim Meyers

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich warns that a “gay and secular fascism” in the U.S. is prepared to use violence to impose its will on the rest of the country.

Appearing on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” on Nov. 14, Gingrich and host Bill O’Reilly discussed the recently passed California ballot initiative, Proposition 8, amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

O’Reilly cited the protests by gay activists that broke out after the vote and troubling incidents associated with them, including a woman who had a cross knocked out of her hand and a Michigan church invaded by gay activists.

Gingrich responded: “I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact.”

He went on: “For that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite of what you're taught in Sunday school.”

The Georgia Republican, who left the House in January 1999, added: “I think when the left, when the radicals lost the vote in California, they are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land. You've watched them, for example, in Massachusetts, basically drive the Catholic Church out of running adoption services, drive Catholic hospitals out of offering any services, because [the radicals] impose secular rules that are fundamentally … sinful from the standpoint” of the church.”

Among the most prominent targets of gay outrage is the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opponents say donated more than $20 million to the Yes on 8 campaign. It has been already become a focus of protests, with demonstrators gathered around Mormon temples not only in California but across the country.

African Americans, 70 percent of whom voted yes on Prop. 8, according to exit polls, have also become targets, according to Time Magazine’s Web site. Eyewitness reports published on the Internet indicate that racial epithets have been used against African Americans at protests in California - with some even directed at blacks who are fighting to repeal Prop. 8.

Gay rights activists also have begun publishing lists online exposing individuals and organizations that have donated money in support of Prop. 8, according to Time.

On AntiGayBlacklist.com, individuals who gave money toward Prop. 8 are publicized, and readers are urged not to patronize their businesses or services. The list of donors was culled from data on ElectionTrack.com, which follows all contributions of $1,000 and more and all contributions of more than $100 given before Oct. 17.

“Dentists,accountants, veterinarians and the like who gave a few thousand dollars to the cause are listed alongside major donors like the Container Supply Company Inc. of Garden Grove, which gave $250,000,” Time reported.

Gingrich had released a video urging Californians to vote for Proposition 8, which overrode a recent California Supreme Court decision that had recognized same-sex marriage in the state.

The Proposition passed by a vote of 52.2 percent to 47.8 percent.

Bug-Sized Spies: US Develops Tiny Flying Robots

DAYTON, Ohio -- If only we could be a fly on the wall when our enemies are plotting to attack us. Better yet, what if that fly could record voices, transmit video and even fire tiny weapons?

That kind of James Bond-style fantasy is actually on the drawing board. U.S. military engineers are trying to design flying robots disguised as insects that could one day spy on enemies and conduct dangerous missions without risking lives. ....

Wash Your Hands—Or Else!

(Compiler's note: Mom was right to insist that we wash our hands.) By: Sylvia Booth Hubbard

Health officials constantly warn of the importance of good hygiene, including washing your hands frequently, to stop the spread of germs that cause flu and colds. Now you can add the risk of worms in your brain to the list of problems caused by dirty hands.

Rosemary Alvarez began experiencing numbness in her arm and blurred vision. A cat scan revealed nothing, but an MRI showed something very deep inside her brain. “Once we saw the MRI we realized this is something not good,” neurosurgeon Dr. Peter Nakaji told Phoenix’s Fox News. “It’s something down in her brain stem which is as deep in the brain as you can be.”

She was rushed into surgery where doctors expected to remove a brain tumor. What they found was a worm! Dr. Nakaji began laughing when he realized his patient didn’t have a life-threatening brain tumor. “I was so pleased to know that it wasn’t going to be something terrible,” he said.

The surgery was a success and doctors believe Ms Alvarez will have a complete recovery. How did she get the worm? Doctors said she could have gotten it from eating undercooked pork or from someone who handled food after not washing their hands after using the bathroom.

Experts note that one person with dirty hands could pass along a disease—or worms—to many people. Ms Alvarez has a few words of advice for others. “Wash your hands, wash your hands.”