Warlord says don’t send more US troops ‘get Italians to fight’
ONE of Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords has urged America not to send more troops, insisting there are enough to beat the Taleban already – if the rest of Nato simply pulled its weight.
Ismail Khan, the self-styled Emir of western Afghanistan, and three-decade veteran of fighting the Taleban and the Russians, was particularly scathing about the Italian forces, in his hometown of Herat. He said: “Most of the time they sit in their bases. We don’t need more Americans. The troops that we have already – the Italians, if they were more active, if they fought, then the situation would get better.” [Nothing new here, just move along. American troops have been carrying the water for the pansy ass Europeans for decades…ed]
Have you ever seen so much hatred for, and vitriolic criticism of, someone who had only a brief stint on the national political stage? More than a year after the presidential election in which Sarah Palin, as the GOP nominee for Vice-President, campaigned for about three months, she is still being pilloried by the left-wing loons as though she had been elected and were actively engaged in dismantling the liberal establishment. (SNIP) What this country needs is a strong conservative leader with the courage of her convictions. Sensing those qualities in Sarah Palin, the liberal left is becoming frantic because they can’t seem to halt her popularity. The reason they’re panicking is because they’re afraid of her connection with regular folks who work for a living, pay their taxes, attend a religious worship service regularly, and believe that our country has lost the moral fiber that once united us. [A fabulous AmericanThinker.com post of the day…ed]
AP Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book ‘Fact Check’
Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently “Going Rogue” is no normal book. When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages. (SNIP) Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin’s book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books. [I just don’t see any kind of agenda here by the Associated press folks, do you?…ed]
AP lays off employees to hit cost-cutting goal
The Associated Press laid off an undisclosed number of news employees Tuesday as part of the cooperative’s yearlong plan to cut worldwide payroll expenses by 10 percent. AP spokesman Paul Colford refused to specify how many jobs were eliminated Tuesday or in previous months from the news staff and other departments throughout the company. He said the not-for-profit organization intended to realize the targeted payroll savings by the end of the year. The AP still is looking to hire people in some positions, however. Leaders of the News Media Guild, which represents about 1,300 AP employees in the U.S., said 38 Guild-covered reporters, editors and photographers had been fired as of Tuesday night. The Guild did not have a count for how many managers and workers outside the U.S. lost their jobs. [But they assign 11 employees to “fact check” a private citizen’s book…ed]
Somali Pirates Attack U.S.-Flagged Ship for Second Time
Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday for the second time in seven months, though private guards on board the U.S.-flagged ship repelled the attack with gunfire and a high-decibel noise device. (SNIP) Four suspected pirates in a skiff attacked the ship again on Tuesday around 6:30 a.m. local time, firing on the ship with automatic weapons from about 300 yards away, a statement from the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain said. An on-board security team repelled the attack by using evasive maneuvers, small-arms fire and a Long Range Acoustic Device, which can beam earsplitting alarm tones, the fleet said. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said the Maersk Alabama had followed the maritime industry’s “best practices” in having a security team on board. [Most intelligent people would consider it a no brainer having armed security teams aboard ships in order to repel these pirates but this concept runs counter to what the leftists, who are adamantly opposed to ship crews being able to protect themselves, really want which is the transfer of wealth from “rich” developed nations moving goods around the globe, to third world countries in any manner possible, ya know like piracy…ed]
Vice President Joe Biden provides few laughs, gaffes on ‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart
Anyone who expected Vice President Biden to yuk it up with “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart on Tuesday night was sorely disappointed. There were no goofs, gaffes or slips of the tongue of the kind that have gotten Biden in trouble during his career. Instead, the vice president was mostly vice presidential. Smiling often and clearly at ease, Biden, led by Stewart’s questions, focused on defending the Obama administration’s ambitious policies from resuscitating the economy to health care reform. But Biden, the first sitting vice president to appear on the show, did manage to set Stewart up for a few laughs, once saying “we’re getting resistance” from Congress on financial reform. [A stupid idiotic COMEDY show with a moron for a host is the perfect venue for an appearance by Joe Biden, clearly one of the most clueless nitwits to ever hold the title of vice president of the United States…ed]
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Rep. Darrell Issa: Counterpoint: Fake job numbers vital to stimulus propaganda
Since President Obama took office, the American people have been subjected to an aggressive propaganda campaign designed to convince them that the $787 billion stimulus bill is working. Month after month, as unemployment continues to rise, the administration has sent its spinmeisters out to trumpet an altogether dubious number of jobs “created or saved.” Vice President Biden — the man appointed by the president to oversee the recovery effort — has shamelessly continued to claim credit for as many as one million jobs that the administration argues the stimulus has “created or saved.” (SNIP) “That is why I’ve asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort — because nobody messes with Joe.” Apparently, somebody is messing with Joe. Or even worse, Joe seems to be messing with us. [This Obama “stimulus” plan was never intended to “create or save” jobs it was intended all along to be a Democrat party slush fund for unions, supporters and 2010 election campaigns around the country and that is why this administration is deliberately LYING about these figures they’re posting on their propaganda site, recovery.gov…ed]
We knew something was funny when the White House claimed that 640,000 to 1 million jobs had been created from this year’s stimulus. What we didn’t know was that it would turn into a massive fraud. Not only have 640,000 new jobs not been created from the stimulus — an absurd claim, given the economy’s loss of nearly 4 million payroll positions this year — but it now seems that even the jobs themselves are fictional. Thanks to the digging of a number of data sleuths, it turns out that many of the jobs reported by states come from made-up congressional districts. This would be funny if it weren’t a criminal waste of public funds. And yet, G. Edward DeSeve, who runs the government’s economic recovery program, says the errors are “relatively few” and “don’t change the fundamental conclusions one can draw from the data.” Excuse us? The “relatively few” errors are in fact thousands in number. But that’s the pernicious place we find ourselves today — a public official defending shoddy accounting that looks an awful lot like fraud to the tune of billions of dollars. [This administration makes Bernie Madoff look like a 7-11 bubble gum thief and he’s rotting away in prison for the rest of his life…ed]
TARP Audit Finds Geithner Gave Away The Farm
Special Inspector General for TARP (aka “SIG TARP”) Neil Barofsky said something we’ve all known for a while: the government gave away the farm when AIG failed. If you recall, AIG’s failure meant that the companies on the other side of all of its contracts (counterparties) were going to be left holding the bag. Under normal cases of bankruptcy, the court would impose haircuts to the amount of money due to counterparties, but because AIG didn’t actually declare bankruptcy, the counterparties claimed that they were owed 100 cents of every dollar. The only bank that even considered taking a haircut was UBS – the Swiss, for goodness sakes – hard to imagine that a Swiss bank could make US banks look bad, but here’s a case in point. OK, so let’s get this straight: the financial world is melting down, Uncle Sam had just saved the bankers’ butts and now Tim Geithner the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) was going to wimp-out? [Billions of dollars of our money goes to pay off Wall Street cronies and foreign banks. Time for a federal grand jury and some indictments against a whole slew of crooks embedded in the upper echelons of our government…ed]
Top Obama donor and fundraiser Jodie Evans met with the Taliban in Afghanistan on a recent trip there, according to a report by Jane Fonda of a discussion she had with Evans last month. The meeting with the Taliban took place just weeks before Evans was videotaped directly handing to President Barack Obama a package of information about her trip to Afghanistan at a high dollar fundraiser in San Francisco. The meeting with the Taliban was kept secret by Evans and her group Code Pink in reports she and the group posted from Kabul and in interviews with the media and bloggers about the trip. Fonda, a close friend of Evans, let the secret meeting slip in an account of her dinner with Evans at a fundraiser for the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles: [It wasn’t that long ago when we took traitors against this country to the gallows and hung them by the neck until dead…ed]
Obama: Too much debt could fuel double-dip recession
President Barack Obama gave his sternest warning yet about the need to contain rising U.S. deficits, saying on Wednesday that if government debt were to pile up too much, it could lead to a double-dip recession. With the U.S. unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, Obama told Fox News his administration faces a delicate balance of trying to boost the economy and spur job creation while putting the economy on a path toward long-term deficit reduction. [So Obama gives “his sternest warning yet” about the out of control deficit that HE AND HIS CRONIES IN CONGRESS have bumped up to record levels in record time? Has this guy lost his mind or does he really think we are that stupid?…ed]
Republicans who endorsed Holder have second thoughts
Last January, several Republican legal stars wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting Eric Holder’s nomination to be attorney general. Now, in light of Holder’s decision to grant 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed full American constitutional rights and try him in federal court in New York, some of those veteran lawyers are having second thoughts. The January letter called Holder an “extraordinary lawyer” of “unfailing integrity” who is “superbly qualified” to lead the Justice Department and whose appointment as the first African-American attorney general “should be hailed as a milestone.” “From his experience Eric fully understands and appreciates the constant threat posed by al Qaeda and Islamic extremists,” the GOP lawyers wrote. “[He] is the right man at the right time to protect our citizens in the critical years ahead.” [Second thoughts? WTF? Everybody and their mother knew what Holder was all about long before he became Obama’s AG especially when it comes to his views on the Second Amendment. How could ANY Republican have supported his nomination is beyond me…ed]
Eric Holder — distinguished prosecutor, judge, foe of public corruption, basketball enthusiast, mentor to disadvantaged youth — seemed a reassuring choice for attorney general. When Holder affirmed during his confirmation hearing that America remains at war with terrorists, Sen. Lindsey Graham enthused, “I’m almost ready to vote for you right now.” So how did Holder become the most destructive member of Barack Obama’s Cabinet? Holder launched his tenure by showing disdain for the work of career federal prosecutors when it fit his ideological predispositions. In 2004, a task force from the Eastern District of Virginia investigated allegations of misconduct against the CIA and found insufficient evidence of criminal conduct or intent. Holder ignored the views of these respected prosecutors and appointed his own special prosecutor, appeasing a political constituency that wanted the CIA to be hounded and punished. As a result, morale at a front-line agency in the war on terrorism has plunged. [Oh, perhaps this is why all those Republicans have those second thoughts about supporting the uber left wing Eric holder…ed]
Michelle Obama: The President’s Bitter Half
I never thought I’d find as big a fraud, phony, faker, fibber and hypocrite in high places as President Barack Hussein Obama. But I found one. The president is married to her. Of course, I know that if you criticize the First Lady, the Obamas immediately go into their standard mode, claiming victimhood and racism. Recall when Mrs. Obama made her infamous remark about being proud of America but did so only after her husband was running for president. After getting hit with criticism, the Obamas went on ABC’s “Good Morning America” to denounce “low class” and “detestable” criticism. Mr. Obama declared his wife to be a “civilian” and exempt from such criticism, as she “didn’t sign up for this.” Of course, those that closely follow the Obamas, get the feeling that they think they are above criticism, and any criticism is illegitimate and quickly branded as part of the “old politics” or “playing games.” [The only thing I could find that was left out of this article is the fact Michelle Obama is also uglier than a mud fence…ed]
President Barack Obama’s job approval rating is 48 – 42 percent, the first time he has slipped below the 50 percent threshold nationally, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Support for the war in Afghanistan and approval of President Obama’s handling of the war also is down in the last month, and Republican support for the war is more than twice as strong as Democratic support. (SNIP) “Although President Obama’s job approval rating is below 50 percent for the first time nationally, it is not statistically different from his 50 percent approval rating in October. Nevertheless, in politics symbols matter and this is not a good symbol for the White House,” said Brown. “Moreover, the percentage who approve of the way he is handling the economy has dropped from a split 47 – 46 percent approval in October to 52 – 43 percent disapproval today.” [Obama is an empty suit wholly unqualified to hold the position in which he has been placed and the American people are now starting to wake up and pay attention to the destruction he and his minions are doing to our country…ed]
Survey finds only 43 percent would re-elect Obama now
Only 43 percent of voters surveyed by the Zogby/O’Leary Poll would vote for President Obama less than a year after he was elected, or about the same level of support President Clinton won in 1992 in a three-way race with the first President Bush and former EDS executive and national political gadfly Ross Perot. Perhaps even more worrisome for the president is that only 37 percent of independents queried in the survey said they would support Obama. That figure appears to be consistent with exit polling following the Virginia and New Jersey governorship races which indicated a seismic shift among independents away from Obama and to Republican candidates Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie. [Obama doesn’t seem to be polling well on a damn thing these days…ed]
Dems alarmed as independents bolt
Mounting evidence that independent voters have soured on the Democrats is prompting a debate among party officials about what rhetorical and substantive changes are needed to halt the damage. Following serious setbacks with independents in off-year elections earlier this month, White House officials attributed the defeats to local factors and said President Barack Obama sees no need to reposition his own image or the Democratic message. Since then, however, a flurry of new polls makes clear that Democrats are facing deeper problems with independents—the swing voters who swung dramatically toward the party in 2006 and 2008 but who now are registering deep unease with the amount of spending and debt called for under Obama’s agenda in an era of one-party rule in Washington. [I’m glad Obama doesn’t think his policies are responsible for independents running away from Democrats in droves. I sincerely hope he keeps it up for a few more months so as to seal the party’s fate in 2010 and his own in 2012…ed]
Organizers of ‘pink slip’ protest claim 5 million sent to Congress
Voters disappointed over health care and other legislative efforts have now sent 5 million “pink slips” to members of Congress, the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily said Tuesday. Several Republican lawmakers joined WorldNetDaily figures to endorse the campaign Tuesday on Capitol Hill. “These pink slips are a call for fiscally responsible and constitutionally responsible Americans,” said Rep. Steve King of Iowa. A pink slip is symbolic of job dismissal, a theme not lost on Rep. Trent Franks, R-Arizona, who said members need to vote the will of the people or be fired in the next election. (SNIP) “American people really blew it in the last election,” he said, calling on them to urge lawmakers to oppose a list of policies from the Obama administration. [Voters in New Jersey and Virginia spoke loudly earlier this month and I have a feeling those elections were just the opening salvo of disgust the American people have towards the far left who have hijacked our country…ed]
California faces a projected deficit of $21 billion
Less than four months after California leaders stitched together a patchwork budget, a projected deficit of nearly $21 billion already looms over Sacramento, according to a report to be released today by the chief budget analyst. The new figure — the nonpartisan analyst’s first projection for the coming budget — threatens to send Sacramento back into budgetary gridlock and force more across-the-board cuts in state programs. The grim forecast, described by people who were briefed on the report by Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, comes courtesy of California’s recession-wracked economy, unrealistic budgeting assumptions, spending cuts tied up in the courts and disappearing federal stimulus funds. (SNIP) “I can’t think of any good solutions,” said Assemblywoman Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa), who chairs the lower house budget committee. [21 BILLION in the hole and Noreen Evans the Democrat can’t think of any solutions? How about, don’t spend money you don’t have on a constantly expanding number of left wing social programs and find a way to purge the state of the millions of illegal aliens that cost CA billions of dollars every year Ms. Evans?…ed]
Somali woman stoned for adultery
A 20-year-old woman divorcee accused of committing adultery in Somalia has been stoned to death by Islamists in front of a crowd of about 200 people. A judge working for the militant group al-Shabab said she had had an affair with an unmarried 29-year-old man. He said she gave birth to a still-born baby and was found guilty of adultery. Her boyfriend was given 100 lashes. It is thought to be the second time a woman has been stoned to death for adultery by al-Shabab. The group controls large swathes of southern Somalia where they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law which has been unpopular with many Somalis. [Islam, the religion of peace my ass. What a bunch of medieval savages…ed]
Police in Arkansas Taser 10-Year-Old Girl
Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle says one of his officers used a Taser on a 10-year-old girl who was combative when the officer tried to get the girl into a patrol car to be taken to a youth shelter. Noggle said Tuesday that officer Dustin Bradshaw went to the girl’s home after her mother called police. According to a report filed by Bradshaw on Thursday, the officer found the girl on the floor of the house screaming and crying. She refused to follow her mother’s instructions and the mother told Bradshaw to use his Taser. [Headline tomorrow? Family of 10 year old girl tasered by police file mulitmillion dollar lawsuit against Ozark AK…ed]
Police: Would-be ninja impaled by metal fence
This never would’ve happened to Bruce Lee. Seattle police say an intoxicated 25-year-old man, who told officers he believed he was a ninja, was impaled on a metal spike Monday night after a failed attempt to jump a 5-foot fence. Around 11:15 p.m., officers responded to the 600 block of Seventh Avenue after a 41-year-old man called police to say he had been assaulted, said police spokeswoman Renee Witt. Officers arrived and found the impaled would-be ninja, Witt said. It turns out the older man, who was heavily intoxicated, tried to go into a sports bar in the 600 block of King Street, Witt said. The younger man, who isn’t a bar employee, barred the man from going inside– and an argument between the two men escalated into a fight. [Stupid “news.” That metal spike through the butt had to hurt like hell even if Mr. Ninja Turtle was drunk on his ass at the time…ed]
Quote of the day.
People think about geothermal energy – when they think about it at all – in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places there are these incredibly hot rocks, ’cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees, and the crust of the earth is hot…..
-Al Gore. The master climatologist claims that two kilometers under the surface of the earth the temperature is SEVERAL MILLION DEGREES! If that were the case this ‘planet’ would be a star. Nice work idiot.