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]

Why the Left Fears Sarah

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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Washington, D.C. Wins V.D. Triple Crown–Leads Nation in Syphilis, Gonorhea and Chlamydia Rates

Washington, D.C., had the dubious distinction of beating all 50 states to post the highest rates in the nation for the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The District of Columbia had a Chlamydia rate of 1,177 cases per 100,000 people–almost three times the rate of its neighbors, Virginia (405) and Maryland (439). Mississippi was a distant second, at 728 cases per 100,000 people. By comparison, California’s rate was 407 cases per 100,000; New York came in at 458; New Mexico at 470; Utah at 377 and Maine’s rate was a mere 198 per 100,000. [And here we thought the biggest problem in Washington DC were the POLITICAL whores…ed]

China questions costs of U.S. healthcare reform

Guess what? It turns out the Chinese are kind of curious about how President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plans would impact America’s huge fiscal deficit. Government officials are using his Asian trip as an opportunity to ask the White House questions. Detailed questions. Boilerplate assurances that America won’t default on its debt or inflate the shortfall away are apparently not cutting it. Nor should they, when one owns nearly $2 trillion in assets denominated in the currency of a country about to double its national debt over the next decade. Nothing happening in Washington today should give Beijing any comfort or confidence about what may happen tomorrow. Healthcare reform was originally promoted as a way to “bend the curve” on escalating entitlement costs, the major part of which is financing Medicare and Medicaid. That is looking more and more like an overpromised deliverable. [Even the COMMUNIST Chinese don’t like the way this ObamaCare fraud smells. I wonder if it’s because we are in debt to that government to the tune of nearly a trillion dollars and they know this pig will cost us nearly double that over the next ten years?…ed]

Hoffman ‘unconcedes’ in N.Y.-23 House race

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has “unconceded” in New York’s special House election after reports that the vote margin narrowed between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D). Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing. Hoffman appeared on conservative commenatator Glenn Beck’s radio show this afternoon. Beck asked the him if he would “unconcede.” “Yes, if I knew this information at the election night, I would not have conceded,” Hoffman said. [Perhaps conservatives should stop this nice guy crap and yank a page out of the leftists’ playbook and start fighting like mad dogs for these seats when the numbers are this close…ed]

Senate Committee Postpones Fort Hood Hearing At Request of White House

The Senate Armed Services Committee postponed its Monday briefing on the deadly Fort Hood massacre at the behest of the White House, despite calls from some lawmakers to press forward with a congressional investigation into the shooting rampage that killed 13 and wounded 29. An aide to committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., told Fox News that the meeting is delayed “at the request of the administration.” Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen George Casey were to have briefed committee members privately on the shooting. [What the hell ever happened to separation of powers in our government? Congress is representative of the people and Americans want to know why the Obama administration, despite enough red flags concerning this guy to make the Chinese jealous, didn’t do something to prevent this murdering muslim from killing 14 innocent people. Obama and his minions are simply buying time so as to spin this thing in a direction that points away from what really went down…ed]

Over half against terrorists’ trial in NYC

Most Americans oppose President Obama’s decision to try accused Sept. 11 attacks mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other suspected terrorists in a civilian court in Manhattan, according to a poll released today. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 51 percent opposed the decision, with just 29 percent favoring not to try the suspects in a military tribunal at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba where they are currently imprisoned. Nineteen percent said they were not sure whether it was the right decision or not, according to the survey. Meanwhile, the poll also found that only 30 percent of Americans said terrorists should be tried in US courts, while 54 percent favored military tribunals last year when the first such trial got under way at Guantanamo. [Polling indicates the American people know this trial is all about politics and they figured that out right quick…ed]

A modest proposal

With Congress tied up over health reform — legislation whose initial, much-discussed goal was to extend health insurance to as many as 47 million uninsured Americans — this may be as good a time as any to propose another, less divisive reform. (SNIP) All that is required is a bipartisan, pro-constitutional bill to extend the Second Amendment’s protection of gun ownership to all Americans, whether they like it or not. Under such legislation — let’s call it the Gun Insurance Act of 2009 — every American would be required to buy some kind of gun. Those who cannot afford even the simplest weapon — say, those whose 2009 annual income is less than twice the federal poverty level — could be issued $500 vouchers that would be valid only at gun shops or gun shows, and would have to be used before the 2010 Census. [This writer may be tossing out a little tongue in cheek satire but it actually is a damn good idea if you think about it…ed]

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Trial and Terror

The decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other top al-Qaeda terrorists to New York City for a civilian trial is one of the most irresponsible ever made by a presidential administration. That it is motivated by politics could not be more obvious. That it spells unprecedented danger for our security will soon become obvious. (SNIP) There is, however, a patent political rationale behind Obama’s decision. The terrorists are clearly committed members of the al-Qaeda conspiracy to wage a terrorist war against the United States — so much so that KSM cannot help himself, bragging about his atrocities against our country, including the 9/11 massacre of nearly 3,000 Americans. Further, controversy surrounds the intelligence-collection measures used by the Bush administration after 9/11 — measures such as enhanced interrogation that, though they saved countless lives, have been stridently condemned by the antiwar Left. This antiwar Left, President Obama’s base, has demanded investigations and prosecutions against Bush officials. [If you read nothing else today, read this. The movement by Obama of these terrorists into the civilian court system is serving one purpose and that is to demonize the liberal’s favorite punching bag, the Bush administration, prior to the 2010 elections. Obama is hoping this political stunt will result in the release of enough unpleasant details through his buddies in the media about our intelligence methods for extracting information from terror suspects that his far left base will jump on the red meat like rabid animals thus preserving the huge Democrat majority in Congress after the 2010 elections…ed]

Painting a Bull’s Eye on New York City

President Obama’s decision to put Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial in New York City along with four others accused of helping destroy the World Trade Center and attack the Pentagon on 9-11 paints a bull’s-eye for terrorists right on New York City, their favorite target. Now Obama has identified where the terrorists should focus their energies — on New York City. His decision to bow to political correctness and not to try Mohammed at a secure military base and to try him in a civilian court, according him all the rights of an American citizen, raises important questions: Most importantly, is the admissible evidence against Mohammed damning enough to secure a conviction? [More serious problems with Obama’s political decision to bring these admitted terrorists to New York City for a civilian trial…ed]

A nation in fear of being seen as anti-Muslim

THERE’S a climate of fear in the US among the military, law-enforcers, policy-makers, the media, opinion-formers and many ordinary citizens. A major cause is the intimidating Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is dedicated to Muslim empowerment, receives substantial funding from Arab governments and has been accused by federal prosecutors of funnelling money to Hamas. So effective and ruthless is CAIR that anyone in authority worries before doing anything that can be misrepresented as anti-Muslim and lead to lawsuits citing religious or racial discrimination. There were plenty of people who might have prevented the psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan from murdering 12 soldiers and a policeman, but were too scared to do so. [Political correctness is tyranny with manners—Charlton Heston…ed]

Saudi Arabia: The Source Of Islamization In US Military

Saudi Arabia has been identified as the source of the growing Islamization in the U.S. military. A leading analyst asserted that Saudi Arabia spent millions of dollars in its effort to convert U.S. soldiers to Islam. Dr. Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington, said the campaign pioneered by the Saudis began during the 1991 war against Iraq, which involved the deployment of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia. [Keep in mind Obama damn near slammed his head on the floor bowing to the Saudi king just a few months ago…ed]

Arrest at Walmart leads to charges of racism

Nearly three years after Heather Ellis switched checkout lines at a southeast Missouri store and touched off what she calls a racially charged dispute with white customers and authorities, the young black schoolteacher faces a trial that could send her to prison for 15 years. Witnesses have told authorities that Ellis cut in front of waiting customers at the Walmart in Kennett on Jan. 6, 2007, shoved merchandise already placed on a conveyor belt out of the way, and became belligerent when confronted, according to court filings. Ellis maintains she was merely joining her cousin, whose checkout line was moving more quickly. [For some reason it’s just so hard to believe this woman’s account of what really happened. Must be my life experience talking to me. I wonder if she can appeal through the NAA L CP for a pardon from Obama after she is convicted and sentenced to prison?…ed]

Millions will have to repay part of tax credit

More than 15 million taxpayers could unexpectedly owe taxes when they file their federal returns next spring because the government was too generous with their new Making Work Pay tax credit. Taxpayers are at risk if they have more than one job, are married and both spouses work, or receive Social Security benefits while also earning taxable wages, according to a report Monday by the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration. The tax credit, which is supposed to pay individuals up to $400 and couples up to $800, was President Barack Obama’s signature tax break in the massive stimulus package enacted in February. [I have to wonder if this was a deliberate act by the new Obama administration to score political points early only to kick taxpayers in the teeth later? Nothing like having to pay taxes on your “tax break” huh?…ed]

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Bill would reduce senior care. Medicare cuts approved by House may affect access to providers.

A plan to slash more than $500 billion from future Medicare spending — one of the biggest sources of funding for President Obama’s proposed overhaul of the nation’s health-care system — would sharply reduce benefits for some senior citizens and could jeopardize access to care for millions of others, according to a government evaluation released Saturday. The report, requested by House Republicans, found that Medicare cuts contained in the health package approved by the House on Nov. 7 are likely to prove so costly to hospitals and nursing homes that they could stop taking Medicare altogether. [The most informed most active voting bloc in this country is now put on notice. The Obama administration in cahoots with Congressional Democrats have every intention of reducing and or eliminating your Medicare healthcare coverage wherever they think they can get away with it…ed]

Study suggests costs rise under health care bill

Overall spending on health care would rise as a result of legislation approved a week ago by the House, and billions of dollars in projected savings contained in the measure will be difficult to maintain, according to a report by a top official at the agency that oversees Medicare. The legislation would expand insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million people who now lack it, according to the report, creating a demand for services that “could be difficult to meet initially … and could lead to price-increases, cost-shifting and/or changes in providers’ willingness to treat patients with low-reimbursement health coverage.” The analysis was issued by Richard Foster, the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, which is part of the Health and Human Services Department. [The Democrats are NEVER concerned about cost except when it comes to the military protecting our country. All these creeps care about is CONTROL over the population and that is precisely what ObamaCare is all about…ed]

Barack Obama bowed to Japanese emperor as ‘protocol’

A senior administration official said President Barack Obama was simply observing protocol when he bowed to Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko upon arriving at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday. “I think that those who try to politicize those things are just way, way, way off base,” the official said. “He observes protocol. But I don’t think anybody who was in Japan – who saw his speech and the reaction to it, certainly those who witnesses his bilateral meetings there – would say anything other than that he enhanced both the position and the status of the U.S., relative to Japan. [Allow me to run this unnamed “senior administration official’s” comment that Obama banging his head on the floor in front of the Japanese Emperor was a matter of protocol up the freakin’ BS flag pole…ed]

Oba Mao in China

No president has traveled more than Barack Obama in his first year — his current trip to Asia is his eighth. The first seven took him nowhere. In the afterglow of each, his prestige declined as his results proved ephemeral. His first trip, to Ottawa — a fly-in fly-out, same day affair without pomp and circumstance or announcements of substance — was among his best for doing the least harm. Trip Two, to Europe to convince his counterparts to spend spend spend their way out of the economic recession, began poorly for him when Europe’s leaders flatly refused. Trip Two ended spectacularly in Istanbul, at the Turkish Grand National Assembly, with a high-profile speech that reached out to a pivotal Muslim country. [Obama’s mission is not to maintain or increase the prestige of our country before the world, it is to rip it to shreds and he is doing a spectacular job of it wherever he goes. Maybe he can just go be president of some European country that has never had a half black figurehead?…ed]

Obama will visit ‘haunting grounds’

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama said Friday he would visit some of his old ‘haunting grounds’ in Indonesia during a visit next year to the nation where he spent part of his childhood and is hugely popular. The verbal slip drew laughs as Mr Obama spoke during an appearance with Indonesian President President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after the two leaders met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Singapore. (SNIP) The childhood connection and his knowledge of a few words of the Indonesian language have made him massively popular in the country of 234 million people, 90 per cent of whom are Muslim. [So Obama is going back to his old “haunting” grounds huh? Gee I thought the smartest guy in the world never said stupid stuff like this? And it’s little wonder he is so popular in his former ‘haunts’ after all it is 90% muslim…ed]

Administration Lowers Bar for Success in Afghanistan War, Seeks Exit Strategy

Top Obama administration officials took pains to lower the bar for success in Afghanistan Sunday, stressing that the administration is seeking an exit strategy and holds “no illusions” that it will transform the country into a functional modern democracy. The ongoing rhetorical tweaking of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan comes as the president weighs whether to send more troops to the war zone. It was thought that officials were leaning toward sending more than 30,000 U.S. forces, but Obama rejected all troop-level proposals last week, sending strategists back to the drawing board. [Hang onto your hats kids, here’s the beginning of the cut ‘n run from the administration who’s bar for competence is set so low ants can casually step right over it…ed]

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How low will he go? Obama gives Japan’s Emperor Akihito a wow bow

How low will the new American president go for the world’s royalty? This photo will get Democrat President Obama a lot of approving nods in Japan this weekend, especially among the older generation of Japanese who still pay attention to the royal family living in its downtown castle. Very low bows like this are a sign of great respect and deference for a superior. To some in the United States, however, an upright handshake might have looked better. Remember Michelle Obama casually patting Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on the back during their Buckingham Palace visit? America’s royalty tends to make movies and get bad reviews and lots of money as a sign of respect. Obama could receive some frowns back home as he did for his not-quite-this-low-or-maybe-about-the-same-bow to the Saudi king not so long ago. [It’s amazing the lengths Obama will go to make America look subservient and weak. In this photo it looks like he’s just about ready to hit his head on the Emperor’s zipper…ed]

Napolitano Announces Obama Administration Plan to Give Amnesty to Illegal Aliens

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Friday that the Obama administration will push for “immigration reform” by giving the estimated 14 million people who are in the United States illegally “fair pathway to earned legal status.” “A tough and fair pathway to earned legal status will mandate that illegal immigrants meet a number of requirements—including registering, paying a fine, passing a criminal background check, fully paying all taxes and learning English,” Napolitano said Friday at a panel discussion at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. [Selling out our country from underneath us 14 million brand new Democrat voters at a time. Maybe the liberals can lighten up a bit on the dead people voting and all the other fraud they pull in elections now…ed]

Obama urges Congress to put off Fort Hood probe

President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to hold off on any investigation of the Fort Hood rampage until federal law enforcement and military authorities have completed their probes into the shootings at the Texas Army post, which left 13 people dead. On an eight-day Asia trip, Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to “resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater.” He said those who died on the nation’s largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft. “The stakes are far too high,” Obama said in a video and Internet address released by the White House while the president he was flying from Tokyo to Singapore, where Pacific Rim countries were meeting. [Obama looks to be trying to provide cover for Hasan the murderous muslim. Congressional hearings such as these would be public by nature but the law enforcement and military investigators would report directly to the White House in privacy. I think I know where Obama is going with this…ed]

The Worst Decision by a US President in History

The Obama administration has taken a giant step in its march to throw in the towel in the war against radical Islam. On FoxNews this morning, Peter King said of the decision to try the soldiers of al-Qaeda — who by their own account have no country but their cause — as civilians, “may be the worst decision by a U.S. president in history.” It certainly is. It sends a signal to terrorists everywhere to attack civilians. The administration is justifying its decisions on the grounds that because the 9/11 attackers targeted civilians they should be tried as civilians. This makes no sense unless you are a Democrat who believes that the “holy war” that Islamic jihadists have formally declared on us is no different from the acts of isolated individuals who have decided to break the law. [Bet ya money Obama will top this “worst decision by a president” in no time…ed]

If Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Is Acquitted, President Obama, Will You Release Him?”

This type of question is one ABC News’ Jake Tapper has asked White House press secretary Robert Gibbs before. This is obviously an important question to address now that the Obama Justice Department has officially declared the trials of 9/11 conspirators will take place here in the States. Tapper asked the administration about its policy back in June and, in true Gibbs fashion, the question was just dodged altogether. Props to Tapper and Fox News’ Major Garrett for their willingness to press the White House on this issue: TAPPER: Two questions about developments today. One regarding the Ghailani trial — him being flown to the United States — if any of the detainees who are brought to trial through the U.S. criminal courts, or even through military commissions — if any of them are found not guilty, will the administration let them free? [It just dawned on me that this stunt by the Obama administration may really be nothing more than yet another attack on the Bush years. This trial will no doubt serve up all kinds of terrible details of how poor jihadists were “tortured” and “abused” and the lame stream press will just eat this crap up. If these scumbags are subsequently found not guilty we’ll then get the usual, “it was Bush’s fault”…ed]

Witness to evil: Proximity to terrorists at trial may not bring comfort to victims’ families

I have looked evil in the eye, and here’s what the families of the 9/11 dead will see: Gloating goons who lack beating hearts that would ever feel any pang of remorse. If they can stomach it, the relatives of those slain when Al Qaeda surprised a sleepy America on a beautiful fall day in 2001 will get a front-row seat to view the worst mankind has to offer. “I would expect that these trials will be open to the public, open to the world and open to the survivors and victims of these heinous acts,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday. [Like Obama gives a flip about what these guys did. Remember the low flyover of New York City by Air Force One? You know, the one where he said he had no idea HIS airplane was being used for a photo op several hundred feet above a terrified city?…ed]

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