* Temperature Highlights - October
* The average October temperature of 50.8°F was 4.0°F below the 20th Century average and ranked as the 3rd coolest based on preliminary data.
* For the nation as a whole, it was the third coolest October on record. The month was marked by an active weather pattern that reinforced unseasonably cold air behind a series of cold fronts. Temperatures were below normal in eight of the nation's nine climate regions, and of the nine, five were much below normal. Only the Southeast climate region had near normal temperatures for October.
* Statewide temperatures coincided with the regional values as all but six states had below normal temperatures. Oklahoma had its coolest October on record and ten other states had their top five coolest such months.
* Florida was the only state to have an above normal temperature average in October. It was the sixth consecutive month that the Florida's temperature was above normal, resulting in the third warmest such period (May-October).
* The three-month period (August-October) was the coolest on record for three states:
* Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. Five other states had top five cool periods: Missouri (2nd), Iowa (3rd) , Arkansas (5th) , Illinois (5th) and South Dakota (5th) . Every climate division in Kansas (nine) and Nebraska (eight) recorded a record cool such period.
* For the year-to-date (January - October) period, the contiguous U.S. temperature ranked 43rd warmest. No state had a top or bottom ten temperature value for this period.
* Precipitation Highlights - October
* The U.S. recorded its wettest October in the 115-year period of record. The nationwide precipitation of 4.15 inches was nearly double the long-term average of 2.11 inches.
* Regionally, two of the nation's nine climate regions (the East North Central and South) saw their wettest October. The Central region had its second wettest October, while the West North Central had its fourth wettest. This was the first month since December 2007 that no region had below normal precipitation.
* Three states (Iowa, Arkansas, and Louisiana) saw their record wettest October. Fourteen other states had precipitation readings ranking in their top five category. Only three states (Florida, Utah, and Arizona) saw below normal precipitation.
* Arkansas continued its remarkable run of wetness in 2009. The state has seen four months with top three precipitation ranks this year (May, 1st wettest; July, 3rd wettest; September, 2nd wettest; October, 1st wettest). As a result, the state's year-to-date average is the wettest in 115 years of record keeping. This contrasted with persistent dryness in Arizona, which saw its second-driest year-to-date period.
* The three-month (August-October) rainfall was record-setting for many adjacent divisions within Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It is noteworthy that this occurred despite only one tropical cyclone (Claudette, in August) making landfall in the region during this period.
* By the end of October, moderate-to-exceptional drought covered 12 percent of the contiguous United States, the second-smallest drought footprint of the decade, based on the U.S. Drought Monitor. Major drought episodes in California and South Texas improved significantly. Drought conditions emerged across much of Arizona.
* About 45 percent of the contiguous United States had moderately-to-extremely wet conditions at the end of October, according to the Palmer Index (a well-known index that measures both drought intensity and wet spell intensity). This is the largest such footprint since February 2005.
* Other Items of Note
* According to the NOAA Midwest Regional Climate Center in Champaign, Illinois, more than half of the long-term stations in the Midwest had one of their five wettest Octobers on record, with one out of five observing its wettest. Combined with the cold, this delayed crop planting and stunted crop maturity. Corn development was as much as four weeks behind in places, and the soybean harvest was well behind schedule throughout the region.
* Two major snow storms hit the contiguous United States during October. The first struck the Upper Midwest October 9th through 13th, while the second blanketed the western Plains States October 27th through 30th. By month's end, 13.6 percent of the nation was under snow cover, according to NOAA's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center.
* Unusually cold and wet conditions across the middle of the country led to several snowfall records. Cheyenne, Wyoming observed 28 inches of snow during October, making this the city's snowiest October on record. North Platte, Nebraska recorded 30.3 inches of snowfall, making October 2009 the snowiest month of all months on record for the city. The previous record was 27.8 inches, in March 1912.
* October, like September, saw below-normal fire activity in all respects. A total of 3,207 fires burned about 158,000 acres in October, according to the National Interagency Coordination Center. Each of these values is below this decade's average for October.
Lie #3
"on 3 or 4 trillion in additional debt are based in chicken little fear and hand wringing, but not reality."
So Obama's projects and CBO are chicken little fear and not reality.
Of course you are right Obama's numbers are never based in reality
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #4
"Your estimates can only be true if the spending necessary to end the conservative caused recession would be necessary every year."
Actually no Obama's Budget numbers and projections.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #5
It also necessitates that the recession continue
Nope it actually necessitates that spending is not cut. Cut spending and it is true.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie # 6
revenues continue to plummet as they did after Bush left.
Actually with the increase in spending and continuation of onetime spending revenues do not need to plummet.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Two true statements!
Your economic forecasting has no base in reality,
I guess using Obama's own numbers would have no base in reality so this is a TRUE statement WAY TO BRING SOME LEVEL of TRUTH to your Post!
"it's bunk!"
You said it! It is great that you are seeing OBama's policies for what they are.
Lie #7
Again, you jump up and down
Did not jump up or Down Today.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #8
and shit in your Depends
Again a lie, Not happened EVER.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #9
about things in the future
Actually the majority of the spending we are talking about is already happening. This year we will spend over 1.7 Trillion more than we bring in.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #10
that you imagine happening, not reality.
Again all we have is what Obama and his administration has put out as a plan. It is his number not mine. I did not make them up or pull them out of my ASS. OBAMA did.
Again has 100% of the stimulus been spent. You say no. VERY provable.
Also we continue to increase spending on things such as extending unemployment benifits, Stimilus payments to Social Security Recipients, Continued and expended home buyer credits, and a 4 th round stimilus package.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #11
The REALITY is that GOP presidents are responsible for nearly 9 trillion of our debt,
The government is responsible for 12 trillion of the debt.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Truth #3
Your science fiction about Obama will have value if it comes true.
Again it is based on Obama's own numbers so it is probably lies.
Lie #12
As of this very moment, your opinions are worthless.
Actually they are as valuable as any other voters.
you lie liberal prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #13
Because they are based on Crystal ball speculation.
Actually based on CBO and Obama's Budget numbers Both are a road map for his plan for the future. It is HIS plan not mine.
Your estimates can only be true if the spending necessary to end the conservative caused recession would be necessary every year.
It also necessitates that the recession continue and revenues continue to plummet as they did after Bush left.
Your economic forecasting has no base in reality, it's bunk!
Again, you jump up and down and shit in your Depends about things in the future that you imagine happening, not reality.
In modern America, the guilty are sanctified, while the innocent never stop paying – including with their lives, as they did at Fort Hood.
Before shooting up a medical facility on that Army base, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar.”
While Hasan gave a shout-out to Allah before shooting, President Obama gave a shout-out to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow” before getting around to mentioning the massacre on the day it happened.
President Obama's response to abortionist George Tiller was “I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller.”
President Obama’s response to the slaughter of 13 Americans by a Muslim at a U.S. military installation was to instruct Americans not to “jump to any conclusions.”
There was a risk that right-wingers’s would start playing the old “Blame The Perpetrator” game.
While the rest of us were supposed to avoid coming to the obvious conclusion, liberals went to work establishing a counterintuitive conclusion -- which they plan to make conventional wisdom by Wednesday.
The mainstream media and government officials waited for no information – indeed actively avoided learning any information -- before leaping to the conclusion that Hasan’s mass murder was set off by traumatic stress.
Hasan’s family members, egged on by the media, portray their murderous relative as the victim – of vague taunts by fellow servicemen for being a Muslim.
CNN began its article on the massacre: “The bumper sticker reading ‘Allah is Love’ was torn off and the car was keyed.”
A Muslim mows down 13 Americans and immediately we're supposed to start feeling sorry for the Muslim. (The bumper sticker incident did not occur on the military base where Hasan committed mass murder and the perpetrator had already apologized to Hasan.)
The Army’s top brass, Gen. George Casey, responded to the massacre by announcing: “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength.”
As described in “Guilty,” the more culpable a person is, the more beloved he is in modern America’s cult of victimology.
Naturally, therefore, on Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims won top billing in the victimhood pantheon. On the basis of slaughtering 3,000 Americans, they moved up in the rankings -- surpassing blacks, Jews, gays, illegal immigrants, and feminists as our most privileged victims.
worlld trade center, kobar towers, usscole, theye attacked many others as well. plane highjackings to many to count, trains, subways , coffee shops, markerts, mosques, israel, turkey, the mess in africa [YOU ARE GOING TO BLAME THE MESS IN AFRICA ON MUSLIMS? TRY US DESTRUCTION TO AFRICA], [SOME OF YOUR INCIDENTS ARE FALSE FLAG] they attacked kuwait, the middle east has been at war for over 1000 years , they attempet to assinate an amercian president, 1 of the snipers we know was a security guard at the million man march, the latest shooter had a history that should have set off alarms, its funny the 9-11ers, [THERE IS NOTHIN FUNNY ABOUT ANY OF THIS BUT KEEP LAUGHING]
the stolen electioners, etc all are the same people standing in the way of stopping these things with the aclu, etc we cant have voter ids [THAT'S RIGHT THE US ELITISTS HAVE TAKEN AWAY YOUR RIGHT TO A MEANINGFUL VOTE] , they accuse the govt of all these things yet they are the ones stopping the govt from containing these acts aclu , fillibusters etc , why are the 9-11ers giving cover to the so called victims radical muslims ??? Why do the stop any attempt to stop illegal voting ,, [REALLY? THERE ARE MANY AMERICANS WORKING HARD TO STOP ILLEGAL VOTING i.e. BLACKBOX VOTING]. yet they want to accuse the same govt . hahahahahaha what a bunch of crackheads 9-11ers are. but after the last 8 years and watching the socialists it is amazing how they tell us not to jump to conclusion if its a muslim, but if its an american millitary person or a pro lifer , whites at colleg accused of rape , don imus, rush limbaugh , libby, they sure are quick to convct them in the public courts, more like a tale of 200 shootings versus 1 pro lifer , and we wont eve ncount the number of violant attacs by unioin workers that get burried in the news. [YEAH BUT WE GIVE LIFE SENTENCES TO LITTLE BLACK MINORS WITHOUT ANY CHANCE FOR PAROLE WHILE WHITE SO-CALLED CHRISTIANS GET ONLY TWO YEARS FOR THE SAME FELONIOUS BEHAVIOR OR WORSE--INCLUDING MURDER].
I'VE GOT TO WONDER HOW MUCH OF YOUR ANGST AGAINST MUSLIMS IS DUE TO THE PROSPECT OF DECLINING WAR BONDS AND STOCKS.
Actually new Debt this year 1.85 Trillion according to the CBO, 1.75 by Obama's own projections.
You excuse him for tax cuts but not republicans. Dishonest
You excuse him for lost revenue due to recession but not the republicans Dishonest.
You excuse him for new spending but not republicans Dishonest.
"IF! There are a lot of IF'S in your opinions. Lets use facts. As it stands the GOP is responsible for 8.89 trillion of our debt. That isn't changing."
LIE. The Federal Government is responsible.
Your whining about what may or may not happen in the future doesn't change that the GOP is responsible for nearly 9 trillion of the debt.
Again with the Lie. We are currently at 12 trillion and rising at a record pace. Next year we will go by 13 and 14.
While at the same time shitting in their pants about debt being evil and destructive and communistic!
Actually the GOP is not alone responsible for the 8.89 trillion you credit them with. For that to be true liberals would have needed to add zero in spending to all budgets, which is not true. They would have needed to not add pork to bills which again is not true, and so on. It is funny that you hold congress no responsibility and the president 100% responsible unless his name is Obama.
It is not a Republican/Democrat issue. To say Reagans debt is all GOP is insane.
It is funny to me that you give Democrats a free pass on the over 3 trillion they have added to the national debt Mainly in peace time as opposed to the republicans who have added over 8 trillion.
You said in your headline that I lied, yet didn't say what I lied about or give proof that I lied. PATHETIC!!!
Lie #1
"DO the math cons. "
You imply that you have. However you fail to add up Obama spending 1.75 (his own number) or 1.85(CBO'S numbers) You also subtract much of the responsibility for his over spending. You also fail to divide the above numbers by 455 billion to understand it is over 3 times more than the record deficit.
Again 3.95 Trillion spending in 2009 2.15 to 2.2 trillion in revenue give what in new deficit DO THE MATH YOU LIBERAL LIAR. prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #2
You shit in your pants,
not in 45 years, However when we see the current debt this year we should.
LIBERAL LIAR. prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #3
whine SOCIALISM,
Actually we are pointing out that 'national summer works programs seem by their nature what?
Buying 1 of the largest car companies in America is what?
Controlling CEO salaries is more Socialist or capitalist?Which.
LIBERAL LIAR. prove me wrong or apologize.
Lie #4
insist that democrat debt will destroy America and enslave us all.
Actually it is not only the Democrats debt it is America's Debt. However adding 1.85 Trillion in a Year, 3 times the most added in history (which was last year under a democratic congress) seems to moving us quickly down the road.
Lie #5
"But you hypocritical," Calling the opposition hypocritical is a lie. When you refuse to use the same standards for Republicans as you do democrats see above
Lie #6
" spineless pussies spend exponentially more than any democrat ever has. "
2009 Obama year to date has added and spent more than anyother president in history. In fact has added 3 times the annual debt of any other president.
"Either Obama is responsible for the GREATEST increase in deficit spending or no president is responsible"
Sorry can't have it both ways.
LIBERAL LIAR. prove me wrong or apologize.
"Research shows the one consistent is spending increases at the fastest rate with a democratic president and democratic congress. There is no contest"
In fact if we look at the party in control of congress there is no comparison in who adds debt. Of course you don't want to use those facts. They don't make Democrats look as fiscally responsible as you want to claim.
It is funny to me that you hold one responsible for the overspend each year of 536 people. Seem to me we would be much better off if we held all 536 responsible.
By the way what percent of the federal debt is budget and what is other spending bills?
I know it does not matter to you.
You would rather lie and say it is all republicans.
Really? Where is this research?
NATIONAL TREASURY! Congressional budget office. 2009 Budget.
It is not even close.
We will have the two largest increases in our nations history. Each year by more than 700 billion. Of course that is before the additional spending congress keeps adding.
"Because the reality says debt increased nearly 9 trillion under GOP presidents." Over 24 years. As opposed to 3.5 to 4 trillion for Democrats in 9.
Yep.
How many of the 20years we are talking about did we also have a democratic controlled congress. 14 out of the 20.
52%-46% Rasmussen
53%-46% Ipsos/McClatchey
50%-43% Fox News
52%-44% IBD/TIPP
Zogby had an 11-point margin for Obama - 54%-43%, along with Gallup - 55%-44%. When it comes to even-handed, reliable polling, you cannot do better than Rasmussen.
UPDATE: CBS News predicted a 51%-42% Obama win; NBC News had it 51%-43%; ABC News had it 53%-44%....
You don’t need to watch it all at once, but please watch it all.
Lord Monckton believes Nobel Peace Prize was given to Obama for his cooperation and signing of UN Treaty to cede American Sovereignty and begin a World Government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMe5dOgbu40
Glenn Beck : Medicare Refused More People than Any Insurance Company
(medicare figures about 6 ½ minutes in – probably exaggerated, but where is the debate from the Whitehouse?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB3InUulfII
Congress deliberately permitted AIG bonuses to be paid, and then publicly scolded them as a diversion – made them their scapegoats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uhn1SgpmdE
Some Clips from the Mainstream Media and the Left: (what are they saying?)
This is CNN helping congress to personalize animosity toward execs who accepted frivolous bonuses – WHICH CONGRESS INTENTIONALLY ALLOWED! If they were really journalists they would have pointed out that the Government was fully responsible for this huge theft of our tax dollars. Congress robbed us with the stimulus bill they passed, and then funneled the huge portion of bonus money to AIG and then isolated and personalized an attack on them for their greed. THE GOVERNMENT WAS THE OVERSEER!! THE GOVERNMENT STOLE OUR MONEY!! CNN is not reporting for the people.
Keith Olbermann: Sarah Palin Glen Beck are dangerous Liars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALg_pQZiUbs&feature=related
Van Jones Calls Republicans Assholes -- And He is Right!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLUW4QED2-0&feature=related
Interviews of Tea Party protestors. They singled out the ones who sounded dumbest, but was that the best they could do? We can at least see clearly here that the protestors are not violent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y
Listen to this Tool. He watches a Glenn Beck episode and just heckles it in the background. It was a good episode I had seen before. He took some cheap shots at the guest and then went on to shout it out as Astroturf (did you watch it?). He then arrogantly stated why a Public Option in Healthcare would give him more economic freedom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y
I just can’t seem to find anything that makes sense that is in favor of the Obama Administration agenda…can you? Please show me if so.
Oh and BTW, don't tell the drooling idiots at American Thinker that they need an overwhelming majority in polling to take 10 senate seats to take control, and 41 seats in the house to take control.
With the GOP losing in most polls and ahead by a couple points in maybe 2 polls, you aren't taking back shit! The numbers, the support for the GOP and the GOP party identification just is NOT there.
The cons really are that stupid to think that they will pull off the biggest political revolution and power change in American history with only 24% approval and 19% of Americans calling themselves republican!
Sir, I ask you to consider those who are responsible for waging war against Americans. I strongly suggest you get busy reviewing the documentation on 9/11, and write again when you have your facts straight. The American people have proven that 9/11 was a cover-up by certain U.S. citizens acting as governance to the commonwealth. If you believe otherwise, you are not a true American. Perhaps you should apply for a green card to live in Iraq where you will be more welcome.
Oh, regarding the Fort Hood shooting: Mass shootings are occurring daily and have been for a long time. Should this particular tragedy at Fort Hood garner special attention? Don't look now, but it is the people of the U.S. that are hurting eachother. I know very well how destructive we are to eachother. It did not surprise me that small children wanted to be 'extreme killers' for Halloween this year. In essence, unknowingly, they are the terrorists of tomorrow in training, but they are not Islamic or Muslim. We dress our children in military wear and drag them into gunshops at early ages. We expose them to terrorism from birth through the games they play and what they watch on T.V., what they wear, and what they see in comics. Terrorism indoctrination begins at an early age. But we condemn others as terrorists when we see the same occurring in other countries. I can't condone any of it no matter what country it occurs in.
Another truth, cocaine causes paranoia. Get off the crack and the world will be a much better place.
Over 4 Billion of Republican deficit is a result of tax cuts, revenue short falls and stimulus spending for the Carter Recession the Clinton Recession and the Bush Recession.
You can't have it both ways.
Either Obama is responsible for the GREATEST increase in deficit spending or no president is responsible.
And by the way. What percent of the deficits has gone to ear marks, and congressional increases to the budget? Kind of puts the total in perspective.
It is not a Presidential Spending Problem, it is a Government spending problem.
It's sure to remain the biggest political secret not in the news. Naturally, the media will ignore it; the polling company that produced the survey, Gallup, even buried it under a misleading headline.
Maybe, to get some coverage, the Republicans could claim to have hidden somebody in a weather balloon, or something.
The congressional election prediction is part of a one-two punch Gallup delivered Barack Obama's Chicago mob on Tuesday, albeit reluctantly.
Gallup's daily tracking shows that the spike in the polls from Obama's photo-op saluting fallen soldiers returned from Afghanistan was apparently short-lived. The cynically orchestrated visuals of Obama saluting fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base helped Obama climb briefly to 55%, but Gallup says Obama's job approval rating has quickly slid back to its lowest level, 50% -- one point lower than it was last week.
Perhaps more importantly, one year before the public heads to the polls to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives, Gallup says their generic congressional numbers are at levels which would give Republicans a majority in the House if the election were held today.
Gallup, naturally, hides that startling result by headlining their report, "Generic Ballot Provides Clues for 2010 Vote."
Clues?
Yeah, like REPUBLICANS MIGHT WIN!
The Gallup 'Would you vote for a Democrat or Republican?' question showed a dramatic slip for Democrats since July. Their new numbers show 46% saying they would vote for Democrats, 44% for Republicans. Despite the slight margin for Dems, Gallup admits:
Given the usual Democratic advantages in party identification among the general public, it is rare for Republicans to lead on the generic ballot among registered voters.... But the reason the Republican Party is competitive in congressional elections is that Republicans generally turn out to vote at higher rates than Democrats.
Gallup projects that, at the 46% level, their most accurate projection is that Democrats would win 197 seats. Their low-end estimate is that Democrats would win as few as 186 seats. The most House districts that Democrats would carry, according to Gallup's projections, is 208.
All three scenarios would give the GOP control of the House.
If the election were now.
Clearly a lot can, and will, change in a year. Yet, these numbers put to the lie Democrats' contention that the 2008 election was a left-wing version of the Reagan Revolution. Surveys show that the U.S. remains a predominantly conservative country. It took an overwhelming, and rather oddly timed, financial crisis and an unprecedented $800 million -- largely of Goldman Sachs' and other special interest groups' money -- to get Barack Obama elected by just 52% of the vote.
Now, as one Iowa woman told the New York Times, folks are saying, "Oh, what did we do?"
However, in the hands of Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, and a complaint Senate that confirms judicial appointments, the third branch has become merely an appendage of the Executive branch. While the spotlight was focused on Sonia Sotomayor, a quieter and stealthier takeover of the judicial system has been creeping ahead as one radical Federal judge after another is appointed and approved by the Senate. These judges have lifetime tenure and are able to interpret, enforce, and (in a sense) rewrite laws through evolving case law.
The latest battle is being waged over the nomination of David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Senate Democrats are proving once again that no judicial nominee is too extreme for them to stomach. A move seems to be afoot to open debate on the Senate floor this week on the nomination of David Hamilton of Indiana to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. This judge is a radical's radical.
Senator Jeff Sessions , the ranking Republican on the Judicary Committee, has sent a letter to fellow Senators on the Committee outlining his objections, as reported in this Washington Times editorial:
The senator first objected to Judge Hamilton's stated belief that judges should effectively amend the Constitution - "writing footnotes to the Constitution," the judge called it - through evolving case law. Second, Judge Hamilton has publicly and specifically embraced the president's "empathy standard," which even Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has now openly rejected.
Third, Judge Hamilton in many cases has shown an extreme hostility against innocuous expressions of religion in the public square. Mr. Sessions noted, though, that Judge Hamilton's odd ruling in Hinrichs v. Bosma "prohibited prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives that expressly mentioned Jesus Christ ... yet he allowed prayers which mentioned Allah."
Fourth, Mr. Sessions pointed out that "lawyers in the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary describe Judge Hamilton as one of the most lenient judges in his district on criminal matters," including the case of a police officer who videotaped his own sexual encounters with two teenagers. The senator also objects to the judge's extreme actions in blocking an "informed consent" law on abortion.
The judge also had no problem representing Indianapolis when it took over the property of a private business to benefit another private business - an abuse of the "eminent domain" power that is supposed to restrict such government takeovers to situations that directly benefit the public.
The Washington Times neglects to mention one fact about Hamilton. He is the nephew of former Congressman Lee Hamilton: a Democrat who gave cover to Obama during the campaign regarding his foreign policy views. I have written about the close ties between Hamilton and Obama. Lee Hamilton has also praised a laudatory book about the Shiite terror group Hezbollah. So now, we can understand how his nephew seemingly favors Allah over Jesus in the public square.
Even the Federal Reserve states that only 6% of the collapsed debt was from CRA's
The bulk of the bad debt was from middle and upper income loans.
Nobody blames CRAs, the government and the poor for this. No expert does, anyway! But con pundits and frauds do.
-================
Our analysis of the loan data found that about 60 percent of higher-priced loan originations went to middle- or higher-income borrowers or neighborhoods. Such borrowers are not the populations targeted by the CRA. In addition, more than 20 percent of the higher-priced loans were extended to lower-income borrowers or borrowers in lower-income areas by independent nonbank institutions--that is, institutions not covered by the CRA.6
President Obama will be at Fort Hood today, speaking at a memorial service for the men and women who died in last week’s shooting. Around “3,000 spectators, as well as the families of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed, are expected to attend.” Vice President Biden will be at Fort Lewis, WA to “speak at the memorial ceremony for seven Stryker brigade soldiers” who were killed in Afghanistan two weeks ago.
Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says her Department is now working to deflect any backlash against American Muslims following Thursday's rampage by a Muslim soldier. This is the same Napolitano that issued a report earlier this year cautioning against the domestic threats of “right-wing extremism” and right-wing groups that might use issues such as abortion as a recruiting tool. Were Obama and Napolitano concerned about backlash against pro-life advocates in the wake of Tiller being shot? It turns out that there was reason for concern, though you would not know from the mainstream media but pro-life activist James Pouillon was murdered with virtually no media attention just a short time after the massive coverage of Tiller’s murder.
The media, except for Fox News Channel and very few others, played right along with Obama’s Fort Hood narrative, failing to mention reports that the Army Major Nidal Hasan screamed “Allahu Akhbar” as he murdered more than a dozen and wounded over thirty other unarmed soldiers. Imagine the media’s coverage and the Obama Administration’s outrage if the man who shot late-term abortionist George Tiller had yelled “Hail Mary” as he shot Tiller.
US Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey further promulgated this bizarre approach on the Sunday talk shows saying, “I am worried…that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.”
So far there have been two incidences of Muslims murdering their fellow soldiers in the peaceful confines of a military base or encampment. There is not one single solitary incident of a non-Muslim soldier shooting an American Muslim soldier to date. So why is it that when a Muslim shoots dozens of his fellow American soldiers Obama, Casey and the media are concerned for Muslim soldiers?
It would seem that the non-Muslim soldiers are in more danger than our Muslim soldiers. We’re now allocating resources to try to protect Muslim soldiers that would be better spend shifting policy to try to prevent any similar incidents from occurring. And of course we will be told that we must recognize the importance of sensitivity to Muslims in the military, after all, many of them are translators for the languages spoken by the radical Islamist enemy. I don’t suppose it would occur to General Casey that if Islamist soldiers would murder their fellow non-Muslim soldiers that they might also sabotage the translation of documents and communications of the enemy.
The real problem with our government and military’s handling of events such as this is that it is further evidence that they simply do not understand Fourth Generation Warfare, the type of non-military tactics the jihadists are using against us. If we recognize this act of internal treachery for what it clearly and obviously is, an Islamic jihad attack from within our own ranks, then we deny the enemy a propaganda victory. We can deter them from claiming Americans “are turning on their own” which allows them to recruit more Islamic extremists to carryout these attacks.
When the first Islamic attack occurred in the 101st Airborne Division by Sgt. Asan Akbhar, many warned of the enemy within. I was one of them in an April 2003 article in Insight Magazine I quoted former Assistant Secretary of Defense Frank Gaffney stating "If [extreme] Islamists have infiltrated into the [armed] services it is a matter of grave concern because, by definition, Islamists are engaged in advancing an agenda that is inimical to this country and what it is and what it stands for, and its security most especially."
Evidently, it wasn't enough of a red flag to read this lunatic's anti-American bitterness, which he proudly posted on the Internet with no fear or compunction about using his own name. This is a guy who regularly wore the fundamentalism uniform of the enemy he was supposedly training our troops to defeat. This is a guy who wrote in laudatory terms about suicide bombers as he condemned US policies in the Middle East. This is a guy who reportedly told his military classmates that he was a Muslim first and an American second. Hello? Is there anyone out there with common sense? If this is national security, we are in more trouble than we realize. How many more savage time bombs do we have walking and stalking among us?
The blood of this massacre had hardly stopped flowing before members of the media were cautioning us not to view all Muslims as terrorists. That should go without saying, but what should not go without saying is that we'd better get serious about the obvious danger of excusing Muslims who make it clear that they hate this country. Discriminating against people because of their race or religion is a description of bigotry, but keeping a close eye on people who give every indication that they're dangerous is more than sensible -- it's a vital cog in the survival instinct.
In Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid, the great city of Troy was invulnerable until the Greeks devised a strategy in which a huge figure of a horse was left outside Troy's gates. Naïvely thinking it was a trophy delivered by their vanquished foes, the citizens of Troy (Trojans) pulled the towering figure into their city. They didn't know it was hollow and contained dozens of enemies who waited until the city slept before creeping out and opening the gates for the Greek army.
Like many great societies before and since, Troy was defeated from within. Greek mythology? Yes, but a lesson to be learned. Have we become naïve enough to believe that people who seem bent on destroying us should be protected, that we should allow them the freedom to carry out their nefarious plots? I don't care if the guy's name is Hasan or Henderson; if he evinces hostility toward our country or a propensity to harm us, he should be treated like the enemy he purports to be.
We must rid ourselves of the foolish notion that we're being broadminded when we ignore vitriolic loathing of our culture and our lifestyle. Refusing to take action against evil for fear of being guilty of stereotyping has resulted in flag-draped coffins for thirteen of America's finest. What occurred at Fort Hood is even more stunning because it exposes a weak-willed mentality that has become woven into the fabric of the mightiest military force in the history of the world.
When we think of political correctness, we usually view it as confined to the Hollywood crowd and other assorted leftists. The fact that it has invaded the ranks of those who defend our freedom, here and around the world, is more than a bit alarming. We must not let the death of those soldiers count for nothing! If this unspeakable horror invokes a new paradigm in our approach to the enemies within, those who lost their lives will rest in peace, knowing that their sacrifice has taught us a lesson that will save countless other lives in the future. On the other hand, if we don't view this as a wake-up call and take appropriate action, the date of our destruction can't be far off.
There was always something surreal about the Wall. After the Second World War, Germany was been bisected into two more or less equal parts. In the east was the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany), a collection of former German territories awarded to Poland in Pomerania, Silesia, and the southern half of East Prussia; and in the west was the Federal Republic of Germany, a free democracy cobbled together from the American, British, and French sectors of conquered Germany.
Long before the Wall was built, millions of Germans had left the eastern half of Germany for the west. The Red Army raped almost every female who came into its clutches (a long-ignored atrocity, which still is as unimportant to feminists as the hellish life of women under Islam). Entire factories were moved from Germany to Russia. Totalitarian governments were set up in Eastern Europe, and it did not matter if the peoples had been the victims of Nazism, like Poles and Czechs, or Nazis allies, like Hungarians and Romanians.
Geographically and psychologically, Communism all came together in East Germany. If the Warsaw Pact nations had invaded the democracies of Western Europe, the attack would have come through the Fulda Gap in Germany. In 1948, Stalin blockaded Berlin in an effort to end the Four Power rule by squeezing out the American, British, and French sections of the city. The Berlin Airlift ended that threat; Stalin gambled and lost. Thirteen years later, in 1961, Khrushchev ordered the construction of the Wall, which prevented citizens of Germany from moving from one part of their nation to another. The Communist world acknowledged that given the choice between Marxist paradise and Capitalist hell, people chose the world of freedom in the West.
In the history of the left there have been several signal events that demonstrate both the madness and the malice of supporting Communism. During the alliance between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, Communist organizations went from hating Hitler one day to blaming the British for the Second World War the next.
The genuine partnership of Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia involved much more than simple nonaggression. Members of the Bund in America joined the Communist Party on orders from Berlin. The Soviets shipped tons of odious anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda out of Vladivostok to America. Communist-led unions staged increasingly effective strikes on American munitions industries right up through June 1941. Even before the nonaggression pact of 1939, most people grasped that there was no practical difference between the horror of Hitler and the sadism of Stalin.
When the inmates of East Germany tearfully tore down the Wall in 1989, only those who relished human misery could fail to grasp that the sooner Communism ended everywhere, the better for humanity. Yet today the orphans of Orwell's nightmares still lurk in the halls of colleges, the sanctuaries of hate-spewing churches, and the offices of foundations and government. Jeremiah Wright in late September of this year openly praised Marxism. One must presume that Wright also favors Marx's absolute rejection of God; his embrace of any means, however awful, to reach the Marxist utopia; and his profoundly racist views.
In 1995, the FBI revealed that we had been reading Soviet coded messages to their agents in America, and the Yeltsin government allowed Western scholars access to the internal security files of Soviet espionage in America. Then we could understand the true and terrifying reach of Soviet espionage and influence in America. The ideological professors who never found an anti-Communist they didn't hate should have completely reversed themselves. We now had more than just former Communists pointing fingers at men like Alger Hiss; we knew the specific code names given to Soviet agents (Hiss, for example, was "liberal") and we knew the instructions given to Soviet agents like Hiss and Harry Dexter. We knew that the depth of Soviet penetration of America was greater, not less, than most Americans had believed. But the attitude of academia toward anti-Communism did not change at all. Hollywood has utterly ignored the incredible and true story of the vast Soviet penetration of American government and society.
The moral argument for defending Communism, if it ever existed, died long ago. But the left's addiction to Communism, whether it is manifested in a macabre Michael Moore film celebrating the beneficence of Cuban health care or the equally bizarre Marxism of former Obama czar Van Jones, defies any explanation except a willing infatuation with evil. Moore made his film and Jones made his commitment to Communism after the Berlin Wall fell and after the Soviet Union imploded.
This ghastly practical experiment in human enslavement and thought-control is almost a century old. The theory behind it has been debunked just as surely as Nazi racial theories, once within a fashionable milieu of Social Darwinism, have been rightly tarred with not just error but fathomless hellishness.
The Wall is much more than bricks, mortar, land mines, and attack dogs. The left will not surrender Marx, not even two decades after the slaves of East Germany ripped apart the walls of their prison. The Wall is a mental and moral construction within the psyche of those who worship the sin of envy. The Wall allows those to believe a theory justifying this sin no matter how often experiments prove the theory wholly, utterly, and absolutely false.
The Berlin Wall fell twenty years ago, thank God, but the other Wall has survived the fall of the one in Berlin. This surviving Wall proclaims that freedom is an illusion ("Freedom is Slavery," as Orwell says), honesty is worthless, and individual justice is meaningless. This other Wall keeps Obama from doing anything good, but it does more than that: it keeps Obama from wanting to do anything we consider good.
i like the reference today, that people not wanting tax dollars to fund abortion, boo-hoo-hooo, i dont want my tax dollars funding wars or for-profit prisons, or money printing companies.you cant pick and choose
2. Bush was often considered to be in the grip of Big Oil. In contrast, Obama is a Harvard-educated lawyer. Which industry contributed more than five times as much as the other to politicians: the oil & gas industry, or lawyers/law firms?
3. Bush's Christian faith was at the core of his political identity, and he was considered to be in the grip of the "religious right," while Obama is considered more open-minded. In fact, Obama has said, "my faith is one that admits some doubt." Which one refers to Jesus more in public speeches?
4. Bush was criticized for excessive federal spending and running up huge deficits. Bush's deficit in 2008 was the largest in history. In fact, President Obama said,
It's a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package after they've presided over a doubling of the national debt ... What I won't do is return to the failed theories of the last eight years that got us into this fix in the first place.
Whose deficit was more than triple the size of the other's: Bush's in 2008 or Obama's in 2009?
5. While Obama criticized Bush for "a doubling of the national debt," the federal debt held by the public went from 35.1% of GDP in 2000 to 40.8% of GDP in 2008 -- an increase of 16% as of fraction of GDP. What is it expected to be in 2016 under Obama's budget plan?
6. Obama criticized Bush for Guantanamo, military tribunals, wiretaps, troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and "signing statements." Which one of these Bush practices has Obama ended?
Answers:
1. Bush. Obama started reading a book in April and had not finished it by June, putting him on a pace of no more than ten books per year. Bush read forty to ninety-five books a year while President, not counting a new and complete reading of the Bible every year. Bush scored 1206 on his SAT, putting his IQ in the 125-130 range, smarter than 95% of the population and in the company of Lincoln, Rousseau, and Thackeray. He graduated from Yale and earned an MBA from Harvard. Obama earned a law degree from Harvard, but has not released any of his academic records. Despite what you might have heard, we know nothing of his IQ, test scores, or grades from any of the schools he attended.
2. Law firms. In the 2010 cycle so far, Lawyers/Law Firms have contributed $33,779,866 (81% to Democrats), and the Oil & Gas industry has contributed $6,293,631 (34% to Democrats). In the 2008 cycle, the numbers were $233,499,989 (76% to Dems) from lawyers and $35,564,322 (23% to Dems). In all, lawyers contributed about six times more to politicians than the Oil & Gas industry.
3. Obama. Per Eamon Javers at Politico, "As president, Barack Obama has mentioned Jesus Christ in a number of high-profile public speeches -- something his predecessor George W. Bush rarely did in such settings."
4. Obama's 2009 deficit, the largest in U.S. history. It was more than three times that of Bush's record 2008 deficit. Per the Congressional Budget Office, the 2008 deficit was $455 B, and the 2009 deficit was $1,417 B. As a fraction of GDP, it was the largest deficit since 1945.
5. The CBO expects the debt held by the public to be 77.1% of GDP in 2016 under Obama's plan, or an increase of 89% as a fraction of GDP, and the highest level since 1950.
Last week, thirteen troops at Fort Hood did not survive America’s culture of victimhood, described in my book, Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America.
In modern America, the guilty are sanctified, while the innocent never stop paying – including with their lives, as they did at Fort Hood.
Before shooting up a medical facility on that Army base, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar.”
While Hasan gave a shout-out to Allah before shooting, President Obama gave a shout-out to "Dr. Joe Medicine Crow” before getting around to mentioning the massacre on the day it happened.
President Obama's response to abortionist George Tiller was “I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller.”
President Obama’s response to the slaughter of 13 Americans by a Muslim at a U.S. military installation was to instruct Americans not to “jump to any conclusions.”
There was a risk that right-wingers’s would start playing the old “Blame The Perpetrator” game.
While the rest of us were supposed to avoid coming to the obvious conclusion, liberals went to work establishing a counterintuitive conclusion -- which they plan to make conventional wisdom by Wednesday.
The mainstream media and government officials waited for no information – indeed actively avoided learning any information -- before leaping to the conclusion that Hasan’s mass murder was set off by traumatic stress.
Hasan’s family members, egged on by the media, portray their murderous relative as the victim – of vague taunts by fellow servicemen for being a Muslim.
CNN began its article on the massacre: “The bumper sticker reading ‘Allah is Love’ was torn off and the car was keyed.”
A Muslim mows down 13 Americans and immediately we're supposed to start feeling sorry for the Muslim. (The bumper sticker incident did not occur on the military base where Hasan committed mass murder and the perpetrator had already apologized to Hasan.)
The Army’s top brass, Gen. George Casey, responded to the massacre by announcing: “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength.”
As described in “Guilty,” the more culpable a person is, the more beloved he is in modern America’s cult of victimology.
Naturally, therefore, on Sept. 11, 2001, Muslims won top billing in the victimhood pantheon. On the basis of slaughtering 3,000 Americans, they moved up in the rankings -- surpassing blacks, Jews, gays, illegal immigrants, and feminists as our most privileged victims.
And now Americans are paying for our beloved "victims" not only in jobs, taxes, and speech rights, but with their lives. All this is detailed in case after case in Guilty: Liberal "Victims" and Their Assault on America
-- out in paperback this week.
I read the versions of the House [health reform] bill. I listened to the countless stories of Orleans and Jefferson Parish citizens whose health care costs are exploding — if they are able to obtain health care at all. Louisianans needs real options for primary care, for mental health care, and for expanded health care for seniors and children. [...]
I have always said that I would put aside partisan wrangling to do the business of the people. My vote tonight was based on my priority of doing what is best for my constituents.
The reaction to Cao from the right wing has been swift and fierce, with some comparing the only non-Hispanic minority in the GOP caucus to Mao Tse Tung and calling him racial epithets. Rep. Don Young (R-AK) — who has defended Cao’s vote — had to stand beside him during Saturday’s roll call, “fending off his GOP colleagues who might have twisted Cao’s arms.” Last week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele made clear that moderates who don’t walk the Party line have no place in the GOP:
So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you.
Cao “chuckled” in response to Steele’s comments, pointing out that his vision would essentially lead the party toward a path of political suicide. “He has the right to come after those members who do not conform to party lines,” said Cao, “but I would hope that he would work with us in order to adjust to the needs of the district and to hold a seat that the Republican party would need.”
These far right statements represent a dramatic shift from where the GOP said it was heading just a year ago. After Cao won in his majority-Democratic district, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) sent out a memo reading “The Future is Cao“:
As House Republicans look ahead to the next two years, the Cao victory is a symbol of what can be achieved when we think big, present a positive alternative, and work aggressively to earn the trust of the American people.
The GOP seems to no longer be interested in presenting “positive” alternatives or thinking “big.” Its alternative health care legislation didn’t even bar insurers from denying people based upon pre-existing conditions — a top priority of the American public. Additionally, instead of candidates like Cao, far-right candidates who are the darlings of the Tea Party movement (e.g. Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 special election) are winning out over moderates.
It helps them feel as if they are the majority if they can boil all liberal posters down to one person.
I bet they think "Slappy" also was born in Kenya and will be a member of the Obama death panels once "National Socialism" is implemented with the public option.
How is providing health care to all Americans, regardless of income - a conspiracy? Is a civilized society threatening to you?
If Obama's Health Care proposal gets a lukewarm response, it's because for many on the Left it doesn't go near far enough.
Those on the Right have been spun and spun and spun by the Insurance Industry Lobby - to think this is about anything (Communists!) other than them protecting their profits.
Nearly six in ten Americans want Congress to continue working on health care reform bills that have been passed through various committees, according to a new CNN poll.
Washington (CNN) - Nearly six in ten Americans want Congress to continue working on health care reform bills that have been passed through various committees, according to a new national poll.
Fifty-nine percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey say lawmakers should continue working on the legislation, a rise of 6 points since August. But only a quarter say those bills should be passed pretty much as is, with a third suggesting that Congress should make major changes. The poll also indicates that one in four say lawmakers should start from scratch and 15 percent want Congress to stop all work on health care reform.
The survey's release Friday morning comes one day before the full House of Representatives is expected to hold a floor vote on the Democrats health care reform bill.
"Most of the Democrats interviewed support some form of heath care reform, but the divisions within congressional Democrats are reflected in the party nationwide," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Forty percent of the Democratic rank and file want Congress to approve the proposals that have passed through committee with only minor changes. But an equal number of Democrats nationwide want Congress to make major changes to those proposals before approving them."
According to the poll, 45 percent support President Barack Obama's proposals to reform health care, with 53 percent opposed to his plans. This is the first time since the president's early September prime time address a joint session of Congress on health care that a majority of people questioned in a CNN survey oppose Obama's proposals.
"Six in ten independents say they oppose Obama's health care proposals," says Holland. "That's a nine point increase since October."
The House bill that faces a probable Saturday vote contains a version of the public option, an insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private insurance companies. According to the poll, 55 percent support the public option, with 44 percent opposed.
Rising health care costs could be a factor in support for Congress to take action.
"The appetite for some version of health care reform may be explained by the fact that 55 percent of Americans with health insurance say that their insurance company has raised rates, deductibles or co-payments within the past year," says Holland.
No House Republicans are expected to vote Saturday for the Democrats health care bill.
"With any health care bill likely to face near-unanimous opposition from the GOP, only one in three Americans say that the Republicans in Congress are doing enough to cooperate with Barack Obama. Is Obama doing enough to reach out to Republicans? Half say yes; half say no," adds Holland.
It now seems clear why the staff to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin didn't want anyone to bring recording devices or cell phones to her speech Friday night.
Even news outlets like Politico -- which have prominently featured Dick Cheney's terror jeremiads -- would have been likely to lampoon her.
But the ban on recording devices didn't stop them. Politico says they bought three tickets to Palin's Wisconsin speech and then penned a write-up. Their review was somewhat grim, taking aim at Palin's frequent use of the words "bogus" and "awesome" and delivering a strange anecdote about dollar coins.
"Palin had remarks prepared but frequently wandered off-script to make a point, offering audience members a casual “awesome” or “bogus” in discussing otherwise weighty topics," Jonathan Martin wrote in his review.
He quotes Palin as saying, “It is so bogus that society is sending a message right now and has been for probably the last 40 years that a woman isn’t strong enough or smart enough to be able to pursue an education, a career and her rights and still let her baby live.”
"Other Palin touchstones included: praise for the military, jeers for the “the liberal media” and a general manner of speaking that often veered into rhetorical culs-de-sac," he continued.
Palin didn't draw supporters to their feet: "While she drew applause during her remarks, Palin’s extemporaneous and frequently discursive style was such that she never truly roused a true-believing crowd as passionate about the issue at hand as she. Not once during her address did they rise to their feet."
They did stand at the end, however.
She then got a standing ovation from most of the crowd, but a few had begun to leave before she even finished and within seconds of her concluding, scores more got up and put on their jackets as they walked away.
In addition to the suggestion that government officials would consider hastening the death of the infirm or handicapped, she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.
Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.
“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”
She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”
The decision to put "IN GOD WE TRUST" on the edges of presidential dollar coins has received little attention from the press, but was reversed in 2007, before President Barack Obama took office. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Robert Byrd (D-WV) sponsored legislation to move the motto back to the front face of the coins.
"It is important that our national motto, 'In God We Trust,' is prominently displayed on all of our currency," Brownback said. "We should not relegate our heritage to the side."
Small but sophisticated interest groups use big political battles to gain special advantages. Health care reform is, of course, the biggest battle of them all, with trillions of dollars at stake.
On Saturday night with the House vote in favor of the health reform bill, the trial lawyers sliced themselves a nice little piece of that bonanza.
It's Section 2531 of the bill -- to be precise Section 2531(4)b -- and it provides as follows:
The new health bill will empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to states that reform their medical malpractice systems. There are just two conditions: Those reforms must not "limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages."
Which is like saying that we're going to encourage you to develop a personal weight loss plan that includes neither exercise nor changes in diet.
Here's how Section 2531 works. Over the past decade and a half, states have reacted to abusive lawsuits by imposing various restrictions on personal injury awards.
In California, pain and suffering damages cannot exceed $250,000. Attorneys may collect no more than 15 percent of malpractice awards over $600,000.
The impact of these kinds of reforms can be dramatic. After Texas capped pain and suffering damages at $750,000 in 2003, the number of malpractice lawsuits dropped abruptly. Lawsuits in Harris County (Houston and environs) plunged by 50 percent.
Fewer lawsuits meant lower malpractice premiums. Texas' largest malpractice insurance carrier cut costs to doctors by 17 percent. Lower insurance premiums attracted more medical professionals to the state. In the 1990s, Texas ranked low in the nation in the number of doctors per person. In the four years after 2003, the number of doctors in the state jumped by 18 percent.
"It was hard to believe at first, we thought it was a spike," the executive director of the states' medical board told the New York Times.
Texas' experience is dramatic, but consistent, with other reforming states. States with damage caps gain more doctors than uncapped states -- and the difference is greatest in the most underserved counties within capped states. Capped states have 5.5 percent more OB-GYNs per person in their rural counties than do states without caps.
But the money saved by insurers, doctors and their customers is money subtracted from the pockets of trial lawyers -- and those lawyers carry real clout in the Democratic Congress.
The trial lawyers' national PAC, the American Association for Justice, was the second-biggest source of PAC dollars for Democratic candidates in the 2006 election year: almost $2.6 million. That same year, Iowa's trial lawyers elected a former president of their association to Congress. Had the National Enquirer been less inquiring, a former trial lawyer named John Edwards might well be serving as attorney general right now.
Huey Long once summed up the professional politicians' credo:
"Those who support me early will have my close attention when I win office. Those who support me late will have my attention when I win office. And those who oppose me --" and here he'd wink -- "they'll get good government."
We all know what Long meant by "close attention," and his old party apparently still lives by his rules. On Saturday, House Democrats have delivered some very "close attention" to their friends in the trial bar. The question is: who will stand up for good government for the rest of us?
We know that all America supports our Great Leader, as he takes this time to recover from all of the stresses he endures on a daily basis.
Robert Gibbs
White House Minister of Information
PS - We also need to inform you that the evil George W. Bush visited Ft Hood with his wife. This visit demonstrates Bush's pure evil and hatred for the people. If he truly cared for the people, he would ahve made this visit known to the public and the press, so that they could show the people how great and wonderful he was. Instead, he made this visit quietly and in secret, keeping it only among the victims and their families.
Reporting from Washington - At least one Democratic political strategist has gotten a blunt warning from the White House to never appear on Fox News Channel, an outlet that presidential aides have depicted as not so much a news-gathering operation as a political opponent bent on damaging the Obama administration.
The Democratic strategist said that shortly after an appearance on Fox, he got a phone call from a White House official telling him not to be a guest on the show again. The call had an intimidating tone, he said.
The message was, "We better not see you on again," said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to run afoul of the White House. An implicit suggestion, he said, was that "clients might stop using you if you continue."
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said that she had checked with colleagues who "deal with TV issues" and that they had not told people to avoid Fox. On the contrary, they had urged people to appear on the network, Dunn wrote in an e-mail.
But Patrick Caddell, a Fox News contributor and former pollster for President Carter, said he had spoken to Democratic consultants who said they were told by the White House to avoid appearances on Fox. He declined to give their names.
Caddell said he had not gotten that message himself from the White House.
He added: "I have heard that they've done that to others in not too subtle ways. I find it appalling. When the White House gets in the business of suppressing dissent and comment, particularly from its own party, it hurts itself."
Some observers say White House officials might be urging consultants to spurn Fox to isolate the network and make it appear more partisan. A boycott by Democratic strategists could help drive the White House narrative that Fox is a fundamentally different creature than the other TV news networks.
White House officials appear on Fox News, but sporadically and with their "eyes wide open," as one aide put it.
David Axelrod, senior advisor to the president, appeared on Fox News Channel last week to talk about the results of Tuesday's off-year elections. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also appeared on the network last week.
Still, the White House has on occasion avoided or taken an adversarial position toward Fox. When President Obama appeared on five talk shows one Sunday in September, he avoided Fox.
Last month, Dunn told CNN that Fox has acted, in effect, as an "arm" of the Republican Party. "Let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is," she said.
As the dust-up played out, Fox's senior vice president of news, Michael Clemente, countered: "Surprisingly, the White House continues to declare war on a news organization instead of focusing on the critical issues that Americans are concerned about like jobs, healthcare and two wars."
Fox's commentators have been sharply critical of the Obama administration.
After the president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Sean Hannity, who has a prime-time show on Fox, said he got the award for "trashing America."
Fox's audience is by far the largest of the cable networks, with an average of more than 2.1 million viewers in prime time this year, according to the Nielsen Co. CNN is second, with 932,000 prime-time viewers.
The White House's critical stance toward the network leaves some Democrats troubled.
Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman, said in an interview: "This approach is out of sync with my conception of what the Obama administration stands for and what they're trying to do.
"I think they'll think better of it and this will be a passing phase."
(But we still have no information on his actual record at Harvard. He will not release his records.)
President Obama was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School; as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[
(Actually, he was a lecturer, NOT a professor. There IS a difference.)
President Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 and relected in 1998
(But we have no information on his actual ACCOMPLISHMENTS. His records there are 'missing'.)
President Obama was the first African American elected to the White House.
President Obama repealed a Bush-era policy that prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund research on new lines of embryonic stem cells.
(This is an 'accomplishment'?)
President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which overruled the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and so eased the requirements for filing employment discrimination lawsuits
(Maybe you need to understand a few things before you speak. it did not 'overrule' what the Supreme Court decided. That decision stands. What it did was ease the requirements for FUTURE suits.)
President Obama signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million children currently uninsured
(But did not pay for it.)
President Obama announced new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming
(And we await how that is going to affect jobs.)
President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession
(And what has that accomplished? Didn't he say that it would keep unemployment UNDER 8.5%)
President Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey which was well received by many Arab governments
(Let's see. he gave a speech to a bunch of people that hate the US, and told them how bad the US has been. I cannot understand why it was 'well received')
President Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council
(WOW!!!!! He presides over a meeting at a group that hates the US, too. But whenever they want something done, who do they call?)
President Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."
(Saying something is NOT an accomplishment. Let's see it DONE before you praise him for it. Look at it like this. let's say that I make the following statement: 'By 2012, i am going to win the US Open. Should i be credited with willing the US Open?)
President Obama has called for Congress to pass health care reform and now the House of Reps has passed that bill
(So, he askes someone to so something, and you call that an accomplishment? Really high standards you have there.)
President Obama got a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a ten year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.
(Actually, a House bill was passed. But that bill is dead in the Senate. Sorry, there is no law, now is there. if there is, please tell us whne he signed it.)
President Obama enacted budget cuts in the range of tens of billions of dollars, stop investing in "unproven" missile defense systems, not weaponize space
(Funny, he cuts that, but increases spending by over 100 times that amount, increasing the debt beyond what Bush did. Way to go!!!)
President Obama has called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan
(Again, you give him credit for accomplishing something, when all he did was offer rhetoric.)
President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize
(WON??? Hell, even liberals - at least those who are not Obama boot lickers think that was a joke. And if you need a name - Dr. marc lamont Hill, PhD.)
Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."
The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.
Saul Morales-Garcia alias Javier Duarte Chavez shot Las Vegas police officer Enrique Hernandez six times in December. The alien had previously been deported, but he illegally re-entered the United States.
Zeppetella had served six years in the Navy and Hernandez eight years in the Marines. Both had a wife and infant child, and friends of both officers said their childhood ambition was to be a policeman.
In June, Enrique Sosa Alvarez was arrested in San Jose and charged with dragging a nine-year-old girl from her home and raping her repeatedly for three days before releasing her. A fingerprint check identified him as David Montiel Cruz who had previously been convicted of auto theft.
Police don't know for sure who he is, but we do know for sure he should have been deported after his earlier crime. The ease with which criminals change their names and come back across the border shows the folly of accepting Mexico's matricula consular as a valid I.D.
Illegal alien Walter Alexander Sorto was repeatedly picked up for driver's license violations and for not having insurance, but Houston police were barred from reporting his illegal status to federal authorities. In March he and a companion abducted, raped and killed three Houston women.
Maximiliano Esparza, who raped and killed a Bellevue, Washington, nun last year, had earlier been in a California prison and the court had ordered him deported. But our government didn't deport him; it merely asked him to sign an I-210, a simple promise to depart, widely known as a "catch-and-release" document.
Before the 9/11 attack, ringleader Mohamed Atta was ticketed in Florida for driving without a license, and his accomplice Ziad Samir Jarrah was ticketed for speeding in Maryland, and both were on expired visas. Chalk that up to missed opportunities to prevent 9/11.
Currently under a final order of deportation are 314,000 absconders, illegal aliens whom our government can't deport because we can't find them, including 4,800 from nations where Al Qaeda terrorists are active. Only a fraction of them have been entered on the National Crime Information Center database, the Department of Justice's listing of outstanding warrants and fugitives.
Only the brutal gang rape of a Queens, New York, woman in December by four illegal aliens has produced a governmental response. Three of those four criminals already had long rap sheets from previous arrests and should have been deported.
The House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration was spurred to hold a hearing in February to question New York and Houston officials about their so-called "sanctuary" ordinances that deter or even prohibit local police from reporting illegal aliens to federal authorities. New York was under such an executive order issued in 1989 by then-Mayor Edward Koch.
On May 30, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed Executive Order 34 permitting city employees to ask people seeking government services about their immigration status if that is relevant to their eligibility. Bloomberg said his order was necessary to put the city into compliance with federal law, and even Koch came out in support of the Bloomberg order. Bloomberg's order, however, has limitations. He said in a written statement that he will never let police or city agencies become an arm of the INS "under my administration."
But why not? State and local police, of whom we have at least 670,000, are our first line of defense against criminals (not the minuscule 2,000 federal investigators assigned to immigration enforcement). But local police are being shackled by city officials.
Twenty cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, Denver, Seattle and Portland, Maine, have adopted "sanctuary" ordinances banning police from asking people about their immigration status unless they are suspected of committing a felony, are a threat to national security, or have been previously deported. But how are the police going to know if they have previously been deported unless they first ascertain who they are?
What happens when alien criminals complete their prison terms? The Justice Department's inspector general admitted that our government released 35,318 criminal aliens into the general population in 2000, and nobody knows how many then committed other serious crimes.
The famous case of the sniper who terrorized the Washington, D.C. area for weeks last year is a good example both of the importance of the role of the local police and of the irresponsible way that federal immigration authorities release aliens instead of deporting them. Lee Malvo was picked up and fingerprinted the previous year by a Bellingham, Washington, police detective and west coast Border Patrol agent. They turned Malvo over to federal immigration officials, who had the duty under our laws to deport him immediately because he came to the United States as a Jamaican stowaway on a ship that docked in Miami. But Seattle district immigration officials released Malvo, who subsequently went across the country on a killing spree with John Muhammad, who was financed by the $60,000 he made selling forged U.S. driver's licenses and birth certificates.
In fairness to our local police, they repeatedly complain that they get no cooperation from federal immigration officials when reporting illegal aliens -- unless a major felony is involved. Attorney General John Ashcroft should make sure that all police know about his October 8 speech to the International Association of Chiefs of Police wherein he promised that federal agents will respond when local officers notify them of immigration violators.
If the United States can wage a preemptive war against Iraq, local police should be allowed to preempt vicious crimes by checking the citizenship status of persons arrested for minor as well as major crimes, and then reporting illegals to federal authorities. All sanctuary ordinances should be rescinded.
George W. Bush allocates $700,000,000 (That's $700 billion) to bail out private industry and spends $340B of it that no-one can account for where it went.
George W. Bush was a "C" student in his Ivy League school that his family bought him into.
President Obama was selected as an editor of the Harvard Law Review in his 1st year at Harvard and president of the journal in his second year
President Obama was a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago Law School; as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[
President Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996 and relected in 1998
President Obama was the first African American elected to the White House.
President Obama repealed a Bush-era policy that prevented federal tax dollars from being used to fund research on new lines of embryonic stem cells.
President Obama signed his first bill into law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which overruled the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and so eased the requirements for filing employment discrimination lawsuits
President Obama signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million children currently uninsured
President Obama announced new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming
President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession
President Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey which was well received by many Arab governments
President Obama became the first sitting U.S. President to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council
President Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end."
President Obama has called for Congress to pass health care reform and now the House of Reps has passed that bill
President Obama got a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a ten year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.
President Obama enacted budget cuts in the range of tens of billions of dollars, stop investing in "unproven" missile defense systems, not weaponize space
President Obama has called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan
2) Air Defense Failures
a. The US air defense system failed to follow standard procedures for responding to diverted passenger flights.
b. Timelines: The various responsible agencies - NORAD, FAA, Pentagon, USAF, as well as the 9/11 Commission - gave radically different explanations for the failure (in some cases upheld for years), such that several officials must have lied; but none were held accountable.
c. Was there an air defense standdown?
3) Pentagon Strike
How was it possible the Pentagon was hit 1 hour and 20 minutes after the attacks began? Why was there no response from Andrews Air Force Base, just 10 miles away and home to Air National Guard units charged with defending the skies above the nation''s capital? How did Hani Hanjour, a man who failed as a Cessna pilot on his first flight in a Boeing, execute a difficult aerobatic maneuver to strike the Pentagon? Why did the attack strike the just-renovated side, which was largely empty and opposite from the high command?
4) Wargames
a. US military and other authorities planned or actually rehearsed defensive response to all elements of the 9/11 scenario during the year prior to the attack - including multiple hijackings, suicide crashbombings, and a strike on the Pentagon.
b. The multiple military wargames planned long in advance and held on the morning of September 11th included scenarios of a domestic air crisis, a plane crashing into a government building, and a large-scale emergency in New York. If this was only an incredible series of coincidences, why did the official investigations avoid the issue? There is evidence that the wargames created confusion as to whether the unfolding events were "real world or exercise." Did wargames serve as the cover for air defense sabotage, and/or the execution of an "inside job"?
5) Flight 93
Did the Shanksville crash occur at 10:06 (according to a seismic report) or 10:03 (according to the 9/11 Commission)? Does the Commission wish to hide what happened in the last three minutes of the flight, and if so, why? Was Flight 93 shot down, as indicated by the scattering of debris over a trail of several miles?
THE DAY - POSSIBLE SMOKING GUNS
6) Did cell phones work at 30,000 feet in 2001? How many hijackings were attempted? How many flights were diverted?
7) Demolition Hypothesis
What caused the collapse of a third skyscraper, WTC 7, which was not hit by a plane? Were the Twin Towers and WTC 7 brought down by explosives? (See "The Case for Demolitions," the websites wtc7.net and 911research.wtc7.net, and the influential article by physicist Steven Jones. See also items no. 16 and 24, below.)
FOREKNOWLEDGE & THE ALLEGED HIJACKERS
8) What did officials know? How did they know it?
a. Multiple allied foreign agencies informed the US government of a coming attack in detail, including the manner and likely targets of the attack, the name of the operation (the "Big Wedding"), and the names of certain men later identified as being among the perpetrators.
b. Various individuals came into possession of specific advance knowledge, and some of them tried to warn the US prior to September 11th.
c. Certain prominent persons received warnings not to fly on the week or on the day of September 11th.
9) Able Danger, Plus - Surveillance of Alleged Hijackers
a. The men identified as the 9/11 ringleaders were under surveillance for years beforehand, on the suspicion they were terrorists, by a variety of US and allied authorities - including the CIA, the US military''s "Able Danger" program, the German authorities, Israeli intelligence and others.
b. Two of the alleged ringleaders who were known to be under surveillance by the CIA also lived with an FBI asset in San Diego, but this is supposed to be yet another coincidence.
10) Obstruction of FBI Investigations prior to 9/11
A group of FBI officials in New York systematically suppressed field investigations of potential terrorists that might have uncovered the alleged hijackers - as the Moussaoui case once again showed. The stories of Sibel Edmonds, Robert Wright, Coleen Rowley and Harry Samit, the "Phoenix Memo," David Schippers, the 199i orders restricting investigations, the Bush administration''s order to back off the Bin Ladin family, the reaction to the "Bojinka" plot, and John O''Neil do not, when considered in sum, indicate mere incompetence, but high-level corruption and protection of criminal networks, including the network of the alleged 9/11 conspirators. (Nearly all of these examples were omitted from or relegated to fleeting footnotes in The 9/11 Commission Report.)
11) Insider Trading
a. Unknown speculators allegedly used foreknowledge of the Sept. 11th events to profiteer on many markets internationally - including but not limited to "put options" placed to short-sell the two airlines, WTC tenants, and WTC re-insurance companies in Chicago and London.
b. In addition, suspicious monetary transactions worth hundreds of millions were conducted through offices at the Twin Towers during the actual attacks.
c. Initial reports on these trades were suppressed and forgotten, and only years later did the 9/11 Commission and SEC provide a partial, but untenable explanation for only a small number of transactions (covering only the airline put options through the Chicago Board of Exchange).
12) Who were the perpetrators?
a. Much of the evidence establishing who did the crime is dubious and miraculous: bags full of incriminating material that happened to miss the flight or were left in a van; the "magic passport" of an alleged hijacker, found at Ground Zero; documents found at motels where the alleged perpetrators had stayed days and weeks before 9/11.
b. The identities of the alleged hijackers remain unresolved, there are contradictions in official accounts of their actions and travels, and there is evidence several of them had "doubles," all of which is omitted from official investigations.
c. What happened to initial claims by the government that 50 people involved in the attacks had been identified, including the 19 alleged hijackers, with 10 still at large (suggesting that 20 had been apprehended)? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-worldtrade-50suspects,0,1825231.story
THE 9/11 COVER-UP, 2001-2006
13) Who Is Osama Bin Ladin?
a. Who judges which of the many conflicting and dubious statements and videos attributed to Osama Bin Ladin are genuine, and which are fake? The most important Osama Bin Ladin video (Nov. 2001), in which he supposedly confesses to masterminding 9/11, appears to be a fake. In any event, the State Department''s translation of it is fraudulent.
b. Did Osama Bin Ladin visit Dubai and meet a CIA agent in July 2001 (Le Figaro)? Was he receiving dialysis in a Pakistani military hospital on the night of September 10, 2001 (CBS)?
c. Whether by Bush or Clinton: Why is Osama always allowed to escape?
d. The terror network associated with Osama, known as the "base" (al-Qaeda), originated in the CIA-sponsored 1980s anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan. When did this network stop serving as an asset to covert operations by US intelligence and allied agencies? What were its operatives doing in Kosovo, Bosnia and Chechnya in the years prior to 9/11?
14) All the Signs of a Systematic 9/11 Cover-up
a. Airplane black boxes were found at Ground Zero, according to two first responders and an unnamed NTSB official, but they were "disappeared" and their existence is denied in The 9/11 Commission Report.
b. US officials consistently suppressed and destroyed evidence (like the tapes recorded by air traffic controllers who handled the New York flights).
c. Whistleblowers (like Sibel Edmonds and Anthony Shaffer) were intimidated, gagged and sanctioned, sending a clear signal to others who might be thinking about speaking out.
d. Officials who "failed" (like Myers and Eberhard, as well as Frasca, Maltbie and Bowman of the FBI) were given promotions.
15) Poisoning New York
The White House deliberately pressured the EPA into giving false public assurances that the toxic air at Ground Zero was safe to breathe. This knowingly contributed to an as-yet unknown number of health cases and fatalities, and demonstrates that the administration does consider the lives of American citizens to be expendable on behalf of certain interests.
16) Disposing of the Crime Scene
The rapid and illegal scrapping of the WTC ruins at Ground Zero disposed of almost all of the structural steel indispensable to any investigation of the collapse mechanics. (See also item no. 23, below.)
17) Anthrax
Mailings of weapons-grade anthrax - which caused a practical suspension of the 9/11 investigations - were traced back to US military stock. Soon after the attacks began in October 2001, the FBI approved the destruction of the original samples of the Ames strain, disposing of perhaps the most important evidence in identifying the source of the pathogens used in the mailings. Were the anthrax attacks timed to coincide with the Afghanistan invasion? Why were the letters sent only to media figures and to the leaders of the opposition in the Senate (who had just raised objections to the USA PATRIOT Act)?
18) The Stonewall
a. Colin Powell promised a "white paper" from the State Department to establish the authorship of the attacks by al-Qaeda. This was never forthcoming, and was instead replaced by a paper from Tony Blair, which presented only circumstantial evidence, with very few points actually relating to September 11th.
b. Bush and Cheney pressured the (freshly-anthraxed) leadership of the Congressional opposition into delaying the 9/11 investigation for months. The administration fought against the creation of an independent investigation for more than a year.
c. The White House thereupon attempted to appoint Henry Kissinger as the chief investigator, and acted to underfund and obstruct the 9/11 Commission.
19) A Record of Official Lies
a. "No one could have imagined planes into buildings" - a transparent falsehood upheld repeatedly by Rice, Rumsfeld and Bush.
b. "Iraq was connected to 9/11" - The most "outrageous conspiracy theory" of all, with the most disastrous impact.
20) Pakistani Connection - Congressional Connection
a. The Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, creator of the Taliban and close ally to both the CIA and "al-Qaeda," allegedly wired $100,000 to Mohamed Atta just prior to September 11th, reportedly through the ISI asset Omar Saeed Sheikh (later arrested for the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was investigating ISI connections to "al-Qaeda.")
b. This was ignored by the congressional 9/11 investigation, although the senator and congressman who ran the probe (Bob Graham and Porter Goss) were meeting with the ISI chief, Mahmud Ahmed, on Capitol Hill on the morning of September 11th.
c. About 25 percent of the report of the Congressional Joint Inquiry was redacted, including long passages regarding how the attack (or the network allegedly behind it) was financed. Graham later said foreign allies were involved in financing the alleged terror network, but that this would only come out in 30 years.
21) Unanswered Questions and the "Final Fraud" of the 9/11 Commission:
a. The September 11th families who fought for and gained an independent investigation (the 9/11 Commission) posed 400-plus questions, which the 9/11 Commission adopted as its roadmap. The vast majority of these questions were completely ignored in the Commission hearings and the final report.
b. The membership and staff of the 9/11 Commission displayed awesome conflicts of interest. The families called for the resignation of Executive Director Philip Zelikow, a Bush administration member and close associate of "star witness" Condoleezza Rice, and were snubbed. Commission member Max Cleland resigned, condemning the entire exercise as a "scam" and "whitewash."
c.The 9/11 Commission Report is notable mainly for its obvious omissions, distortions and outright falsehoods - ignoring anything incompatible with the official story, banishing the issues to footnotes, and even dismissing the still-unresolved question of who financed 9/11 as being "of little practical significance."
22) Crown Witnesses Held at Undisclosed Locations
The alleged masterminds of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohamed (KSM) and Ramzi Binalshibh, are reported to have been captured in 2002 and 2003, although one Pakistani newspaper said KSM was killed in an attempted capture. They have been held at undisclosed locations and their supposed testimonies, as provided in transcript form by the government, form much of the basis for The 9/11 Commission Report (although the Commission''s request to see them in person was denied). After holding them for years, why doesn''t the government produce these men and put them to trial?
23) Spitzer Redux
a. Eliot Spitzer, attorney general of New York State, snubbed pleas by New York citizens to open 9/11 as a criminal case (Justicefor911.org).
b. Spitzer also refused to allow his employee, former 9/11 Commission staff member Dietrich Snell, to testify to the Congress about his (Snell''s) role in keeping "Able Danger" entirely out of The 9/11 Commission Report.
24) NIST Omissions
After the destruction of the WTC structural steel, the official Twin Towers collapse investigation was left with almost no forensic evidence, and thus could only provide dubious computer models of ultimately unprovable hypotheses. It failed to even test for the possibility of explosives. (Why not clear this up?)
25) Radio Silence
The 9/11 Commission and NIST both allowed the continuing cover-up of how Motorola''s faulty radios, purchased by the Giuliani administration, caused firefighter deaths at the WTC - once again showing the expendability, even of the first responders.
26) The Legal Catch-22
a. Hush Money - Accepting victims'' compensation barred September 11th families from pursuing discovery through litigation.
b. Judge Hallerstein - Those who refused compensation to pursue litigation and discovery had their cases consolidated under the same judge (and as a rule dismissed).
27) Saudi Connections
a. The 9/11 investigations made light of the "Bin Ladin Airlift" during the no-fly period, and ignored the long-standing Bush family business ties to the Bin Ladin family fortune. (A company in which both families held interests, the Carlyle Group, was holding its annual meeting on September 11th, with George Bush Sr., James Baker, and two brothers of Osama Bin Ladin in attendance.)
b. The issue of Ptech.
28) Media Blackout of Prominent Doubters
The official story has been questioned and many of the above points were raised by members of the US Congress, retired high-ranking officers of the US military, the three leading third-party candidates for President in the 2004 election, a member of the 9/11 Commission who resigned in protest, a former high-ranking adviser to the George W. Bush administration, former ministers to the German, British and Canadian governments, the commander-in-chief of the Russian air force, 100 luminaries who signed the "9/11 Truth Statement," and the presidents of Iran and Venezuela. Not all of these people agree fully with each other, but all would normally be considered newsworthy. Why has the corporate-owned US mass media remained silent about these statements, granting due coverage only to the comments of actor Charlie Sheen?
GEOPOLITICS, TIMING AND POSSIBLE MOTIVES
29) "The Great Game"
The Afghanistan invasion was ready for Bush''s go-ahead on September 9, 2001, with US and UK force deployments to the region already in place or underway. This followed the failure earlier that year of backdoor diplomacy with the Taliban (including payments of $125 million in US government aid to Afghanistan), in an attempt to secure a unity government for that country as a prerequisite to a Central Asian pipeline deal.
30) The Need for a "New Pearl Harbor"
Principals in US foreign policy under the current Bush administration (including Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle and others) have been instrumental in developing long-running plans for worldwide military hegemony, including an invasion of the Middle East, dating back to the Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. They reiterated these plans in the late 1990s as members of the "Project for a New American Century," and stated a clear intent to invade Iraq for the purpose of "regime change." After 9/11, they lost no time in their attempt to tie Iraq to the attacks.
31) Perpetual "War on Terror"
9/11 is supposed to provide carte-blanche for an open-ended, global and perpetual "War on Terror," against any enemy, foreign or domestic, that the executive branch chooses to designate, and regardless of whether evidence exists to actually connect these enemies to 9/11.
32) Attacking the Constitution
a. The USA PATRIOT Act was written before 9/11, Homeland Security and the "Shadow Government" were developed long before 9/11, and plans for rounding up dissidents as a means for suppressing civil disturbance have been in the works for decades.
b. 9/11 was used as the pretext to create a new, extra-constitutional executive authority to declare anyone an "enemy combatant" (including American citizens), to detain persons indefinitely without habeas corpus, and to "render" such persons to secret prisons where torture is practiced.
33) Legal Trillions
9/11 triggers a predictable shift of public spending to war, and boosts public and private spending in the "new" New Economy of "Homeland Security," biometrics, universal surveillance, prisons, civil defense, secured enclaves, security, etc.
34) Plundered Trillions?
On September 10, 2001, Donald Rumsfeld announced a "war on waste" after an internal audit found that the Pentagon was "missing" 2.3 trillion dollars in unaccounted assets. On September 11th, this was as good as forgotten.
35) Did 9/11 prevent a stock market crash?
Did anyone benefit from the destruction of the Securities and Exchange Commission offices at WTC 7, and the resultant crippling of hundreds of fraud investigations?
36) Resource Wars
a. What was discussed in the Energy Task Force meetings under Dick Cheney in 2001? Why is the documentation of these meetings still being suppressed?
b. Is Peak Oil a motive for 9/11 as inside job?
37) The "Little Game"
Why was the WTC privatized just before its destruction?
HISTORY
38) "Al-CIA-da?"
The longstanding relationship between US intelligence networks and radical Islamists, including the network surrounding Osama Bin Ladin. (See also point 13d.)
39) Historical Precedents for "Synthetic Terror"
a. In the past many states, including the US government, have sponsored attacks on their own people, fabricated the "cause for war," created (and armed) their own enemies of convenience, and sacrificed their own citizens for "reasons of state."
b. Was 9/11 an update of the Pentagon-approved "Project Northwoods" plan for conducting self-inflicted, false-flag terror attacks in the United States, and blaming them on a foreign enemy?
40) Secret Government
a. The record of criminality and sponsorship of coups around the world by the covert networks based within the US intelligence complex.
b. Specifically also: The evidence of crime by Bush administration principals and their associates, from October Surprise to Iran-Contra and the S&L plunder to PNAC, Enron/Halliburton and beyond.