Category: News

Guest Voice: Chuck Baldwin: Update on Hutaree Militia Case

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Original Source Here

With much media fanfare, 9 members of a Michigan militia were arrested last March and charged with “seditious conspiracy”–specifically, plotting to murder law enforcement officers. Ostensibly, this was supposed to precipitate some kind of wholesale revolt against the government. Question: Have any of you heard anyone from the propaganda press corps (national news media) tell you what has been happening with this case? No? Did you not wonder why? Well, I’ll tell you why: the case has fallen apart.

The first indication of the Feds’ case going bad was a local report in the Toledo (Ohio) Blade, dated April 28, 2010. “An FBI agent who led the investigation of nine Michigan militia members charged with trying to launch war against the federal government couldn’t recall many details of the two-year probe yesterday during questioning by defense lawyers.

“Even the judge who must decide whether to release the nine until trial was puzzled.

“‘I share the frustrations of the defense team . . . that she doesn’t know anything,’ U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said after agent Leslie Larsen confessed she hadn’t reviewed her notes recently and couldn’t remember specific details of the case.”

See the report at:

http://www.toledoblade.com/article/20100428/NEWS02/4280343/-1/rss

Can you believe testimony such as this was given in a court of law by a supposedly intelligent federal officer–an agent who had supposedly compiled the evidence that was used to arrest and incarcerate these supposedly “dangerous militia members”? If it wasn’t so serious, this would be a joke!

Remember that it was a federal informant who had infiltrated the group and even offered to teach Hutaree members how to make improvised explosive devices. On this point, William Grigg wrote, “While federal prosecutors have provided ample evidence that members of the Hutaree are passionately anti-government–what decent person ISN’T–they haven’t been able to demonstrate that the group did anything more than engage in survivalist training and indulge in apocalyptic rhetoric.” (Emphasis in the original.)

As a result, Judge Roberts found the government’s case sorely lacking. “Discussions about killing local law enforcement officers–and even discussions about killing members of the judicial branch of government–do not translate to conspiring to overthrow, or levy war against, the United States government,” she wrote, ordering that the Hutaree suspects be released on bail.

About which, Grigg wrote, “Since the federal case against the Hutaree rests entirely on what was SAID by the suspects, rather than anything specific  that was DONE by them, it’s difficult to see what’s left of it [the case].” (Emphasis in the original.)

See Grigg’s column at:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/57041.html

But then again, punishing people because of their speech or political associations seems to be exactly where America is heading.

Remember that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is famous for supplying Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Fusion Centers and State law enforcement agencies with warnings against people due to their political
beliefs (pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, anti-United Nations, anti-New World Order, or anti-illegal immigration, for example), their associations (Libertarian or Constitution parties, for example), or even who they voted for (Ron Paul, Bob Barr, or Chuck Baldwin, to be precise). Previous reports even identified people as “dangerous” because of the books they were reading. (Tell me, again: this is the United States and not Nazi Germany, right?)

Now consider the statements of US Congressman Andre Carson (D-Indiana), who likens Tea Party protesters to “a terrorist threat.”

Washington Times reporter Kerry Picket recorded Rep. Carson as he explained it all:

Kerry Picket (Washington Times): “Do you think the people outside [Tea Party protesters] are generally dangerous or no?”

Rep. Carson: “Oh, absolutely. I worked in homeland security. I’m from intelligence, and I’ll tell you, one of the largest threats to our internal security  . . . I mean terrorism has an Islamic face, but it really comes from racial supremacist groups. (inaudible) It’s the kind of thing we keep a threat assessment on record [for].”

Larry O’Connor at BigGovernment.com then wrote, “And we can now see this two pronged message continuing in the narrative from Democratic politicians and the media: The Tea Party protests are really about white rage and they are
sowing the seeds for domestic terrorism. This was the message delivered by Rep. Carson that afternoon and that is the message the media has run with.

“Only problem is, we can’t find any proof to back up Rep. Carson’s story.”

See the report at:

http://tinyurl.com/teaparty-terrorism

The truth is, if the federal government and its prostitutes at the SPLC have their way, ANYONE COULD BE IMPRISONED FOR ANYTHING! Don’t believe physicians should destroy human life in the womb? You’re a terrorist. Don’t like the United Nations? You’re a terrorist. Believe immigrants should come through the front door when migrating to America? You’re a terrorist. Voted for Ron Paul? You’re a terrorist. Believe in the return of Jesus Christ? You’re a terrorist. Ad infinitum. Ad nauseam.

Again, maybe this helps explain why all those (non-existent) FEMA camps are being built!

In my initial column on the Hutaree raid, I wrote, “Did members of the Hutaree intend to carry out aggressive violence against law enforcement personnel? I have no idea. Until this story broke in the national media, I had never heard of this group. I will wait for the facts to come out–if indeed the federal government and national media even allow the facts to come out.”

See my column at:

http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1177

Well, the facts are beginning to come out: The FBI agent who brought the charges against these self-professed militia members made a complete fool of herself under oath in a court of law. She presented zero evidence to indicate that the Hutaree posed an imminent threat to anybody. Now that the judge has released the Hutaree members from jail and rebuked the agent for presenting such inept testimony, we’ll see if the Feds decide to pursue the case any further. Again, as Will Grigg said, “Since the federal case against the Hutaree rests entirely on what was SAID by the suspects, rather than anything specific that was DONE by them, it’s difficult to see what’s left of it [the case].”

However, the bigger question is, How far will Big-Government toadies try to take this Nazi-like philosophy: that anyone who believes in limited government and freedom, and who rejects their sanctimonious attitude and bullying is a “dangerous terrorist”? And even greater is the question, How long will the American people put up with it?

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More of that Religion of Peace and Muslim Tolerence that we keep hearing about

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This comes via AllahPundit @ HotAir.com:

Religion of peace and Muslim tolerance my ass.

This was in Sweden, for what it is worth.

Bastards, all of them.

The problem is, our own damned President and Attorney General cannot bring themselves to call this; for what it is — which is terrorism.

For the record; you will NEVER, EVER see Christians act like this….ever.

The Afternoon Music Express, Special Memorial Edition Presents: Lena Horne

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We’ve lost one of the great ones.

A younger Lena Horne, Now that my friends is a looker!

From the New York Times:

Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and who went on to achieve international fame as a singer, died on Sunday night at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. She was 92 and lived in Manhattan.

Her death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.

Ms. Horne might have become a major movie star, but she was born 50 years too early, and languished at MGM in the 1940s because of the color of her skin, although she was so light-skinned that, when she was a child, other black children had taunted her, accusing her of having a “white daddy.”

Ms. Horne was stuffed into one “all-star” musical after another — “Thousands Cheer” (1943), “Broadway Rhythm” (1944), “Two Girls and a Sailor” (1944), “Ziegfeld Follies” (1946), “Words and Music” (1948) — to sing a song or two that could easily be snipped from the movie when it played in the South, where the idea of an African-American performer in anything but a subservient role in a movie with an otherwise all-white cast was unthinkable.

“The only time I ever said a word to another actor who was white was Kathryn Grayson in a little segment of ‘Show Boat’ ” included in “Till the Clouds Roll By” (1946), a movie about the life of Jerome Kern, Ms. Horne said in an interview in 1990. In that sequence she played Julie, a mulatto forced to flee the showboat because she has married a white man.

But when MGM made “Show Boat” into a movie for the second time, in 1951, the role of Julie was given to a white actress, Ava Gardner, who did not do her own singing. (Ms. Horne was no longer under contract to MGM at the time, and according to James Gavin’s Horne biography, “Stormy Weather,” published last year, she was never seriously considered for the part.) And in 1947, when Ms. Horne herself married a white man — the prominent arranger, conductor and pianist Lennie Hayton, who was for many years both her musical director and MGM’s — the marriage took place in France and was kept secret for three years.

Ms. Horne’s first MGM movie was “Panama Hattie” (1942), in which she sang Cole Porter’s “Just One of Those Things.” Writing about that film years later, Pauline Kael called it “a sad disappointment, though Lena Horne is ravishing and when she sings you can forget the rest of the picture.”

Even before she came to Hollywood, Brooks Atkinson, the drama critic for The New York Times, noticed Ms. Horne in “Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds of 1939,” a Broadway revue that ran for nine performances. “A radiantly beautiful sepia girl,” he wrote, “who will be a winner when she has proper direction.”

She had proper direction in two all-black movie musicals, both made in 1943. Lent to 20th Century Fox for “Stormy Weather,” one of those show business musicals with almost no plot but lots of singing and dancing, Ms. Horne did both triumphantly, ending with the sultry, aching sadness of the title number, which would become one of her signature songs. In MGM’s “Cabin in the Sky,” the first film directed by Vincente Minnelli, she was the brazen, sexy handmaiden of the Devil. (One number she shot for that film, “Ain’t It the Truth,” which she sang while taking a bubble bath, was deleted before the film was released — not for racial reasons, as her stand-alone performances in other MGM musicals sometimes were, but because it was considered too risqué.)

In 1945 the critic and screenwriter Frank Nugent wrote in Liberty magazine that Ms. Horne was “the nation’s top Negro entertainer.” In addition to her MGM salary of $1,000 a week, she was earning $1,500 for every radio appearance and $6,500 a week when she played nightclubs. She was also popular with servicemen, white and black, during World War II, appearing more than a dozen times on the Army radio program “Command Performance.”

“The whole thing that made me a star was the war,” Ms. Horne said in the 1990 interview. “Of course the black guys couldn’t put Betty Grable’s picture in their footlockers. But they could put mine.”

Lena Horne was an American original; not to mention she was quite the pretty lady. No other Country had anything remotely like Lena Horne, at least not in her heyday. Whenever I heard or saw the name Lena Horne; I thought glamor. Lena Horne was a Glamorous woman; and I mean that in the best way that I can muster.  Not only this; Lena Horne was a trailblazer. Back in the 1940’s, when racial segregation was at it’s height —- yes, that was a problem with Hollywood. Something the Democrats Advocated for years and yes, blacks flock to them now; how odd.   Anyhow, Lena Horne stood up to the bosses and did her own thing. Something that even I, a right of center blogger can admire. The lady just had guts and was a sassy, smoking hot woman on top of that.

Looking back at the age of 80, Ms. Horne said: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”

Indeed she was. Rest in Peace Lena, you have more than earned it.

Lena Horne - 1917-2010 - Rest in Peace

Others Remembering: Feministing, nancynall.com, Don Surber, Shakesville, The Stranger …, Joe. My. God., The Awl, Another Black Conservative and ArtsBeat

Obama nominates a dyke for SCOTUS

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Ah Lovely, that’s all we need; some morally depraved homo in the Supreme Court.

Go Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here. You can read the blogger round up here.

What’s next? Men in drag?

So much for that “Christian Nation”, that I hear people on the far right talking about all the time. 🙄

RedState Update on the Tennessee Floods

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(H/T HotAir)

As you know, I wrote about the floods in Tennessee. Here’s RedState Update’s take on it. It is, as always, hilarious.

How you can help:

News from a Different Perspective

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Disclaimer: I present this little newsletter as a different perspective on the news. I will give you a fair warning; the author of this newsletter is a Fundamental Baptist. In the interest of full disclosure, I am, doctrinally, also a Fundamentalist. This is not to say that I do not have issue with the 21 century Fundamentalist movement, especially among the Baptists.  But I do agree with most of this newsletter. This is the difference between Conservatives and liberals. We Conservatives, and yes, even “Right of Centers” like me, are quite tolerant of others opinions. Unlike Liberals, who will turn on someone who disagrees with them. Having said all that, I present the newsletter…

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PDF VERSION

FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES

May 7, 2010, Volume 11, Issue 19

The Friday Church News Notes is designed for use in churches and is published by Way of Life Literature’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service. Unless otherwise stated, the Notes are written by David Cloud. Of necessity we quote from a wide variety of sources, but this does not imply an endorsement. For instructions on how to unsubscribe to this list or to change mailing addresses, please consult the information paragraph at the end.

THE WORST PROBLEM WITH IB FRIENDS INTERNATIONAL (Friday Church News Notes, May 7, 2010, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143) – In my estimation, the worst problem with Clarence Sexton’s Independent Baptist Friends International movement is that it has circled the wagons against “criticism.” The reason I joined an Independent Baptist church in 1973 not long after I was converted was the separated Christian living, the willingness to take the whole Bible seriously, even “fanatically,” and the bold defense of the faith. I had grown up in Billy Graham’s denomination, the king of non-judgmentalism and the chief enemy of Biblical separation in our generation. Being convinced that the Graham philosophy is unscriptural, I joined the Independent Baptists. It was in the early 1990s that I first saw signs of a bold rejection of separation among Independent Baptists and the spread of the damnable New Evangelical “judge not” philosophy. This occurred in conjunction with the rapid growth of Contemporary Christian Music and its contemporary Southern Gospel counterpart. Widespread love for carnal music accelerated the spread of the non-judgmental philosophy among Independent Baptists. Music, we are told, is an inconsequential issue. The Promise Keepers movement was another catalyst for the non-judgmental philosophy. When I exposed the ecumenism of Promise Keepers, I was rebuked and mocked by the some IB leaders. They argued that the good outweighed the bad and that we should be glad that men were being taught to assume their spiritual responsibilities. This is the theme-song of Independent Baptist Friends International. When I wrote a lengthy e-mail to Pastor Sexton, a gracious and respectful e-mail expressing my concerns, he did not even acknowledge its receipt. He knows of me and my ministry; he has preached in my home church and has talked with my pastor on several occasions. I have heard from several other men who have tried to communicate with Sexton about this matter and have been ignored, some of whom consider him a personal friend and all of whom appreciate him as a brother in the Lord and a fellow soldier for Christ. I am not talking about ignoring warnings from a man’s hateful enemies; I am talking about ignoring warnings from friends. And not just ignoring the warnings, but even treating the warners as troublemakers. I have received angry e-mails from several men rebuking me for speaking out against IB Friends. They say that I should shut up and just focus on the “big issues.” Well, I’m not going to shut up. Big problems usually grow from small ones. God has instructed me to prove ALL things, to preach with rebuke and reproof, to earnestly contend for the faith. Without judging and reproof, there is no mechanism of correction and error can grow apace. Sexton urges all of us to be friends, and I am all for it. God’s Word tells me that the wounds of a friend are faithful (Prov. 27:6). Paul was a friend when he rebuked Peter’s “small” hypocrisy. He was a friend when he reproved the church at Corinth for their errors, including such “small” things as the sin of misusing the Lord’s supper and taking one another to court. I urge Clarence Sexton to stop stonewalling reproof, to stop pretending that criticism of IB Friends is some sort of carnal persecution. I urge him to publicly acknowledge that his friends have every biblical right and responsibility to criticize what he is doing. I have a suspicion that his critics in this matter are the best friends that he has.

Read More …

As Nashville floods, liberal media ignores them

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(H/T HotAir.com)

While Obama and the Liberal Democrats are worrying about their little pet crisis in the gulf. Red State Nashville, TN is flooded and the liberal media could honestly care less. Because it is mainly white people, most likely.

Video:

Giving credit where credit is properly due; CNN did do a little coverage:

Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) — The death toll has risen to 31 in three states from a massive weekend storm system that devastated parts of the Southeast, authorities said Thursday.

Twenty-one people have been confirmed dead in hard-hit Tennessee, including one from a tornado spawned by the heavy storms, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

The same storm system killed six people in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, emergency management officials said. The death toll could rise as rescue crews continue to search for people who have been reported missing, including two kayakers in Kentucky and others in Tennessee, officials said.

The waters have receded in much of Nashville on Thursday, nearly a week after record-setting rains swelled rivers to historic levels and flooded several neighborhoods.

“Nashville has obviously been hard-hit, and it’s a well-known city, but there are so many other counties in the state and areas … that have been hit very hard as well,” Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said Thursday morning.

“A lot of people who didn’t have flood insurance, because they never thought floodwaters would ever come anywhere near their home, are really looking at a total loss of their home,” Bredesen said. “It’s very tough on a lot of people right now.”

President Obama has declared 10 Tennessee counties disaster areas.

The same storm system that brought flooding to Tennessee killed 10 people in two other states — six in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, emergency management officials said. The death toll could rise as rescue crews continue to search for people who have been reported missing, including two kayakers in Kentucky and others in Tennessee, officials said.

We’re going to get through this,” Bredesen said. “This is a very resilient state.”

But did you see anything like this on MSNBC? Not really… Big splashy New York Times Article. No. Will it be on the front pages of some of the more influential liberal magazines? No.

Why?

Because it Tennessee is a Red State, has been for years. The Dummycrats don’t care about them Honky rednecks people in Tennessee. Obama’s words were, most likely, “I don’t give a crap about no redneck honky in Tennessee, they oppressed my people!”

The Democrats call that area, “Fly over Country” as in fly over that area to get to the next liberal strong hold.

Thankfully, Obama did declare some places disaster areas, so that funding could be brought in to help. But truth be told, only reason he did, is because Fox News and the Conservative Blogosphere and media would have eaten him alive for not doing it. But, I bet if he could have gotten away with it, he would have ignored it. Like he ignored the gulf spill, until it was not political correct to ignore it any longer.

Just more of your a-typical Liberalism from the Democratic Party. Remember this come November 2010 and in 2012.

Two Ways that YOU can help:

1. RedCross

2. WSMV-TV in Nashville will be holding a telethon tonight.

Fallout: More on the NYT bomber

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One thing I will say about the media. They really can get the story. Yeah, I know, they’re liberally biased. But so is Fox News.

The Latest via CBS NEWS:

Sources tell CBS News that would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad appeared on a Department of Homeland Security travel lookout list – Traveler Enforcement Compliance System (TECS) – between 1999 and 2008 because he brought approximately $80,000 cash or cash instruments into the United States.

TECS is a major law enforcement computer system that allows its approximately 120,000 users from 20 federal agencies to share information. The database is designed to identify individuals suspected of or involved in violation of federal law.

Another feather in Obama’s cap. 😉 Seriously, it does predate him. So, I will not blame him.

More this guy and his background Here, and Here. The Liberals are saying, “But a Muslim stopped the attack“!

Gabriel Malor over at Ace of Spades HQ lays the smack down on that idiotic nonsense:

Let me translate: the Left really want the legacy media to congratulate a member of the Muslim community because despite his faith he didn’t simply stand around and let a carbomb kill people. Really, that’s the story these Lefty bloggers are pushing. Otherwise there’s no point in bringing up his religion. And they say that we’re the ones with a repugnant view of Islam…

Third, this idea relies on the logical impossibility that Niasse knew he was helping stop Muslim terrorism. There’s no way he could have known that. I suppose he could have assumed that a carbombing was likely to be perpetrated by Muslims, but I doubt very much the Lefty blogs will appreciate that line of reasoning.

Finally, you don’t get bonus points for doing the right thing. Niasse was in danger himself. Of course, he went to the NYPD. He’s a t-shirt vendor in Times Square and Times Square was under attack. The Left seems to believe that this fellow did something heroic, but in fact he simply noticed smoke coming from a running vehicle and flagged down a nearby police officer. I’m glad he did, but it was hardly out of the ordinary. I would expect the same from anyone, regardless of their race, religion, nationality, or political ideology. Indeed, that’s one of the many reasons I am not a Leftist: my expectations don’t change depending on the skin color, politics, or religion of whoever I’m talking about.

So very well put. Bill O’Reilly was talking about it last night. That the left is now saying that because this man defaulted on his mortgage is why he did this. Which is, of course, B.S. as usual. The dude did it, because he was pissed at America because of our trying to stop Al-Qeada in Pakistan. Hmmm, Sounds like Ron Paul’s people. They have so much in common.

Sad News: The Voice of Detroit Tiger Baseball is Dead – Ernie Harwell has died

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To me, and everyone who grew up in Detroit in the 1980’s; this is the ultimate heart-ache.

Video:

This Story from the Detroit Free Press:

The Voice of Detroit Baseball - Ernie Harwell

He died in his apartment at Fox Run Village, a retirement center in Novi, with Lulu, his wife of 68 years, at his side. His death came eight months to the day after he revealed to his fans, in an interview with the Free Press, that he had a cancerous tumor in the area of his bile duct and that in late July he had been given only a few months to live.

“I’m ready to face what comes,” he said at the time. “Whether it’s a long time or a short time is all right with me because it’s up to my Lord and savior.”

In the ensuing months, in an emotional farewell ceremony at Comerica Park, in his columns for the Free Press and in interviews with national media, Harwell referred to death as his next great adventure, a gift handed down by God.

“I’ve had so many great ones,” he said. “It’s been a terrific life.”

Harwell had one of the longest runs by a broadcaster with one major league club, calling Tigers games for 42 seasons. For the first 32 of those seasons, he made and cemented his legacy by doing play-by-play on the radio. His Southern voice — rich and authoritative but not overbearing — became as distinctive to Michigan listeners as baseball itself.

Unlike some announcers in recent decades, Harwell didn’t litter his broadcasts with shouting, excessive talking or all-knowing pronouncements about players and managers. Listening to him was as pleasant as being at Tiger Stadium in the summertime. As he fell silent between pitches, listeners got to hear the sounds of the ballpark — the crowd’s buzz, the vendor’s cry — and absorb the rhythm of the game. Harwell thus became an ideal companion for a listener anywhere: the couch, the yard, the car or the boat.

“He’s a master craftsman,” former Tigers broadcaster Josh Lewin, now with the Texas Rangers, said in 2002. “He’s always kept it simple, which I think is part of his charm and staying power.”

In 2005, author and historian Curt Smith ranked Harwell as the third-greatest baseball announcer ever, only placing him behind Dodgers legend Vin Scully and Yankees stalwart Mel Allen. Just behind Harwell were St. Louis’ Jack Buck and New York’s Red Barber. Smith, a student of baseball broadcasting, had 10 criteria for his rankings, ranging from longevity and acclaim to voice and personality.

Beyond his consummate broadcasting skills, Harwell’s cheerfulness and friendliness made him a local treasure.

“He always had that warmth, that inviting lilt to his voice that always made you feel welcome,” Lewin said. “No one can do that like Ernie can.”

At home games, Harwell would report that a foul ball had been caught by “a man from Ypsilanti” or “a lady from Muskegon.” Of course he couldn’t know where the fan lived, but pretending that he did added a distinct local feel to his broadcasts.

On the day of his career-ending broadcast in 2002, he said, “I look on life as a joyous adventure.” He had lived by that ideal. He constantly conducted himself with joy, on and off the air. “Howdy, howdy,” he would greet friends and strangers, smiling and extending his hand.

Harwell was in his 80s when he returned to the radio in 1999 for four final years of broadcasting every Tigers game, home and away. He didn’t sound tired, old-fashioned or nostalgic, even as the Tigers in those years stacked one losing season on top of another. During Harwell’s final season, Boston Red Sox announcer Joe Castiglione said, “Ernie is the most contemporary octogenarian I know.”

The Detroit News remembers too:

Ernie has died.

After a battle against bile duct cancer, one he knew he would lose, Ernie Harwell died Tuesday. He was 92.

With his death, Michigan — and baseball — loses one of its most beloved figures.

For 55 years, Harwell was a major league broadcaster, 42 with the Tigers. He broadcast his last game Sept. 22, 2002.

Instead of moving away from the Detroit area, he spent his final years in Novi, still being part of our lives as an author and corporate spokesman.

William Earnest Harwell was born Jan. 25, 1918 in Washington, Ga.

As a boy, his family moved to Atlanta, where he grew up loving newspapers and baseball, which is how and why he became a paperboy and a batboy for his hometown minor league club, the Atlanta Crackers.

“I remember there was a drug store in Washington where they’d put me up on the counter and let me imitate the baseball announcers of the day, re-creating ball games,” Harwell said two years ago when he turned 90.

“I was tongue-tied at that time, though. I had a speech impediment. Words like sister came out thith-ter. But I was interested in baseball broadcasts even then, so I’d try to imitate the announcers. It wasn’t a very good imitation, but I tried.”

This is hardest things that I have ever tried to write in my life.  How does one explain someone like Ernie Harwell?  I will try my best.  However, I can tell you this; there is going to be a big hole in Detroit baseball for a very long time.

Ernie Harwell was a man from Georgia.  Detroit; from early 1950s until the late 1970s, experienced something called the “Appalachian Migration”, this is where people from the south, like say places like Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and other such places in the south, would come to Detroit to find work.  Listening to Ernie Harwell was like listening to home for these people.  People like my Father, who migrated from Middlesburo, Kentucky in 1967. People like me, who was his son.

There was George Kell on TV and there was Ernie Harwell on the radio.  That was Detroit Baseball.  Ernie was home on the radio for many people.

I have many fond memories of walking with my Dad through Patton Park in Detroit over to the softball diamond, to watch the games over there; all the while carrying his little black portable radio, with Ernie Harwell on the radio.

Old Memories — Old Detroit — My Childhood.

The Diamond is still there, my Dad is now 64, and Ernie is gone.

The just do not build them like that anymore.

It is truly a dark day in Detroit baseball.

Rest in Peace Ernie.

“I wanted to be a newspaper writer, but when I got out of college in 1940, none of the papers in Atlanta had an opening. So I auditioned with a radio station, got lucky, won the audition, and that’s how I got into radio.

“I didn’t know anything about radio, though. I just took a shot at it.”

That he did, and did it damned well he did.

He will be truly missed, at least by this Blogger. 🙁

Update: Statement from Senator Carl Levin:

Video:

Transcript:

WASHINGTON – Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., delivered the following statement on the Senate floor today:

“For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
The time of the singing of birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.”

Mr. President, spring after spring, for four decades, a man named Ernie Harwell would recite those words. He would recite them at the beginning of the first baseball broadcast of spring training. And those are the words that would tell the people of Michigan that the long, cold winter was over.

Ernie was the radio voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 years, and in that time, there may have been no Michiganian more universally beloved. Our state mourns today at his passing, yesterday evening, after a battle with cancer. He fought that battle with the grace, the good humor, and the wisdom that Michigan had come to expect, and even depend on, from a man we came to know and love.

This gentlemanly Georgian adopted our team, and our state, as his own. And his career would have been worthy had he done nothing more than bring us the sound of summer over the radio, recounting the Tigers’ ups and downs with professionalism and wit, as he did.

But without making a show of it, Ernie Harwell taught us. In his work and his life, he taught us the value of kindness and respect. He taught us that, in a city and a world too often divided, we could be united in joy at a great Al Kaline catch, or a Lou Whitaker home run, or a Mark Fidrych strikeout. He taught us not to let life pass us by “like the house by the side of the road.”

In 1981, when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Ernie told the assembled fans what baseball meant to him. “In baseball democracy shines its clearest,” he said. “The only race that matters is the race to the bag. The creed is the rulebook. Color merely something to distinguish one team’s uniform from another.” That was a lesson he taught us so well.

Mr. President, I will miss Ernie Harwell. All of Michigan will miss the sound of his voice telling us that the winter is past, that the Tigers had won a big game, or that they’d get another chance to win one tomorrow. We will miss his Georgia drawl, his humor, his humility, his quiet faith in God and in the goodness of the people he encountered. But we will carry in our hearts always our love for him, our appreciation for his work, and the lessons he gave us and left us and that we will pass on to our children and grandchildren.

UPDATED: Bomb Scare in New York’s Times Square

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I missed this last night; because I went to bed early. Which I have been doing for a good long while now.

Video of reaction on the Street: (H/T Gateway Pundit)

The New York Times Reports:

A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered in a smoking Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists and theatergoers on a warm and busy night. Although the device had apparently started to detonate, there was no explosion, and early on Sunday the authorities were still seeking a suspect and motive.

“We are very lucky,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a 2:15 a.m. press conference. “We avoided what could have been a very deadly event.”

A large swath of Midtown — from 43rd Street to 48th Street, and from Sixth to Eighth Avenues — was closed for much of the evening after the Pathfinder was discovered just off Broadway on 45th Street. Several theaters and stores, as well as the South Tower of the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel, were evacuated.

Mr. Bloomberg was joined by Gov. David A. Paterson, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and other officials at the early morning press conference to give a chronology of the vehicle’s discovery, its disarming, and the investigation that has been launched. The mayor and police commissioner had returned early from the annual White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington.

At 6:28 p.m., Mr. Kelly said, a video surveillance camera recorded what was believed to be the dark green Nissan S.U.V. driving west on 45th Street.

Moments later, a T-shirt vendor on the sidewalk saw smoke coming out of vents near the back seat of the S.U.V., which was now parked awkwardly at the curb with its engine running and its hazard lights on. The vendor called to a mounted police officer, the mayor said, who smelled gunpowder when he approached the S.U.V. and called for assistance. The police began evacuating Times Square, starting with businesses along Seventh Avenue, including a Foot Locker store and a McDonald’s.

Police officers from the emergency service unit and firefighters flooded the area and were troubled by the hazard lights and running engine, and by the fact that the S.U.V. was oddly angled in the street. At this point, a firefighter from Ladder 4 reported hearing several “pops” from within the vehicle. The police also learned that the Pathfinder had the wrong license plates on it.

Members of the Police Department’s bomb squad donned protective gear, broke the Pathfinder’s back windows and sent in a “robotic device” to “observe” it, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the police department’s chief spokesman.

Inside, they discovered three canisters of propane like those used for barbecue grills, two five-gallon cans of gasoline, consumer-grade fireworks — the apparent source of the “pops” — and two clocks with batteries, the mayor said. He said the device “looked amateurish.”

Mr. Browne said: “It appeared it was in the process of detonating, but it malfunctioned.”

Bomb squad officers also discovered a two-by-two-by-four-foot metal box — described as a “gun locker” — in the S.U.V. that was taken to the Police Department’s firing range at Rodman’s Neck in the Bronx to be destroyed, Mr. Kelly said. It was not immediately known what, if anything, was inside it.

Officials said they had no reports of anyone seen running from the vehicle. Mr. Kelly said police were scouring the area for any additional videotapes but noted that the S.U.V.’s windows were tinted, which could further hamper any efforts to identify those inside. Some of the surveillance cameras nearby were located in closed businesses, and the mayor made clear it would take time to review all available tapes.

Obviously, I am glad that this idiot or these idiots were not successful. Hopefully, the FBI nabs these guys. As you can imagine; The right is hollering “Jihad!” and the left, of course, is playing it down. Personally, I am not going to do either. Because obviously someone intended to cause some pain here. As to whom it was, I am sure the FBI either knows by now or is close to finding out.

What I now look for, is for the media, especially Fox News and the rest of the Conservative talkers to politicize the crap out of this. Which I think is sad; for all we know these idiots could have been just some people trying to scare people. I think everyone should just wait until the investigation is complete; then have at it. But they will not; which is sad.

Update: Bloomburg is on it, as usual:

Good catch by AllahPundit, NYC Police and FBI are checking a possible South Park link. Bomb was set off near Viacom’s offices, which owns that Cartoon:

The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.

Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park – Matt Stone and Trey Parker – that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Muhammad in a bear suit.

A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women.

Images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, and Comedy Central, which broadcasts South Park, has banned Stone and Parker from depicting Muhammad in the past. In 2006 the network stopped them from featuring Muhammad in an episode which followed worldwide protests over a caricature of the Prophet by a Danish cartoonist.

Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.

In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.

David Paterson, the Governor of New York, described the Times Square incident as an “act of terrorism.”

Wouldn’t it be nice, if they tied that to the guys at Revolution Muslim and put those idiots in jail?

Update #2: Video of the SUV:

AllahPundit Says:

“a Brazilian tourist was right there with camera rolling as the “firecrackers” in the back of the SUV went off. My understanding of the incident until now was that only the local street vendors noticed something amiss and that the cops moved people in the area way back before anything happened in the vehicle. Not so. As you’ll see, there were still crowds around and the firecrackers themselves were heavy duty enough to cause a serious boom. Listen to the guy off-camera shouting about the Taliban 30 seconds in; bystanders clearly knew what the risk was here. If you’re a New Yorker, especially a New Yorker who was in the city on 9/11, this is tough to watch.”

…and Obama says this is nothing to get excited about. 😡

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Obama Says: “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money”

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This is unbelievable.  (H/T HotAir)

Video:

Partial Transcript:

We’re not, we’re not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that’s fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or providing good service. We don’t want people to stop, ah, fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow our economy.

The problem is; that was not a part of his prepared remarks, here is what he was supposed to say:

Now, we’re not doing this to punish these firms or begrudge success that’s fairly earned. We don’t want to stop them from fulfilling their responsibility to help grow our economy.

By the way, the radio host is Mark Levin, whom I normally find to be highly annoying; mainly because his voice sounds like the equivalent of dragging a cat backwards through a fan. But, I have to say, that I agree with everything that is said here.

Ed Morrissey, whom I have much respect for, points out the glaringly obvious here:

He should have stuck with the TelePrompter. The President doesn’t get to decide when people have “made enough money.” In fact, as the radio host notes, that’s a statist point of view. Furthermore, the responsibility of an entrepreneur isn’t to “grow our economy,” core or otherwise. It’s to grow his own economy. In a properly regulated capitalist system, the natural tension of self-interests create economic growth through innovation and efficient use of capital and resources.

Put simply, a free people work for themselves, not for the government. Barack Obama seems to have a problem understanding that.

But then again; Marxists usually do. Yesterday, I posted a video by Chris Matthews over at MSNBC basically saying that we should cool it with the Nazi references, when it comes to politics and the Right…and Left. The reason why I say that I agreed with that; is because comparing this President to Adolf Hitler is giving Hitler and this President way too much credit.  Nazism was started because Hitler saw the failures of socialism and sought to improve upon it; a plan the ultimately failed thankfully. This President is just a flat out socialist; he is highly against any sort of unfettered Capitalism at all. I mean, do not misunderstand me here; I am all for seeing the people that capitalized on our economy going down the toilet, having to pay the piper.  But to get in front of people and make a statement like this, is just inexcusable. This might come as a shock to those on the left; I am for Capitalism, but I am not for the reckless greed, that leads to destruction. There is a big difference.

The Bottom Line: The President needs to stick to the teleprompter. Because every time that he goes off of that teleprompter, he exposes himself and that exposure is starting to look very, very ugly.

Update: Others: RedState, Left Coast Rebel, Whiskey Fire, The TrogloPundit, Beltway Confidential, Cassy Fiano, ProfessorBainbridge.com, Neptunus Lex, Confederate Yankee, YID With LID, Animal Farm, Villainous Company, protein wisdom and Pajamas Media

From the Dept of ‘Now why am I not suprised?’ – Press is now turning on Obama

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Sorry, I got no pity for ’em:

Reporters say the White House is thin-skinned, controlling, eager to go over their heads and stingy with even basic information. All White Houses try to control the message. But this White House has pledged to be more open than its predecessors, and reporters feel it doesn’t live up to that pledge in several key areas:

— Day-to-day interaction with Obama is almost nonexistent, and he talks to the press corps far less often than Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush did. Clinton took questions nearly every weekday, on average. Obama barely does it once a week.

— The ferocity of pushback is intense. A routine press query can draw a string of vitriolic e-mails. A negative story can draw a profane high-decibel phone call or worse. Some reporters feel like they’ve been frozen out after crossing the White House.

— Except toward a few reporters, press secretary Robert Gibbs can be distant and difficult to reach — even though his job is to be one of the main conduits from president to press. “It’s an odd White House where it’s easier to get the White House chief of staff on the phone than the White House press secretary,” one top reporter said.

— And at the very moment many reporters feel shut out, one paper — The New York Times — enjoys a favoritism from Obama and his staff that makes competitors fume, with gift-wrapped scoops and loads of presidential face time.

“They seem to want to close the book on the highly secretive years of the Bush administration. However, in their relationship with the press, I think they’re doing what they think succeeded in helping Obama get elected,” said The New Yorker’s George Packer.

“I don’t think they need to be nice to reporters, but the White House seems to imagine that releasing information is like a tap that can be turned on and off at their whim,” Packer said.

via Why reporters are down on Obama – POLITICO.com

These idiots knew what they were getting when they elected Obama; so, I have no pity for them. You elect an guy with the ego the size of Texas, you deal with it. Don’t like his style of dealing with the press? You should have thought of that, BEFORE you went into the tank for him. This is what happens when you treat a black Harvard graduate like a novelty and then turn that man into your party’s personal Messiah.

Others: AmSpecBlog, Hot Air, Gawker, The Anchoress, Mediaite, Sister Toldjah,  Hugh Hewitt’s TownHall Blog, Pundit & Pundette,  Weekly Standard, Townhall.com, 

Stupid: Idiot kid shows up at airport where President Obama is, with a gun

Posted on2 Comments

Egad, this, I think qualifies for “Stuck on Stupid” of the YEAR! 🙄

Joseph Sean McVey - Amateur Call K8JSM

WASHINGTON – The Secret Service does not believe there was a threat to President Obama from an armed man arrested at an airport just after Air Force One left for Washington.

Joseph Sean McVey, 23, of Coshocton, Ohio, sparked alarm when he was collared Sunday at the airport in Asheville, N.C.

McVey, who was wearing a pistol, was observed in a public lot in a car with Ohio plates that had radio antennas, lights and sirens like a police cruiser.

He was listening to a police radio scanner using an earpiece, and told cops he'd heard Obama was in town.

In a cupholder, police found instructions for using a rifle scope, police said.

But a U.S. official told the Daily News that McVey is just a law enforcement buff, and is not considered a threat to the President. Though local authorities held McVey overnight, he was expected to be released soon.

via Joseph Sean McVey, arrested at N.C. airport with gun, was not threat to Obama, Secret Service says.

Here is why this bugs me. This kid is a licensed Amateur Radio Operator. I can tell you, that I have been in this hobby since 1989 and I have never personally encountered anyone this stupid. I can also tell you, without hesitation, that the Amateur Radio Service is NOT an Anti-Government hobby. In fact, it is licensed by the Federal Communications Commission! So, much for all that Anti-Government stuff eh? 😉

However, because I am fair, honest and balanced, not to mention unbiased; I will be the first to admit, that Amateur Radio hobby; like other hobbies, like CB RADIO, Like Firearms, Like Religions, such as Christianity and Islam, does tend to be a bug light for extremists. Mainly because of the Public Service aspect and for it’s teaching of self-reliance.  Conversely, there is nothing wrong with anyone being able to rely on themselves, without the nanny state Government taking care of them. So, there are those, within the hobby, who could be called survivalists.

One thing that I feel the great need to correct, because of statements that I have been reading in various places; is the false rumor or in web 2.0 terms; Meme that is circulating around in parts on the internet that Amateur Radio is a “Rich White Man’s Conservative Hobby.” I am quite happy to report, that little rumor or Meme is totally false. Amateur Radio is a racially and politically and almost everything else under the sun — diverse. There are many blacks, Latino’s, and every other race under the sun, who are Hams. In fact, there is a Amateur Radio Organization, which is exclusively for African-Americans. (although ANYONE is welcomed to join!)  It’s name is OMIK and it’s been around for a long time.  In fact, I have many personal friends who are members of that fine organization.

In closing, I tend to believe that this was just a very bad case of “Stuck on Stupid.” I just wish the stupid was not involved in my hobby! 😡 🙄

Video: We Will Remember

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(H/T HotAir)

Sign the Pledge at We Will Remember.

Stupid: General Motors plays a shell game

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Here’s one for the “Stuck on Stupid” file that seems to be getting bigger and bigger by the day.

AP Headline: Gas in the tank: GM repays $8.1B in gov’t loans

Quote:

WASHINGTON – Fallen giant General Motors Co. accelerated toward recovery Wednesday, announcing the repayment of $8.1 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans five years ahead of schedule.

The Obama administration crowed about the “turnaround” at GM and fellow bailout recipient Chrysler LLC, saying the government’s unpopular rescue of Detroit’s automakers is paying off.

Much of the improvement comes from GM slashing its debt load and workforce as part of its bankruptcy reorganization last year. But the automaker is a long way from regaining its old blue-chip status: It remains more than 70 percent government-owned and is still losing money — $3.4 billion in last year’s fourth quarter alone. And while its car and truck sales are up so far this year, that’s primarily due to lower-profit sales to car rental companies and other fleet buyers.

Chrysler, now run by Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, said Wednesday it lost almost $200 million in the first quarter. But it said it boosted its cash reserves by $1.5 billion, reducing the likelihood that it will need more government aid.

“This turnaround wasn’t an accident of history,” said White House economic adviser Larry Summers. “It was the result of considered and politically difficult decisions made by President Obama to provide GM and Chrysler — and indeed the auto industry — a lifeline, if they could demonstrate the will to reshape their businesses.”

Vice President Joe Biden said President Barack Obama “took a lot of heat” to keep GM alive. “And this has even exceeded our expectations.”

Everything is happy yappy and yippie skippy right?

Wrong.

Jamie Dupree dishes the straight dope on this little shell game: (H/T Q & O)

General Motors will make a big splash in the news today by announcing that the automaker will repay several billion dollars loans from the federal government earlier than expected. But it’s not really coming out of the GM wallet.

The issue came up yesterday at a hearing with the special watchdog on the Wall Street Bailout, Neil Barofsky, who was asked several times about the GM repayment by Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE), who was looking for answers on how much money the feds might make from the controversial Wall Street Bailout.


“It’s good news in that they’re reducing their debt,” Barofsky said of the accelerated GM payments, “but they’re doing it by taking other available TARP money.”

In other words, GM is taking money from the Wall Street Bailout – the TARP money – and using that to pay off their loans ahead of schedule.

“It sounds like it’s kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other,” said Carper, who got a nod of agreement from Barofsky.

[….]


Most of Uncle Sam’s bailout money that was given to GM has now been turned into stock in the U.S. automaker.

“The assumption is that, over time, hopefully the value of the stock will appreciate,” said Carper.

Long term that could prove to be a money-making investment for the feds – or if things go the wrong way for General Motors – a big, fat loss for Uncle Sam.

As most of you know, my Father is a 31 year veteran of the General Motors company. I find this little idiotic shell game right here to be just plain immoral. I mean, how in the hell are you going to use money from the Government to pay off the Government? That is basically taking money out of one pocket and putting into another. That is not paying off your debt; that is nothing more than a  shell game. The reason why this is so upsetting to me is; that it is just going to hurt my Father. Because sooner or later, this company is not going to be able to pay my Dad’s pension.

As the son of a General Motors worker, I want to see G.M. succeed; but I want to see them succeed the right way and honestly. Not by playing a dirty, underhanded shell game, and that my friends is what this is, a dirty shell game to fool the American people and the workers at G.M. into believing that they are on to the road to recovery, when in all honesty, they are not.

The American Taxpayers, The workers and retirees for General Motors; deserve better than this.

Shame on General Motors for their deceptive tactics and shame on the White House and Yes, the President for aiding and abetting in this little scam.

The real cute part is that not a word of this, has been said in the media, as to just HOW this loans are being paid back. That my friends is a damned human tragedy.

Others: Questions and Observations, Mish’s Global Economic …, TigerHawk, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool and The TrogloPundit

Update: Not surprisingly, Ed Morrissey Agrees with me.

From the Dept of ‘Now why I am not surprised?’

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Shocking? Not Hardly.

In Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, there is a police impound lot where dozens of brand-new vehicles sit gleaming in the sun, sporting the logos of aid groups that poured into the city to help in the wake of a devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and left 1 million homeless.

Haitian police are holding the vehicles for ransom, American aid workers say, demanding exorbitant sums for registration technicalities. The relief workers call it a brazen display — even for a country known to be rife with corruption.

When many of the vehicles were brought into Haiti, as cries rang out from beneath the rubble, there was no Haitian government to register the vehicles. The factory that made license plates, for instance, was destroyed.

But in mid-March, less than two months after the earthquake that registered 7.0 on the Richter scale, Haitian police began to impound vehicles without tags.

Relief groups are given a choice, American aid workers say: Pay a fine of 50 percent of the vehicles’ value, which quickly adds up to tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for most groups, or wait two to three months for paperwork to be processed.

via Haitian corruption and graft delay earthquake relief efforts, punishes destitute refugees | The Daily Caller

This is what happens when a Constitutional Republic decides to be the “White Knight” of a Socialist Country. You would think that America, its people and Government would have wised up about this already. But, as long as there is a bleeding heart liberal in this Country, we will keep sinking money into that godless pit.

When will America get a clue? When?

Is that taliban ready for peace? Not so fast.

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Oops.

Via the Times of London:

The supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has indicated that he and his followers may be willing to hold peace talks with western politicians.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, two of the movement’s senior Islamic scholars have relayed a message from the Quetta shura, the Taliban’s ruling council, that Mullah Omar no longer aims to rule Afghanistan. They said he was prepared to engage in “sincere and honest” talks.

A senior US military source said the remarks reflected a growing belief that a “breakthrough” was possible. “There is evidence from many intelligence sources [that] the Taliban are ready for some kind of peace process,” the source said.

At a meeting held at night deep inside Taliban-controlled territory, the Taliban leaders told this newspaper that their military campaign had only three objectives: the return of sharia (Islamic law), the expulsion of foreigners and the restoration of security.

“[Mullah Omar] is no longer interested in being involved in politics or government,” said Mullah “Abdul Rashid”, the elder of the two commanders, who used a pseudonym to protect his identity.

“All the mujaheddin seek is to expel the foreigners, these invaders, from our country and then to repair the country’s constitution. We are not interested in running the country as long as these things are achieved.”

There’s only one little problem, the Taliban’s big cheese says, “Not so fast….”

Via The Long War Journal: (H/T Jawa Report) (Original Here)

(Theunjustmedia:) My question is did this interview with The Sunday Times and The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan senior Islamic scholars took place?

Zabihullah Mujahid: No, no interview has been conducted with the The Sunday Times and The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan senior Islamic scholars, this interview is a lie.

Theunjustmedia: How do you comment on the content of this fake propaganda interview, what objectives could the invaders have in propagating this type of disinformation among the masses.

Zabihullah Mujahid: This is a good question, and I think that the concern citizens of the world should be asking this question from those who are behind this propaganda, what benefits are they trying to seek by lying to world about The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. I think people should contact The Sunday Times and ask them why are they spreading disinformation, also other media outlets should bring to light The Sunday Times deception to its reads.

It is obvious that the Taliban is not interested in working with the United States and is still interested in protecting, supporting and bringing comfort to Al-Qaeda. Nothing has changed and because of that, the United States will continue to hunt them down and kill them. This should be a glaring example to ALL Democrats and those on the far left, that you cannot negotiate with terrorists, ever. The only solution is to hunt them down and get rid of them, by the end of a gun or other such piece of artillery.

Until the Libertarians, Far leftists, and Democratic Party supporting liberals figure that out. We will have nothing to discuss.

NEXT!

Coming to America

Posted on2 Comments

It won’t be long:

A WOMAN has been denied an operation on the NHS after paying for a private consultation to deal with her severe back pain.

Jenny Whitehead, a breast cancer survivor, paid £250 for an appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon after being told she would have to wait five months to see him on the NHS. He told her he would add her to his NHS waiting list for surgery.

She was barred from the list, however, and sent back to her GP. She must now find at least £10,000 for private surgery, or wait until the autumn for the NHS operation to remove a cyst on her spine.

“When I paid £250 to see the specialist privately I had no idea I would be sacrificing my right to surgery on the NHS. I feel victimised,” she said.

via NHS bars woman after she saw private doctor – Times Online.

This is what America will look like under Obama-care; just give it a little time.

Others: : Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Lonely Conservative

Justice: Goldman Sachs sued by the SEC for the Meltdown of 2008

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Finally, some justice to these bastards:

Via the NYT:

Goldman Sachs, which emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis, was accused of securities fraud in a civil suit filed Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims the bank created and sold a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.

The move marks the first time that regulators have taken action against a Wall Street deal that helped investors capitalize on the collapse of the housing market. Goldman itself profited by betting against the very mortgage investments that it sold to its customers.

The suit also named Fabrice Tourre, a vice president at Goldman who helped create and sell the investment.

In a statement, Goldman called the S.E.C. accusations “completely unfounded in law and fact” and said the firm would “vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation.”

The instrument in the S.E.C. case, called Abacus 2007-AC1, was one of 25 deals that Goldman created so the bank and select clients could bet against the housing market. Those deals, which were the subject of an article in The New York Times in December, initially protected Goldman from losses when the mortgage market disintegrated and later yielded profits for the bank.

As the Abacus deal plunged in value, Goldman and a prominent hedge fund made money on their negative bets, while European investors like IKB and ABN Amro lost more than $1 billion, the S.E.C. said.

According to the complaint, Goldman created Abacus 2007-AC1 in February 2007, at the request of John A. Paulson, a prominent hedge fund manager who earned an estimated $3.7 billion in 2007 by correctly wagering that the housing bubble would burst.

Goldman let Mr. Paulson select mortgage bonds that he wanted to bet against — the ones he believed were most likely to lose value — and packaged those bonds into Abacus 2007-AC1, according to the S.E.C. complaint. Goldman then sold the Abacus deal to investors like foreign banks, pension funds, insurance companies and other hedge funds.

But the deck was stacked against the Abacus investors, the complaint contends, because the investment was filled with bonds chosen by Mr. Paulson, who is not named in the suit, as likely to default. Goldman told investors in Abacus marketing materials reviewed by The Times that the bonds would be chosen by an independent manager.

“The product was new and complex, but the deception and conflicts are old and simple,” Robert Khuzami, the director of the S.E.C.’s division of enforcement, said in a statement. “Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party.”

In response Goldman Sachs says:

The SEC’s charges are completely unfounded in law and fact and we will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation.

Yeah, sure the accusations are unfounded. If I were a Goldman employee; I would be looking for a new job pronto.

From the SEC Press Release:

The SEC’s complaint alleges that after participating in the portfolio selection, Paulson & Co. effectively shorted the RMBS portfolio it helped select by entering into credit default swaps (CDS) with Goldman Sachs to buy protection on specific layers of the ABACUS capital structure. Given that financial short interest, Paulson & Co. had an economic incentive to select RMBS that it expected to experience credit events in the near future. Goldman Sachs did not disclose Paulson & Co.’s short position or its role in the collateral selection process in the term sheet, flip book, offering memorandum, or other marketing materials provided to investors.

The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs Vice President Fabrice Tourre was principally responsible for ABACUS 2007-AC1. Tourre structured the transaction, prepared the marketing materials, and communicated directly with investors. Tourre allegedly knew of Paulson & Co.’s undisclosed short interest and role in the collateral selection process. In addition, he misled ACA into believing that Paulson & Co. invested approximately $200 million in the equity of ABACUS, indicating that Paulson & Co.’s interests in the collateral selection process were closely aligned with ACA’s interests. In reality, however, their interests were sharply conflicting.

According to the SEC’s complaint, the deal closed on April 26, 2007, and Paulson & Co. paid Goldman Sachs approximately $15 million for structuring and marketing ABACUS. By Oct. 24, 2007, 83 percent of the RMBS in the ABACUS portfolio had been downgraded and 17 percent were on negative watch. By Jan. 29, 2008, 99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded.

Investors in the liabilities of ABACUS are alleged to have lost more than $1 billion.

The SEC’s complaint charges Goldman Sachs and Tourre with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5. The Commission seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of profits, prejudgment interest, and financial penalties.

Allow me to humbly submit that I hope that these bastards get exactly what is coming to them. I mean, these guy literally gambled as the stock market and by proxy; our economy went straight into the toilet.   Many people that I know; like my parents, lost a good deal of money on this stuff. Not only that, after the credit crises hit; G.M. ended up having to shed a bunch of expenses; and as a result, my parents lost their optical and dental insurance. That came as a indirect result of this Wall Street mess. So, as far as I am concerned; throw the book at these bastards.

Capitalism is one thing, heartless greed is another; and these bastards crossed that line, big time. 😡


Okay, Who’s playing with thier fireballs again in Ohio?

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I had nothing to do with it, honest!

Video:

The Story:

Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said.

The fireball was visible for about 15 minutes beginning about 10 p.m., said the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee.

“The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east,” said the NWS in the Quad Cities area, which includes parts of Iowa and Illinois.

“Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight,” the service said. “Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes,” it said.

It said the fireball was seen across parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. CNN affiliate WISN-TV said that people in Ohio also saw it.

via Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky – CNN.com.

Alright, which one of you Domestic Terrorists have been playing with the missile launcher again? 😉

Just a little humor after days and days of depressing news. 😀

How bad will it be for Democrats come 2010?

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This bad:

Though Election Day is still months away, pundits have already begun to speculate on possible outcomes for this year’s midterms. There’s a general consensus that Democrats will lose seats in November, but beyond that opinions vary widely on how big those losses might be. Some argue that because of the advance notice, passage of health care, and an improving economy (or some combination of all three), Democrats will be able to limit their losses significantly. Others are predicting a repeat of 1994, when Democrats lost 50+ seats and control of the House.

[…]

That said, I think those who suggest that the House is barely in play, or that we are a long way from a 1994-style scenario are missing the mark. A 1994-style scenario is probably the most likely outcome at this point. Moreover, it is well within the realm of possibility – not merely a far-fetched scenario – that Democratic losses could climb into the 80 or 90-seat range. The Democrats are sailing into a perfect storm of factors influencing a midterm election, and if the situation declines for them in the ensuing months, I wouldn't be shocked to see Democratic losses eclipse 100 seats.

[…]

President Obama’s policy choices to date are wreaking havoc on the brand that Democrats cultivated carefully over the past twenty years. Bill Clinton worked long and hard to make it so that voters could say “fiscal conservative” and “Democrat” in the same sentence, but voters are finding it difficult to say that again.

If brand damage is truly seeping over into Congressional races – and the polling suggests it is – then the Democrats are in very, very deep trouble this election. There is a very real risk that they could be left with nothing more than Obama’s base among young, liberal, and minority voters, which is packed into relatively few Congressional districts. It would be the Dukakis map transformed onto the Congressional level, minus the support in Appalachia. That would surely result in the Democratic caucus suffering huge losses, and in turn produce historic gains for the GOP this November.

via RealClearPolitics – How Bad Could 2010 Really Get For Democrats?.

As I have said on here many times. Elections have consequences, so do bad policy decisions; this is a result of that. When you poke your finger in the eye of the American people and you try and tell them, what is good for them, this is what happens. President Obama and his goons in the Congress have basically disrupted the status quo in American heathcare and many Americans were against this Healthcare bill; including those on the left, who felt that it did not go far enough. So, Obama and the Democrats are going to be hurting come November. It will be very interesting to watch, and I will be there, writing my fool head off about it. 😀

Others: Hot Air, American Power, Wizbang, Weekly Standard, The New Republic, Beltway Confidential, Pollster.com All Content, Ruby Slippers, The Strata-Sphere, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Wake up America

Living Proof that Liberals hate our Military.

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It figures:

They should have done this to the first jackass who tried to pull this kind of stunt. Maybe a decade of hard labor will nip this stupidity in the bud, although what will probably happen is the wingnuts will be mortified our Kenyan preznit is prosecuting American HEROES.

So says former-conservative turncoat and now liberal traitor; who is also a Blogger,  John Cole.

Why?

All because some member of our Great Military decided that Obama was unqualified to be President of United States.

It just shows you just how tolerate of dissent your liberals really are. 🙄

Which is why I will never, ever vote Democrat again.

Justice: Maryland Cops who beat John McKenna will be FIRED!

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First the Video:

The Story:

Police in Maryland are investigating three officers involved in a beating last month at the University of Maryland’s College Park campus. One officer has already been suspended.

The incident was caught on tape, and it apparently shows University of Maryland student John McKenna being attacked by Prince George's County police unprovoked during a celebration after a basketball game. The beating occurred on March 3 after Maryland’s basketball team beat Duke University.

Attorney Christopher Griffiths released video of the incident on Monday after charges against McKenna, 21, were dropped. A police officer involved in the incident had claimed McKenna assaulted them.

McKenna was among the 28 people arrested by Prince George’s County police during the civil unrest that followed the game.

County prosecutors are investigating the incident and police have launched an internal affairs investigation.

Police Chief Roberto Hylton says he saw the video and was outraged. He says one officer’s police powers have been suspended and two other officers will be suspended when they are identified

via Video of Student Beating Leads to Cop Suspension – The Early Show – CBS News.

One network says fired, the other says suspended; but I tend to think it is the latter. There is no defending those actions. Those PIGS, and that is what they are; attacked that kid unprovoked and then lied about it. They are getting just what should be coming to them. Well, I believe that criminal charges should be brought against them, and that might just happen.

As a Conservative, I believe in rule of law. What I do not believe in, is police brutality. 😡  This was a clear cut case of that; and for that these men will lose their jobs. As someone who’s cousin was shot dead by corrupt Detroit police officers in the 90’s, I feel that any sort of police brutality should be dealt with harshly and those responsible should be jailed themselves. Although, in this case, I highly doubt that will happen.

Do not misunderstand me here; there are times when the police have to use force of this sort. This was not one of those times.