President Barack Obama on Thursday accepted responsibility for intelligence shortcomings that led to a failed Christmas Day bombing plot on a Detroit-bound airliner, saying, “Ultimately, the buck stops with me.
“As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people, and when the system fails, it is my responsibility,” Obama said.
Obama said an intelligence review found that the U.S. government had the information needed to thwart the plot but failed to do so because of a series of compounding shortcomings, including that intelligence analysts didn’t focus heavily enough on information warning that al-Qaeda in Yemen wanted to strike the United States.
“The U.S. government had the information scattered through the system to potentially uncover this plot and disrupt the attack. Rather than a failure to collect and share this intelligence, this was a failure to connect and understand the intelligence we already had,” Obama said at the White House.
Obama’s buck-stops-here message marks a change in tone from earlier statements in which Obama and other officials repeatedly noted that the watch-listing system that failed to flag the suspect, Umar AbdulMatallab, was put in place under the Bush administration.
I am glad to see that the President is taking the hit for it and not passing the buck. I look forward to seeing what the Government does. Speeches are nice, but let’s see what the action is.
I’m not, and was talking about it with cobloggers (similarly unimpressed) and figured why talk about it in email.
He dodged responsibility for a week. He minimized it and claimed it was just an independent actor, unconnected to anything bigger, even when it was pretty firmly established it was Al Qaeda.
I don’t think he made this statement because he believes it, or because he wanted to. I think he made this statement because polling and focus-groups told him that if he didn’t make it, he was risking an even bigger loss in his poll numbers than anything he’d seen before.
So it’s a case — I am 99% confident — of “doing the right thing when there are no other options left.”
It is a plausible question, and an interesting one at that. Are the Democrats now jumping from the bloated ship of socialist waste ever known to humankind? Are Democrats preparing themselves for the “Nuclear Option” on healthcare? The questions abound, the speculation is running rampant, and internet meme’s are burning up the bandwidth. I, on the other hand, will tell you what I do know.
First off, let us start with the local story; Michigan Lt Governor John Cherry was expected to be the person to succeed Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm at the helm of Michigan Governorship. However, Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm’s performance as Governor of this state has been less than stellar. I ought to know this, I have lived here all of my life. Double-digit unemployment, a one state recession that towered over the national recession for many years now; put quite bluntly, there are no jobs here in Michigan. Sure, there are jobs, if you want to work in a fast food joint, making minimum wage. However, if you happen to be a 37-year-old man, looking for a decent paying, full time job, with health insurance — you are frankly out of luck.
However, to be fair, some of Michigan’s woes cannot be laid at the feet of the Democratic leadership. GM’s credit crisis cannot be blamed entirely on the Democrats, at least not the current ones in office here in Michigan. GM and Chrysler’s troubles are a direct result of the mortgage crisis, which was caused by President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton and that idiotic piece of legislation that opened up the mortgage market to high-risk individuals. When the credit markets froze up, due to the stock market crash and subsequent credit freeze, the big three found themselves in the middle of it. This is my biggest issue that I have with the “Republicans” or those within the Conservative movement. They always, without fail, blame the unions for the troubles of the big three; when in all honesty, unions had zero to do with the meltdown or its effect on the automakers. The entire mess was, in fact, lack of proper regulation in the mortgage industry and the stock market in regards to credit swaps that caused this whole mess in the first place. Sorry to my fellow Conservatives, but I am just not buying that talking point.
However, it would be fair to mention that the unions did play a role in the financial woes of the big three, as did the big three’s failure to listen to the automotive experts, who saw what Japan was doing in the 1970’s and their arrogant attitudes. The big three could have saved themselves much heartache, by building smarter, higher quality vehicles. However, by the time the big three got around to embracing the ISO standards, it was too little, too late. As for the talking point of Union workers making too much money, I find it amazing how many Conservatives have axe to grind with those who simply want to make a decent working wage. Most of the people that make these idiotic claims are those who are making more than two hundred and fifty thousand a year and have no financial worries at all; but they want to rip away the comfortable living of others. Do you see now why I have not voted “Republican” yet?
Another point that I feel that is important to make, is the fact that the big three are just designing some of the most god-awful looking car nowadays. Heck, even the trucks are now getting just plain butt-ugly. Does it make any damned sense to build cars for every day Americans that look like they taken from the pages of a twenty fifth century comic book? Whatever happened to graceful, classic designs from the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s? Those were real cars back then, now all the big three can produce is glorified garbage — and do not even get me started on the idea of an electric car, now that is a idea that is going to go right straight were the Chevy EV1 went, right straight into the scrap heap.
Now back on the subject of politics, it seems that Chris Dodd, going to retire. Getting sweetheart deals on a house mortgage can do that to a fellow, especially when people in your district are losing their houses left and right. I also notice that Bryon Dorgan is also retiring; he supported Obama’s healthcare plan, which made him damaged goods. I also notice that Colorado Governor Bill Ritter is withdrawing from that race — corruption will do that to a fellow.
Now what is my personal take on these retirements and how it affects the 2010 elections? My take is this; I believe that there are going to be some very big upsets come election time. Now, I do not necessarily see a Republican wave or anything like that. However, I do see a drastic change in Washington D.C. I do also see a “defanging” of the socialist monster that exists on Capitol Hill right now. As for the Governor’s race here in Michigan, I believe that the Republicans can win Michigan, but they are going to have to work to earn the trust of the American people. It would take some very hard work and some massive breaking of some very established political rules to do it. However it can be done. The people of Michigan want real answers, real results, not political grandstanding, and platitudes.
It is going to be a very interesting 2010. I look forward to writing about it and giving you my take.
Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eve…ntually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.
Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from the border bullies.
When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies.
Very strange. Even if you’re into profiling, Yon would hardly fit one you’d be interested in. Of course, his passport, by now, doubtless has a list of countries stamped into it which could give an inspector pause, but that’s no excuse. Very, very strange. I expect this one will be high profile enough that you’ll see an apology coming from the government.
Unless there is more to this story, an apology would be the least owed to Yon. When an American citizen with a valid passport presents himself for travel, there should be some reasonable screening to verify identity and to determine whether there is a physical risk, ie, weapons and the like. Why should border security be interested in Yon’s annual income? How does that relate to national security and border protection? Unless this is an arm of the Internal Revenue Service, it doesn’t, and Yon was right to refuse to answer the question.
Instead of hassling American citizens about their income or watching the ice melt, how about paying attention to actual security and intelligence issues? Please?
I must say that I agree with both of these assessments, and I personally believe those responsible for detaining Mr. Yon, ought to be fired. I honestly have to ask this question, that neither Jazz nor Ed would even ask. If Michael Yon had been, say, Arabic or even black; would he have been detained? I somehow doubt it. But, because he’s a White American, he gets asked a stupid question and because he refuses to answer it, which was well within his rights; he gets detained. Welcome to Obama’s America people. Where white men are oppressed, interrogated and harassed; by the black power establishment. You say this isn’t about race? I disagree. This is all about race and as long as Barack Hussein Obama is President, you will continue to see this sort of nonsense happening in America. Bank on it.
If the owner of this video wants to contact me. I would be more than happy to put it on YouTube, on my account as well. Hell, I will put in on this server! Awesome video! Good job to whomever created it.
If you thought 2010 was the future, think again. A phony new email chain letter — one of the antiquated viral sort leftover from the AOL era — is claiming that the case against President Barack Obama’s citizenship has reached the Supreme Court, based on a forged and typo-riddled Associated Press “report.”
The birther movement of angry citizens who believe President Obama was not born in the country and is thus ineligible to be president seemed to lose steam in the year since the 2008 election, but this new email spreading takes the accusations to a new level of ridiculousness based on fake news done poorly.
This is the main reason why I quit giving that birther crap any space on my blog. Because they know they are wrong. But that will not stop them. What they cannot prove; they make up. Which is horrible, but they are entitled to free speech, like everyone else — like me.
The problem is, there are well-meaning Conservatives, who actually believe this bunch of nonsense. The problem is, not many of them know this theory’s origins; which was on the White Nationalist website, Stormfront. It was then picked up operatives in the Hillary Clinton campaign, and then finally by political operatives within the Republican Party. It was quickly dumped by the Republicans and somewhat by the Hillary people. But it still festers out there. There are some, who are still angry at Obama from the Hillary camp, and some angry Republicans, who still, to this day, forward these e-mails around. It is, as Charles Johnson noted in the interview that I posted, a nuanced racial message, that basically says, “Go back to Africa, nigger!” I will be the first to admit it, there are some racists still in the ranks of Conservatives, especially in the south. Some of these people, at some point may have voted Democrat. Some not. It depends entirely on the person. This is not to say, that they all are, but there are some who hold that well-nuanced feeling towards blacks.
I think one of tragedies of the Conservative Blogosphere is that some of them, including me, got caught up into that birther nonsense. Especially when Orly Taitz started bringing out her “supposed” Birth Certificates. I was burned on that story once; it will never happen again, I can assure you of that. I went as far as to add a retraction to the story and went out of my way to slam that pathetic woman, for even trying to deceive the American people. I also slammed the owner of WorldNetDaily for giving Taitz the space to spout her nonsense too. Most of the rest that covered it, never bothered, and that to me, is a real issue. I mean, if you going to cover a story, at least have the common decency to say that it was a hoax.
What is needed now are not partisan fights about whether the Obama Administration was doing enough to guard against terrorist attacks in the wake of shootings last month at Fort Hood, Texas. Instead, we should question whether our overreaction to the crimes against humanity on 9/11–including the creation of an endless “war” against terrorism–has done more to undermine our security than enhance it. American safety will be better ensured through common-sense counterterrorism and homeland defense measures, including extensive intelligence cooperation expert police work and border control.
Oh yes,Katrina, let’s just cut and run and stop trying to fight the war on terror — so, that Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan can regroup and come back stronger. Not only in the Afghanistan region, but also in Yemen and other regions as well. What a pathetic bitch. 🙄 What more living proof do we need, that the Socialist Far-Left Liberal Democrats are nothing more than terrorist sympathizers? Which is why I will never vote for them again, ever. Give me a politico that gives a flying flip about National Security, please. Not some terrorist coddling asshat.
Oh, and… Police Work. Police work?!?!?!? That is another little bitch and gripe that I have with the Socialist Liberal Democrats. They see some Negro Muslim terrorist, who tried to blow up a damned plane, most likely at sixty thousand feet over my damned house, as nothing more than some common criminal thug. Sorry Liberals, this stupid idiot negro terrorist, was an non-uniform combatant. He should be at Gitmo. Actually, he should be strung from a damned tree! 😡 But, I digress.
There is much hubbub about why the system to failed. There is also news that the Government knew about this dude, and did nothing at all. All of the media outlets; including Fox News are asking, “why?” Hello! It does not take a damned rocket scientist to figure that little problem out. It is the elephant in the room, that nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to talk about. Has anyone else in the world bothered to notice the skin color of this terrorist suspect? Uh, Duh. He is a black person. Our President is also a black person. One plus one usually equals two! It seems that nobody is either willing or even possibly able to make that connection. Our Government officials new about this guy and knew that plans were being made; but they did not do anything about it. Why? I will tell you why! Because they knew, that if they acted upon this little piece of evidence, that it would possibly upset the President; because the mean ol’ United States Government was picking on some poor young black man — of whom the the white man oppressed and the Government did nothing about it for so many years. I mean, if you were employed by the NSA or CIA and you were aware of this situation, would you want to risk angering a black President, who was all down with “The Struggle”(tm)? I think you all know what I mean.
There is your answer, the reason this piece of intelligence slipped by, was the same reason the Ft. Hood shooter went by, unstopped. political correctness gone horribly bad.
Update: It seems that my resident gay stalker from Grand Rapids does not like what I wrote. Sorry fag boy, but some of us, do not have our heads stuck up the socialist Democratic Party’s “P.S. Police” ass; Unlike you. Because of this, some of us can see things for what they really are. Unlike some men with homosexual tendencies.
I present two videos; the first by reason magazine, which is a very funny take on the past 10 years. Which comes via HotAir.com, who has a poll up with this decade versus a few other notable decades:
The second video comes via Jack Hunter, who video blogs over at the American Conservative. Here Jack lays out a very compelling case for the fact that starting with George H.W. Bush, continuing with Bill Clinton and finally with George W. Bush; the entire big government, got even bigger:
As Jack says, and yet, conservatives are now griping about Barack Obama’s big government agenda. However, it is to be said, that Jack Hunter does point out the hypocrisy of the Democrats, when it comes to the wars. They were, in fact, loudly condemning of Bush’s Wars, but now, they’re all but silent. (Except for a few… and I mean very few…)
One point that I will offer a rebuttal to, is Jack’s point that Bush touted a more peaceful Foreign Policy, when he ran back in 2000. Jack points out that this suddenly changed after 9/11. What he fails to realize is this; on September 11, 2001, the game changed. Terrorists slammed two planes into the World Trade Centers, one plane into the Pentagon, and one plane that was headed to the White House; ended up in a field in Pennsylvania. As someone who had a terrorist almost blow up a plane near my house. I can fully understand why this game changed. However, because I am not a overly partisan blogger, I will say this; I do fully realize that Iraq, in hindsight was, in fact, a mistake. I have yet for anyone at all, to convince me otherwise, that Iraq was a direct threat to our Republic. I personally believe it was because of this massive screw up of the Bush Administration, that Afghanistan is now possibly a lost cause, and why Al-Qaeda is now attacking us once again. If I were Jack and those who agree with him; I would be watching the Yemen situation very closely. Because I tend to believe that Yemen is going to become Obama’s war, especially if he does not root out that Al-Qaeda group there.
As a fiscal Conservative; I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with Jack’s assessment of the G.O.P. and Republican establishment’s hypocrisy on spending; the same very people that are bitching to high heaven about Obama’s spending, were all but silent during the eight years of George W. Bush and his reckless drunken sailor like spending, which was primarily on a war in a country that really, when you get down to it, had zero to do with 9/11. But, yet, you have Bloggers, who are pro-war, bitching about Obama’s socialist agenda and take over of health care, plus his screwing of the economy into the ground. My question is, where were these people back in Bush’s day? Oh, that’s right, partisanship —- Which is such a horrible disease.
In fact, just here the other day; I was ripped by a “so-called” Conservative blogger, because I went to his blog and left a rather nasty message about Obama, because I was quite pissed off about his handling of the attempted terrorist act here at the airport, which is less than 10 miles from my house. (I also e-mailed him and apologized for it too..) This man goes out of his way to rat me out, and offers to give my damned IP address to anyone that wants it. But yet, on that same blog, he does the rather unfunny Osama/Obama joke on his blog. He removed it, presumably after one his readers bitched at him about it, but just the same, this idiot is going to bitch at me for being a ‘so-called’ racist and he does the same thing? That is hypocrisy and I think he knows that, because it was changed, I wish I had screen capped it and posted it here. But, I didn’t. Also, one of his commenters proceeded to give out my real name and drudge up crap that happened years ago. She also went out of her way to say that I, according to her, criticized the right more than the left. Which is, of course, stupid. I have pointed out stupid stuff on the far right and I will continue to do so; as much as I criticize the left. My point that I am trying to make is this here. Just as much as I am not drinking the idiotic socialist Kool-Aid of the Democrats; I am also not drinking the idiotic Kool-Aid of the far right either, I consider myself to me a critical, or dare I say it? A free-thinker.
I will admit, that I am a supporter of the United States Military; but I will the first to admit, that I beginning to be very skeptical of the war in Afghanistan; and I will go out of my way to say that this is NOT the fault of the United States military. It never was, it is the fault of the jackasses in Washington D.C. who could not define a damned military mission, if their lives depended on it. This is nothing new, it was the same way during the Bush Administration, much worse in fact. The problem is, our lives do depend on it. Al-Qaeda is still a damned threat and what does Obama do? Gives a half-assed speech as to the fact, that the government is on it. Yeah, uh-huh, sure. You mean, like the Government has been on the hunt of Osama Bin Laden for the last damned eight years? I call B.S. people, big time.
So, to those who come here and think this is a far right, rabid Conservative Blog. Be forewarned; my criticism and skepticism of Government and politics; and those who engage in that profession, is NOT on a partisan basis. I am quite bi-partisan on my criticisms. This blog has always been that way, and always will be.
Karl Rove, former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, has been granted a divorce in Texas after 24 years of marriage, family spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week,” said Perino. “The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment, and the family requests that its privacy be respected.”
The Roves were married in January 1986.
A family friend told POLITICO: “After 24 years of marriage, many of which were spent under incredible stress and strain during the White House years, the Roves came to a mutual decision that they would end the marriage. They did spend Christmas together with their son, and they plan to spend time together in the future. They maintain a strong friendship, and they both feel that that friendship is a source of comfort and inspiration for their friends and family.”
This proves what I have believed all along. That social Conservatism is nothing more, than a well-planned and executed joke. I will not do the pile-on about Rove’s stances on Gay Marriage. However, I will present this video, done by Jack Hunter, who now Video Blogs over at the American Conservative. In this video, Jack makes some very valid points about the establishment Republicans in Washington D.C. at the 3:13 mark is where Jack really makes the point that I am making here.
I will be the first to admit; I do not always agree with Jack on foreign policy and war. However, I am in total agreement with him on the subject of social Conservatism. I being a child of the 1980’s, I remember very clearly all the talk that Reagan was going to get prayer back into schools, was going to see to it that Abortion was outlawed. Now did any of that stuff ever happen? Um, No. That is because the Republicans of that era, were exploiting the Conservative Christian community for their vote. Sort of like what Barack Obama’s campaign did to the far left during the election of 2008.
I do not always agree with him on the finer points of Conservatism; but my friend Ed Morrissey scored a nice catch here. Seems that our attempted plane bomber fiend has friends:
American officials have cause to worry there may be more al Qaeda-trained young men in Yemen planning to bring down American jets.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, charged with the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest Airlines flight 253, told FBI agents there were more just like him in Yemen who would strike soon.
And in a tape released four days before the attempted destruction of the Detroit-bound Northwest plane, the leader of al Qaeda in Yemen boasted of what was planned for Americans, saying, “We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God.”
Yemen has become a principal al Qaeda training ground and the accused suicide bomber told the FBI he was trained for more than a month in Yemen, given 80 grams of a high explosive cleverly sewn into his underpants, undetected by standard security screening.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch military police are investigating the possibility that an accomplice may have helped the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, a spokesman said on Monday.
A U.S. couple on the flight, Kurt and Lori Haskell, told Reuters and other news agencies that they saw a tall, well-dressed man aged about 50 with the suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Friday morning at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
The Haskells have claimed the man spoke for Abdulmutallab and attempted to get him aboard Northwest flight 253 without a passport.
“At this moment we have no information on whether there was another guy,” the military police spokesman said. “We are checking all clues and information we get.”
In light of all this, is this the best that the Democrats and Republicans can do in Congress? Sit and blame one another? Lame response folks, lame, lame, lame, response. Oh yes, lets play the idiotic and childish blame game on each other, while tens of millions of lives are at stake. No wonder the American people have turned against this Congress and this President; because they are too damned busy trying to blame others, instead of trying to fix the damned problem in the first place!
The elections of 2010 and 2012 cannot come fast enough; because it is quite obvious that this Congress and this President are more interested in playing politics with terrorism, just like the last President did during his tenure in office and the American people, present company included, are sick and tired of the damn political shell games. Al-Qaeda is a serious threat to the United States of America’s National Security, and we need more than just Washington D.C. Politics of blaming one another, we need action and we need it now, before some plane is blown up over my damned house in Lincoln Park, Michigan, which is about 10 miles from the Detroit Metro Airport. Having said all that, to Congress and the President and his Cabinet — Enough of the god damned political games people. I want to be secure in living this house by the airport. I do not care who is to blame for what. I just want it fixed and I wanted it fixed now, please. Thank you.
I swear, there are days, when I believe that I am blogging about schoolchildren!
This little article has been festering in my brain all day today. I finally believe that I might have enough here to really convey a thought or two. The recent information on the foiled terror attack here in Detroit is quite startling. First off, it is being reported that the terrorist’s father had notified the U.S. Government that his son was becoming ever increasingly radical in his Muslim beliefs. Second, the United States Government knew about this person for over two years and was either unable or unwilling to do anything about it.
This is a glaringly obvious deduction that anyone, with any kind of common sense and reasoning should realize, and that is that the United States Government cannot and will not totally protect the American people from a terrorist attack. The only people that can prevent such an event from happening, is the American people themselves. This is one instance when the “Nanny State” just does not work. A perfect example of this is the person that prevented this horrific act of cowardice from taking place. His name is Jasper Schuringa and he is not even an American. Jasper knew that it was either the terrorist or him; and he acted accordingly. Jasper deserves the highest of honors from our Government that is because he did, what our President has not seem interested in doing, and that is to tell the terrorists that the battle is on and that are willing and able to fight them in any capacity that is required to defeat them. Jasper did not wait for the big “Nanny State” government to do their job; he simply took care of business and for that, he should be commended. To any progressives reading this — I am sorry, but dithering around on the issue of Afghanistan is not what I consider leadership. By dithering, I mean delaying the increase needed in troops and then not sending the number of troops asked for, by the commanders on the ground. That is not leadership — that is a sad joke, which sums up this President in a phrase.
Another thought is this; for all of the errors in the thinking of the Libertarians and their idiotic Party, they do have one thing right, and that is that these terror attacks are result of war. As along as the United States of America has forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, there will be these sorts of attacks on our soil. The problem is that the libertarians believe that we should just pull out of the Afghanistan war and admit defeat. This would be grave error on the part of our Government, it would prove to Al-Qaeda that the United States is weak and can be easily defeated. If anything; at this point, the United States should step up its attacks on the hiding places of the Al-Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and other places abroad. Ronald Reagan believed in peace through strength, and the United States should continue that policy now, by not allowing these wretched terrorists win the battle. We should do this by making these Islamic thugs lives a living hell and chase them to the ends of the earth, as President George W. Bush pledged to do in the days after 9/11.
The United States of America has a rich history of defending the homeland, and we should continue that traditions until these turban-wearing thugs are thoroughly defeated and victory is realized.
SANAA (Reuters) – A Yemeni air raid may have killed the top two leaders of al Qaeda’s regional branch on Thursday, and an American Muslim preacher linked to the man who shot dead 13 people at a U.S. army base may also have died, a Yemeni security official said.
Nasser al-Wahayshi, the Yemeni leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and his Saudi deputy, Saeed al-Shehri, were believed to be among 30 militants killed in the dawn operation in the eastern province of Shabwa, said the official, who asked not to be identified.
U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki may also have died in the air strike which targeted a meeting of militants planning attacks on Yemeni and foreign oil and economic targets, he said.
If all the deaths are confirmed, the air strike would appear to have struck a severe blow against AQAP, seen as the most dangerous regional offshoot of Osama bin Laden’s network.
“Anwar al-Awlaki is suspected to be dead,” the official said of the cleric who was on the run in Yemen, where he was on the government’s most-wanted list of terrorist suspects.
According to U.S. officials, the U.S. army psychiatrist who ran amok at the Fort Hood army base in Texas on November 5 had contacts with Awlaki.
The Yemeni official said one leading figure in AQAP, Mohammed Saleh Omair, was confirmed dead in Thursday’s raid.
The United States cooperates closely with Yemen in combating al Qaeda militancy. Pentagon officials were not immediately available to comment on any U.S. involvement in the raid.
The Yemeni official mentioned only one air strike, which a government website said had taken place at 5 a.m., but Al Arabiya television reported four raids.
Resurgent al Qaeda attacks have stirred fears that worsening instability in Yemen, an impoverished country struggling with multiple security threats, might enable militants to launch renewed attacks in neighboring oil superpower Saudi Arabia.
Al Qaeda’s wing in Yemen, where Osama bin Laden’s father was born, announced in January it had changed its name to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — in an apparent attempt to revive the group in Saudi Arabia, where a tough counter-terrorism drive had halted the group’s three-year armed campaign in 2006.
Wahayshi, the new group’s Yemeni leader, threatened attacks against Westerners in the oil-exporting region. AQIP has also called for the overthrow of the U.S.-allied Saudi royal family.
This should send a message to these turban wearing bastards; you mock our Country, after one of yours does something stupid like open fire in a military base, your stupid ass is going to get hit. Kudos to the Military and President Obama for authorizing this strike. If you’ll pardon my frank speech; one ‘towel head’ terrorist down, many more to go. They should have done this to this bastard after 9/11, but the military did not. Finally, he gets justice, about damn time. Again, Hats off to our awesome Military for a job well done!
I would be willing to bet, that there are some families at Fort Hood, Families of the Victims of 9/11 and many other victims of terrorism; who are smiling broadly today. Merry Christmas to them, hope this brings a little happiness. 😀
As we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth, I am reminded of the wordsof John Quincy Adams. On July 4, 1837, he spoke these words:
“Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day? … Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth. That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity, and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets six hundred years before?”
Adams was exactly right: America’s birth is directly linked to the birth of our Savior. In fact, the United States of America is the only nation established by Christian people, upon Biblical principles, and dedicated to the purpose of religious liberty. This truth is easily observed within America’s earliest history.
Some good news in the midst of all the bad news out of Washington D.C.:
POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.
According to two senior GOP aides familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place this afternoon in Griffith's district in northern Alabama.
Griffith’s party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.
The switch represents a coup for the House Republican leadership, which had been courting Griffith since he publicly criticized the Democratic leadership in the wake of raucous town halls during the summer.
Ed Morrissey has good analysis here on this one, head on over and read it. Personally, I believe that this is a sign that the writing is on the wall for this party. The era of Blue-Dog Democrats is over, you are either in the tank with the far-left progressives or you are out in the cold. While this might seem to be good strategy for the far-left; some are just not into the far-left progressiveness of Pelosi and Co. Some are saying that this is not a good sign on the left. It would mean the era of hope and change is cracking up. Which, in this writers opinion is a good thing.
The last time I posted anything related to the John Birch Society on this Blog; my hits just about went off the charts. My servers had smoke rolling out of them and I could have sworn that I heard that said server yelping a bit in agony. Okay, the second part was not true. Nevertheless, there were a good deal of people, that were very highly interested in that video; and this was before this blog really even took off.
This is Robert Welch, he was the founder of the John Birch Society. Contrary to what people like, Rachel Maddow might think; the JBS is not what the liberals and some Conservatives like to think that it is. Here is Mr. Welch giving a speech in 1974 telling of the goals of the Society. Now, honestly, where have you heard this stuff before? If you said Ron Paul in 2008, you get a gold star, if you say the majority of Conservatives TODAY; you get another big gold star. As old as this video is; its contents are timely, considering the mess that we are in today.
The second group of videos are a reposting of some videos that I have posted here before and a few new ones. The first is the actual story John Birch, the second is the founder of the JBS giving a outline of what the JBS is truly all about. The rest are various related to the subject at hand. Some are dated, some, are quite timely.
The real entitlements are never mentioned. The “defense” budget is an entitlement for the military-security complex about which President Eisenhower warned us 50 years ago. A person has to be crazy to believe that the United States, “the world’s only superpower,” protected by oceans on its East and West and by puppet states on its North and South, needs a “defense” budget larger than the military spending of the rest of the world combined.
The military budget is nothing but an entitlement for the military-security complex. To hide this fact, the entitlement is disguised as protection against “enemies” and passed through the Pentagon.
I say cut out the middleman and simply allocate a percentage of the federal budget to the military-security complex. This way we won’t have to concoct reasons for invading other countries and go to war in order for the military-security complex to get its entitlement. It would be a lot cheaper just to give them the money outright, and it would save a lot of lives and grief at home and abroad.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with American national interests. It had to do with armaments profits and with eliminating an obstacle to Israeli territorial expansion. The cost of the war, aside from the $3 trillion, was over 4,000 dead Americans, over 30,000 wounded and maimed Americans, tens of thousands of broken American marriages and lost careers, 1 million dead Iraqis, 4 million displaced Iraqis and a destroyed country.
All of this was done for the profits of the military-security complex and to make paranoid Israel, armed with 200 nuclear weapons, feel “secure.”
My proposal would make the military-security complex even more wealthym as the companies would get the money without having to produce the weapons. Instead, all the money could go for multimillion dollar bonuses and dividend payouts to shareholders. No one, at home or abroad, would have to be killed, and the taxpayer would be better off.
Lew Rockwell’s little weasel friend by the name of Laurence Vance is still at it slandering our Nation’s finest and best Military. Mr. Vance writes over at Lew’s Blog the following smear against the United States Military:
Obviously, this picture and story are supposed to counter the negative things I have said about the U.S. military. While I applaud the actions of Lt. Hickman and his fellow soldiers, I’m afraid it doesn’t counter anything. The U.S. military unjustly invaded and still occupies Iraq. This has directly and indirectly resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It doesn’t matter how many Iraqi children are helped by the U.S. military. There is nothing these benevolent soldiers can do to make up for what the U.S. military has done to Iraq.
Mr. Vance’s inability to write a sentence with proper grammar structure aside, this is nothing more than a leftist slander against our United States Armed Forces. It is in fact true that our Armed Forces did invade the Country of Iraq. They did so BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, GEORGE W. BUSH. In other words, these fine brave young men and women were just doing their jobs and following orders; as one is supposed to do when in the Armed Forces. Not that Laurence Vance would know anything about serving our Country, he is too busy peddling his stupid religious books, and books that slander other Presidents —like FDR. Silly books that float the conspiracy theory that FDR purposefully allowed the ships to be attacked at Pearl Harbor and other such stupidity — Which is quite typical of the idiotic libertarian left and their idiotic twins the Paleo-Conservatives.
Some of you might wonder why I am going after Lew Rockwell and Vance. I will explain this; my family served in the United States Armed Forces, my uncle pulled a tour of duty in Vietnam. Luckily, he got out there alive. My grandfather’s two brothers pulled a tour duty in Germany during World War II. When Lew Rockwell and Laurence Vance insult the United States Armed Forces, they are insulting my family, and that my friends, I take very seriously. My family who spilled blood on foreign soil, just so these two jackasses can run a blog, which is for the sole purpose of insulting our United States Military. I am for the idea of freedom of speech and I would not dare try to stop these two thugs from speaking their mind. Nevertheless, I will counter their idiotic accusations and general stupid slanders against our Armed Forces, no matter the cost and no matter how many people e-mail me and try to intimidate me into stopping. I will not stop, ever.
I am, in essence drawing the line in the sand here and saying, “This will NOT stand!” I will not allow two leftist thugs to slander our United States Armed Forces and get away with it unanswered. The American Military is treasure to America and I will not let it be slandered. Call me a “Chickenhawk,” call me whatever you want, but I will NOT allow this to happen unchallenged. Because those brave and woman out of the front lines deserve better than this and if I have to do it alone, I will.
To my readers, I ask you this, where do you stand? Are you with the United States Military or are you against it? The decision is yours.
The following picture and caption that I am about to show you, comes from the libertarian leftist blogger Lew Rockwell. I present this personal exhibit as to why I left the Paleo-Conservative/libertarian ranks in favor of the Conservative, Pro-military ranks:
Hey Marines, how about some toys for this tot in Afghanistan:
I present this as “Exhibit A”, to the fact that the libertarian movement has been infiltrated by Anti-War leftists who hate America, our Military and why they should be stripped of their citizenship and deported out of our fine Country and into another country; like say, North Korea, Venezuela or maybe even Communist China. Not to be rude about this, but it just so happens, that if that dumb kids fellow Countrymen had not giving refuge and comfort to those who would seek to destroy America — Namely Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda; the damned kid would still possibly have his damned leg. Not to mention the fact that on September 11, 2001, our Country was attacked by Islamic terrorists who did more than just destroy a leg. It killed 2,996 of our people.
However, of course, you cannot tell this to the likes of Lew Rockwell and his bastard gang of leftists who hate this damn Country; they still believe that George W. Bush ordered those planes into the trade center towers. What really troubles me, is that the author of this posting is none other than Dr. Lawrence Vance, who is supposedly a Born-Again Christian. How anyone can harbor such hatred for this Country and our Nation’s Military and still claim to be ANY kind of a Christian is beyond me.
When I still was on the left; as little as that was, in terms of what I believed the Democratic Party to be about, I was always under the impression that Iraq was the war that was very unjustified and that Afghanistan was in fact, the good war that we were fighting to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden. I heard that from the left and I believed that myself. As it turns out, that was nothing more than a damned lie and the far-left knows it. The good majority of the far left either believes that George W. Bush ordered the attacks, to win his popularity or to justify going into Iraq. The rest believe that we had it coming or deserved the attacks because of our evil capitalistic society. This picture and caption are living proof of this; which is why, I left the liberal left and stopped voting for the Democratic Party.
Just to let everyone know, I said my piece on this and I am not interested in debating it. Therefore, I am shutting the comments off; because I want this posting to stand on its own.
Update: After reading this entry again, I realize that I did leave out one important thing. My apologies for that, I do sometimes forget to include stuff pertinent to the entry at times; A.D.H.D. does that to a fellow. Yes, I am serious about having that little disability. Anyhow, the thing I forgot to include in this little shoving of the hatred of the libertarian leftists, into their faces, is the following:
There is one unifying cause that the libertarian leftists and the socialist liberal left is their inbred hatred of war and of anything military. Further more, the libertarians and liberals hate the current state of the Government, albeit for very different reasons. The libertarians hate the size of the Government and the fact that it has become too large, and too regulatory — Which is something I can identify with myself. The socialist left, however, is angry because they cannot control that large Government. The Socialist left does not mind big Government, as long as they can control it. A perfect example of this can be found here.
So, again, the reason why I lump the libertarian leftists in with the socialist is this, not because they are one in the same, they are not, even I know this. However, it is because the libertarian leftists are totally “In bed” with the anti-war socialist leftists who resent any sort of American values or capitalism or defense of the Republic. This has been proven many times with the vile acts at the Military recruiting office in Berkley California and such matters. Same goes for the Paleo-Conservatives, They too are “in bed” with the socialist left, when it comes to foreign policy. It has been that way for years and will continue to be that way. The difference between a Paleo-Conservative and a libertarian is one thing —protectionism. This is what the Democratic Party believed in, before globalists like Bill Clinton came on the scene and passed NAFTA. It should be noted, however, that the NAFTA agreement did not pass until the Republicans took back the Congress, and Clinton became an instant moderate.
Nevertheless, my feelings toward these libertarian leftists, their Paleo-Conservative counterparts, and their cousins the Anti-War socialist left remain unabated.
I really was not going to blog about this subject; seeing that I already made my feelings known. I read a bit of the speech and I was not overly impressed or shocked, some on the right liked the speech and some that outright hated the speech; some even thought it sounded a bit Bush-like.
I will have to agree with Ed here however, Obama was smart enough include a reminder that the United States of America has not avenged attacks on our Country, but has also stood up and went after those who sought to eliminate a class of people; namely Hitler’s Germany. This is why I cannot allow myself to be painted as a “Paleo-Conservative.” Because it is the Paleo-Conservatives, who feel that FDR going after Hitler was, in fact, wrong. This is because they did not, and still no not believe in Foreign Interventionism. Let me be the first to say, that there a good number of Jewish Republicans who are, to this very day, very grateful for FDR and his decision to get involved in the situation in Germany.
Another point as well, Obama was thrown a curve ball here and The President did what anyone else would do in his situation. President Obama knew what this award essentially was, and that was a slap in the face to President George W. Bush. President Obama did what any other civilized human being would do. He accepted the award, acknowledged that he did not really deserve such an honor, and went home. This is why I do not buy into the whole Sean Hannity idiotic talking point that he should have refused the award. I also will commend the President for essentially telling the Norwegians, “Thanks, but no thanks” to their offer for him to bask in the victory of getting the award. This shows them how President Obama really felt about getting the award in the first place. Some Conservatives may want to criticize him for doing this; I will not be one of them.
So, in closing, I simply say to the President —- good job. Thank you for reminding the rest of the world, why it is, that America is still called the greatest Nation on earth. — And please, Mr. President more speeches like this, praising America — instead of apologizing for it.
December 7, 1941 – 68 Years ago today. The empire of Japan attacked the United States Military Base at what was then called the the Territory of Hawaii. (The United States had not taken possession of that territory making it the 49’th state yet.)
It is a day, that will live…. In infamy…
Update: Video removed, because the ignorant bastard who owns it, can’t remember telling me that I could link to it.
Damned idiot.
Here is the entire “Day of infamy Speech”, Now this is a way to make a speech! Obama, Take notes!:
I do not know quite why it is that I get so emotional when the anniversary of the attack of Pearl Harbor comes around; but do I ever. I guess it is because it affected my personal family a great deal. My grandfather’s two brothers, Frank and Harlan Hayes both were in the United States Army and my grandmother’s stepbrother Jess Runyan served also in the Military in World War II. My Great-Uncle Frank and Harlan both served in Germany, with Frank getting his finger blown off, while tossing a hand grenade that went off too soon. They were able to reattach it, but he never was able to use the finger very well after that. I do not know much about Harlen, or I would share his story. Jess Runyan came back from World War II with the condition now known as traumatic stress disorder or as they used to call it — shell-shocked. Jess was never able to work and collected military benefits, and I think social security for the rest of his life. Jess never married. For what it is worth, all of these people lived in Dalton, Georgia, which is where a good amount of my family is from.
Another reason is because, damn it, I just love America; since when did that become a federal crime? This Nation is the best-damned Nation on earth. Yes, we are having some bad times here; the economy is bad, jobs are scarce. However, the status of this Nation could be much worse; we could be living in same situation as North Korea or even communist China. I guess Pearl Harbor is a personal one for me, because I happen to be a history buff and because of my family’s involvement in that war. I believe also that the Nation’s isolationism also caused the attack as well, not to mention the economic warfare that was being committed against Japan by FDR. This same mentality of isolationism is what had affected the United States the day that the September 11 attacks in 2001. We were different Nation then and we are now a different Nation since those attacks. The tragic thing about the 9/11 attacks, is that they became quite politicized. When the attack on Pear Harbor took place and then the subsequent war began; America stopped being Democrats and Republicans; and just started being Americans. The sad thing is that after 9/11, there was a short burst of American patriotism. However, it did not last; there are many reasons for this, I believe the biggest reason is times have changed greatly. I could get into all that, but this blog entry would end up being over 50 pages long.
I think the biggest and best thing that Americans can do for those who perished in World War II is to never forget what happened and to work to ensure that it never happens again. We must ensure that the politics of our Nation or any other Nation gets that sort of ugly point again. This is why I believe that wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worth every last dime and worth every life lost. There are those that say that fighting that war in Afghanistan is not worth it and that it is another Vietnam. I disagree with that nonsense. ANY War that is worth fighting is worth winning. I just wish those on the Socialist Left realized that as well. There was a time, when Democrats actually believed in fighting wars. This all changed in the late 1960’s with the rise of the socialist and hippy movements. Vietnam was essentially lost because of the socialists that had taken over the Media at the time. Walter Cronkite’s literal lying to the Nation about the Tet Offensivewas a perfect example of that. Thankfully, there were Democrats who crossed over, for whatever reasoning, who still believed in defending this Nation and believed the Wars could be won, and because of that, and because of President’s like Ronald Reagan; we have the great Military we have today. It is my personal hope, that President Barack Obama will continue that respect for our Nation’s Military. Although, as of late President Obama’s performance as a leader, when it comes to the war in Afghanistan has been dismal at best.
Therefore, in conclusion, I simply end with this — May we never forget December 7, 1941. Because to do so, would be a horrible tragedy.
I post this because I happen to agree with Ron Paul position on economics; as well as Lew Rockwell’s. Around the end of the video clip, Ron Paul gets on the subject of Afghanistan and he proceeds to promote the idea of isolationism — which I think is remarkably stupid. However, I should point out, that it is the classic position of the Libertarian Party.
The funny crack comes at the 1:15 mark.
This clip proves my belief that the libertarian left is in bed with the socialist liberal left; this is something that I have believed for a long time.
The question that many are asking today; is what this election actually means, or what it is to the people of Honduras and more broadly, the rest of the world — The answer is quite apparent and could be a bit painful, not to mention a foreshadow of the things to come here in America.
Unless something monumental happens in the Western Hemisphere in the next 31 days, the big regional story for 2009 will be how tiny Honduras managed to beat back the colonial aspirations of its most powerful neighbors and preserve its constitution.
Yesterday’s elections for president and Congress, held as scheduled and without incident, were the crowning achievement of that struggle.
National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo was the favorite to win in pre-election polls. Yet the name of the victor is almost beside the point. The completion of these elections is a national triumph in itself and a win for all people who yearn for liberty.
The fact that the U.S. has said it will recognize their legitimacy shows that this reality eventually made its way to the White House. If not Hugo Chávez’s Waterloo, Honduras’s stand at least marks a major setback for the Venezuelan strongman’s expansionist agenda.
The losers in this drama also include Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Spain, which all did their level best to block the election. Egged on by their zeal, militants inside Honduras took to exploding small bombs around the country in the weeks leading to the vote. They hoped that terror might damp turnout and delegitimize the process. They failed. Yesterday’s civic participation appeared to be at least as good as it was in the last presidential election. Some polling stations reportedly even ran short, for a time, of the indelible ink used to mark voter pinkies.
The elections in Honduras were, in fact, an extremely large poke in the eye to the socialist movement of the World. The message is clear; Freedom is popular. Freedom is a God-Given right for all of humankind; and Governmental control is an aversion to this concept. The people of Honduras knew the type of Government that Venezuela has and knew that the people of Venezuela are not truly free and did not want it in their Country. This is to be commended and shows that the people of Honduras still have a backbone.
The more broad scope is this; our tepid and incompetent President, Barack H. Obama did not have the guts to stand up for Freedom of the people. This was evidenced by his handling of the situation of Honduras and the civil uprising in Iran. This is because Democrats totally despise total and unfettered Freedom of the people; in favor of a big Government socialist society — President Barack Obama actions in both of these recent situations are an embodiment of this mentality.
My hat goes off to the people of Honduras and I pray God’s blessings upon them, as they return to a Government of Freedom and I pray for the safety of those people from the evil menacing socialists, who would give anything to overthrow that Government. I also pray God’s Protection from the evil dictator in Venezuela, who wants nothing more than to destroy the Freedom of the people of Honduras.
President Barack Obama should take note and see that Socialism is become quite unpopular — everywhere.
An unidentified military veteran was involved in a tense confrontation with anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan and the group Code Pink at a rally at Travis Air Force Base on Saturday, November 28, 2009.CBSA Saturday rally led by anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan at Travis Air Force Base nearly ended in a brawl when a military veteran physically confronted the protesters.
Anti-war group Code Pink demonstrated at the military base Saturday morning in the first of six planned protests against unmanned military drones currently in use in overseas war zones.
Sheehan, a well-known anti-war activist whose son was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004, was leading the demonstration with a megaphone when a man dressed in a formal military uniform stepped up to her and berated her.
Videotape of the incident shows that Sheehan yelled “Get out of my face” through the megaphone at the man, who slapped the device away. Other protesters immediately joined Sheehan and traded insults with the man, and a shoving match broke out.
Military police quickly pulled the two sides apart.
What a disgrace to America!
But, that’s Obama’s America….. 🙄
Home of the sheep and the slaves!
Remember this come 2010 and 2012. We must take our Government back from this America-Hating fascists!
While the big gun media and American Secret Service are out there investigating “party crashers” Tareq and Michaele Salahi, no one’s telling the truth: Obama knew the Salahis when he was still an Illinois senator.
Polo Contacts Worldwide could make it easy for the investigating Secret Service by brown-enveloping them this picture:
Hey Secret Agent Man, here’s Obama, the senator flashing his pearly whites with Randy Jackson, better known as a judge on American Idol. “Others pictured are Black Eyed Peas Rock Band; Tareq Salahi the President of the America’s Polo Cup; President Elect Obama, Fergie from Black eyed Peas and Michaele Salahi, posing this time as a former Miss USA and SuperModel.
Interesting little detail for White House gumshoes: As the above photo was published in June 2005, Barack Obama was still Senator Obama and not the President Elect.
And with Michaele Salahi yesterday having been caught out—Facebook pompoms notwithstanding—as a bogus cheerleader for the Washington Red Skins and not a model for Victoria’s Secret as claimed, Canada Free Press (CFP) leaves it to FoxNews.com to find out if she ever was a “former Miss USA”.
We do know for a fact that among the slew of memberships on charitable boards, Tareq Salahi is a former member of The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). The only way to know for a fact is because even though ATFP scrubbed all references to Salahi as a board member, he can still be found on Google cache.
Now if the Main Stream media had any sort of integrity; they would investigate this. But we both know, that they do not. So, I shall not hold my breath.
Who wants to bet that the “Gate Crashers” get off with little or nothing more than a slap on the wrist?
