Don Singleton: 2009-01-18

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video

AFP reported Two men released from the US "war on terror" prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.

Since Obama has said the war on terror is over and is planning on Gitmo, I guess we will be sending even more back to the battlefield. (The Defense Department has said as many as 61 former Guantanamo detainees -- about 11 percent of 520 detainees transferred from the detention center and released -- are believed to have returned to the fight.) I wonder how long it will take before they begin taking even more American lives, and what the press will say about that.

One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP. Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.

Friday, January 23, 2009

CatholicVote has a cute ProLife ad featuring Obama.

This is the same Obama that just signed an executive order Giving Federal Funding To International Family Planning Groups That Provide Abortion Services. A lion's share of these funds will be used to murder the young in his homeland of Africa. I guess our first black president wants to be sure there is no competition for his title.

Holland's national suicide note

Ezra Levant reported The Dutch court of appeal has ruled that Geert Wilders, the Member of Parliament and anti-terrorism activist, must stand trial for hate speech.

Thank God we have the First Amendment protecting speech. It is something Canada and all European countries need.

You can read the English page of the court's website announcing the decision here.

It is a national suicide note, a white flag of surrender flown by a once-great empire in the face of illiberal fascists and hoodlums. It is a homicide note, too -- announcing the murder of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And it is a warning note to other Western democracies. The warning is this: liberal democracy, multiculturalism and immigration -- pick any two.

Holland has picked multiculturalism and immigration, and has heaved liberal democracy overboard.

But with their selection Holland will soon get a new legal system: Sharia Law. I hope they don't have any women in Holland, because Sharia is not really very kind to women. Gay's too, will find a situation they do not like. As well as Jews, Christians, Hindus, etc.

From Gitmo to Al Qaeda

NYTimes reported The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

Obama is going to be blamed if an attack happens after he undoes anything Bush did to protect the country for 7 years, but especially if it is done by someone he let free.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists

The program does not teach them Jihad is wrong, just not to do it in Saudia Arabia, so he went to Yemen.

before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.... Almost half the camp’s remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one.

Is it foing to teach them that Jihad is bad, or just not to do it in Yemen, and will it be ok to then do it in Saudia Arabia, or will both countries be off base? Maybe we should have been running a training session while they were in Gitmo that said don't attack the US.

Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.

In Saudia Arabia.

An open administration, as long as you don't ask any questions.

Politico.com reported President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House press corps Thursday night, but got agitated when he was faced with a substantive question.

And was from the guy that just said Information will not be withheld just because I say so.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face. "Ahh, see," he said, "I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can't end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I'm going to get grilled every time I come down here."

They are reporters, and their job is to report; not just shake hands and visiting with Potus.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Dark Ages of Technology???

WaPo reported Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday,

The is government. Get used to bureaucracy.

encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts. What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters.

Poor babies.

No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.

And get used to a press that may not accept everything you say without question.

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari,"

both toys.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.... The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software.

Many prefer XP to Vista.

Obama = Bush 3?

As Anchoress said Oh, the headline is just there to piss some people off, but I was really shocked (and somewhat gratified) to see this bit by the Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Murtha wants Gitmo Prisoners

FOXNews reported Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., says he'd be willing to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district if President Obama makes good on a plan to close the U.S. prison there.

Fantastic idea, especially in light of this. And when the liberal judges release them, be sure to tell them Murtha is the King of Pork, and give them a map how to find him, so they can "thank" him.

As one of his first acts in office, the president circulated a draft Wednesday that would shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year. Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he'd have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.

Aha. What he wants is pork to build a maximum security prison.

"Sure, I'd take 'em," said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. "They're no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo."

I wonder if the people that voted for you share that opinion.

Murtha added that there was "no reason not to put 'em in prisons in the United States and handle them the way they would handle any other prisoners."

He really does not understand the meaning of Jihad.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Truer words were never spoken

Jawa reported You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

~ Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005

Not what they planned

The Plan

What really happened

Let us hope this is not an indication of what is to come

Wilders charged

BBC NEWS reported A Dutch court has ordered prosecutors to put a right-wing politician (who agrees with Churchill) on trial for making anti-Islamic statements after complaints from 9 people.

He did not burn any buildings, or kill anyone. He made a movie that told the truth.

Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders made a controversial film last year equating Islam with violence and has likened the Koran to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Was it an insult to Hitler, or what?

"In a democratic system, hate speech is considered so serious that it is in the general interest to... draw a clear line," the court in Amsterdam said.

I a truly democratic society Wilders should be free to say what he wants. If the Muslims don't like it, let them make their own movie, or offer to debate Wilders on TV.

Ed Morrissey blogged Europe strikes another blow against free speech and takes another step towards dhimmitude.

Gitmo

Image via WikipediaWaPo reported In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day suspension of legal proceedings involving detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.

Why the delay? Either he is going to
close Gitmo (Slightly more think the United States should not close the prison than say it should, 45% to 35%.) and release everyone
close Gitmo and move them to the US, where liberal judges will free them
or allow the military commissions to proceed, so that KSM and his buddies can become the martyrs they want to be.
In the first two alternatives they will have a chance to kill more Americans before becoming martyrs. Does Obama think allowing them to kill more Americans is going to make people love him?

The instruction came in a motion filed with a military court in the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" until May 20 so that "the newly inaugurated president and his administration [can] review the military commissions process

, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically."

AJStrata blogged Today President Obama plans as one of his first acts the suspension of legal efforts against those terrorists we have in custody who have or planned to attack us. No economic reprieve for the nation, no help for Americans. Obama’s first act is to come to the rescue of admitted killers

Ed Morrissey reported The delay would only be meaningful if Obama intended to free all of the Gitmo prisoners, something that the ACLU has urged. Somehow, I don’t think Barack Obama would be that foolish. It would be tough to win re-election as the man who set Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 actors free simply to win favor from Europe’s elite.

In the end, Gitmo really is two problems: location and process. If the process gets changed, then there’s no reason to change location. If the location was all that was at issue, then the process doesn’t matter.

If the location changes to the US liberal judges will free the jihadists.

These terrorists have to remain detained to keep Americans from getting killed, especially KSM and the 9/11 plotters. Their guilt is not in doubt, nor is the danger they represent.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

America passes a milestone!

Fabius Maximus reported We now have more poeple employed in government than manufacturing.

This is not a milestone to be celebrated.

Kennedy collapses

George Stephanopoulos reported Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., who is battling a brain tumor, was taken away from the congressional luncheon in convulsions.

I am not a fan of Ted Kennedy, but the man is suffering from brain cancer, and I wish him well.

Kennedy was at a table with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Vice President Mondale and Mrs. Mondale, and others. While at the table, Kennedy began having seizures that lasted for several minutes. As they were carrying Kennedy out of the room, he was still seizing. President Barack Obama went out of the room with him, but came back in the luncheon room.

We are also told that Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the oldest member of the Senate, was so upset and distraught from what he had witnessed, that he needed to be taken out. Byrd was conscious when he was taken from the room. The two have been friends for a very, very long time.

Glenn Reynolds noted Michael C. Moynihan wrote on Reason Magazine's blog An hour after the inauguration of America's first black president, the Senate's only former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) collapses. Coincidence?.

Classy, Michael, real classy. I suspect it is because they were old friends, and he figures if this can happen to a 76 year old man, what can happen to him at 91.

Pledge

There is a perfectly good pledge, and it is The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag but MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst seem to think we should instead adopt The Presidential Pledge where we pledge support to one man.

MySpace Celebrity and Katalyst present The Presidential Pledge

I wonder if some of them realize exactly what they are pledging, and what it means. For example

to work to make good the 200 year old promise to end slavery
Both Emancipation Proclamations were signed in 1862 and 1863, and were a war measure targeted at the enemy (the south) in a war. They did not free any slaves of the border states (Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia), or any southern state (or part of a state) already under Union control. The Thirteenth Amendment was proposed on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. So it has not been 200 years yet.
to the abolition of the 21st century slavery
I support that. Do you realize the only people involved with slavery in the 21st century are the Muslims? Is he suggesting a war against all of Islam?
to free 1,000,000 people from slavery in the next five years
Why only one million?

Monday, January 19, 2009

The plague kills 40 al-Qaeda

The Sun reported At least 40 al-Qaeda fanatics died horribly after being struck down with the disease that devastated Europe in the Middle Ages.

Will they infect their 72 virgins?

The killer bug, also known as the plague, swept through insurgents training at a forest camp in Algeria, North Africa. It came to light when security forces found a body by a roadside.

It couldn't have happened to a more deserving bunch.

... Now al-Qaeda chiefs fear the plague has been passed to other terror cells — or Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

The gift that keeps on giving. I just hope it was natural, due to their uncivilized living conditions, and not an indication they were developing bacteriological weapons.

Update: As I suspected it looks like Al Qaeda bungled a biological or chemical weapons arms experiment.

Finally Bush Commutes Sentences for Ramos and Compean

FOXNews.com reported On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.

I don't know why he did not pardon them, but I am glad he at least did this.

The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively. Their sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.

Why wait two more months?

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Read it and weep

ReadTheStimulus.org reported $850 Billion, 334 pages, and counting... somebody needs to read The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009

And they have links to the bill text, both in PDF and TXT, and the committee report, both in PDF and TXT.

Oh, My God... Libby Wright reported Those were the words of House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) when he saw the incoming Obama Administration and Democratic Leadership’s proposal that was released yesterday to “stimulate” the economy. Boehner went on to say that, “I just can’t tell you how shocked I am at what we’re seeing. You know it’s clear that they’re moving on this path along the flawed notion that we can borrow and spend our way back to prosperity.”

Yid with a lid blogged Remember ACORN? They were the group that President-elect Obama used to work with. During the presidential campaign their fraudulent voter registration drives were news almost every day. ACORN was famous for registering dead people, the same people in multiple counties, and even giving Mickey Mouse the right to vote. The Democrats are rewarding ACORN for their fine Illegal work by throwing some cash their way in the Obama stimulus plan: Looks like the infamous ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) that was caught up in voter fraud in 2008 will be in the running to get some funding (pages 72-73 of the report.) The bill provides for $10 million for the SHOP program. The funding will provide competively awarded grants to national and regional nonprofit housing organizations to develop or rehabilitate low-income housing.

Giving $10 million to a group that should be prosecuted with RICO is bad, but I bet there are worse things in the bill. Read it and weep.

Stop TARP

NYTimes.com reported At the Palm Beach Ritz-Carlton last November, John C. Hope III, the chairman of Whitney National Bank in New Orleans, stood before a ballroom full of Wall Street analysts and explained how his bank intended to use its $300 million in federal bailout money. bank intended to use its $300 million in federal bailout money. “Make more loans?” Mr. Hope said. “We’re not going to change our business model or our credit policies to accommodate the needs of the public sector as they see it to have us make more loans.”

In other words the Government was stupid enough to give us this money, but we have no intention of using it for what they hoped we would do, i.e. make more loans.

.... many banks that have received bailout money so far are reluctant to lend, worrying that if new loans go bad, they will be in worse shape if the economy deteriorates.

I've got a clue for them. Only loan it to people with good credit.

... A review of investor presentations and conference calls by executives of some two dozen banks around the country found that few cited lending as a priority.

Which is the reason they were given the money.

An overwhelming majority saw the bailout program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future.

They should be prosecuted for taking the money under false pretenses.

Speaking at the FBR Capital Markets conference in New York in December, Walter M. Pressey, president of Boston Private Wealth Management, a healthy bank with a mostly affluent clientele, said there were no immediate plans to do much with the $154 million it received from the Treasury.

Then give it back.

“With that capital in hand, not only do we feel comfortable that we can ride out the recession,” he said, “but we also feel that we’ll be in a position to take advantage of opportunities that present themselves once this recession is sorted out.”

That is not the reason you were given the money.

.... The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., said in October that banks should “deploy, not hoard” the money to build confidence and increase lending. He added: “We expect all participating banks to continue to strengthen their efforts to help struggling homeowners who can afford their homes avoid foreclosure.”

Then why didn't he make sure Congress included penalties in the law if banks hoarded the money, and why was Congress not smart enough to insist on those provisions.

But a Congressional oversight panel reported on Jan. 9 that it found no evidence the bailout program had been used to prevent foreclosures, raising questions about whether the Treasury has complied with the law’s requirement that it develop a “plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners.”

Arrest Paulson, and some of the bank CEOs, and let the courts decide.

The report concluded that the Treasury’s top priority seemed to be to “stabilize financial markets” by simply giving healthy banks more money and letting them decide how best to use it. The report also said it was not clear how giving billions to banks “advances both the goal of financial stability and the well-being of taxpayers, including homeowners threatened by foreclosure, people losing their jobs, and families unable to pay their credit cards.”

Just giving free money to anyone is stupid.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)