Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Obama's Image in Foreign Lands, Overseas
CNN's Candy Crowley mystified by Donald Rumsfeld's ignorance of Obama's good global image. Where has she been? The lamestream media is out to lunch entirely.
California Reporters Attacked at Funeral
FOX 40 News journalists John Lobertini, Rebecca Little, attacked by angry mourners.
The reporters were assaulted after approaching a group of people standing near a memorial for 27-year-old Chester Jackson set up on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. I like the fact that some mourners have their soft drinks in their hands and continue the barrage against the reporters while drinking their cokes. Several local news outlets were present at the time and captured the incident on video from different points of view.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
US Gov. Software Creates 'Fake People' on Social Networks to Promote Propoganda
Government Contract to create fake people.
The US government is offering private intelligence companies contracts to create software to manage "fake people" on social media sites.
Union Thugs Try to Shut Down Tea Party Speakers in Wisconsin
Madison police detain union operative who tried to destroy Tea Party sound system. Chicago Tea Party leader Steve Stevlic was among those that witnessed union thug tactics at Madison rally.
Ronald Reagan-Remarks on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike (August 3, 1981)
Ronald Reagan-Remarks on the Air Traffic Controllers Strike (August 3, 1981)
President Ronald Reagan speaks about the air traffic controllers strike. He states very clearly that if the striking union workers do not report to work in 48 hours, they will be fired from their jobs. 3:12
Remarks and Q & A with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike, 10:53
President Reagan's remarks and Q & A session with reporters on the Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike on 8/3/81.
Update: John Wheeler, Pentagon Aide Killed
Pentagon aide 'was killed by hitman' claims widow.
The investigation has centered around a dispute Wheeler had with a neighbor. However, Delaware police confirmed that a smoke bomb was placed under the same neighbour’s house last week but have not released any more details.
While working at the Pentagon Mr Wheeler wrote a manual on the effectiveness of biological and chemical weapons and recommended that the US should not use biological warfare.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Ray McGovern Confronts Rumsfeld, 2006
Ray McGovern vs. Donald Rumsfeld, 2006, 3:16
Ray McGovern, an anti-war activist, verbally confronted then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, asking him why he lied about WMD’s. As security approached McGovern, Rumsfeld stopped them and engaged the Veteran.
Of the different exchanges, McGovern says,
“When Clinton started talking about how people beat up and arrested people in Iran, it gave some poetic justice, a great irony, to my standing there and what happened to me then, when she's talking about what happened in other countries and there I am being handled in a vicious way...God knows what would happen next. Maybe some senior would ask her questions (she doesn't take questions). As bad as Donald Rumsfeld was, he let me speak. He let me speak and engaged me in dialogue.”
“At the same (Rumsfeld) speech, there was a courageous guy who stood with his back to Rumsfeld the entire speech. They left him completely alone and he walked out at the end, unbothered. Four years later, things have changed.”
About the first five minutes show the interaction between McGovern and Rumsfield with Oberman, the stupid commentator interjecting himself.
MEMRI: Egyptian Journalist 'Ata Abd Al-Aal: "The US Will Be Transformed into an Islamic Republic"
MEMRI: Egyptian Journalist 'Ata Abd Al-Aal: "The US Will Be Transformed into an Islamic Republic"
#2735 - Egyptian Journalist 'Ata Abd Al-Aal: "The US Will Be Transformed into an Islamic Republic" Al-Rahma TV (Egypt) - December 12, 2010 - 02:20
MEMRI: British Salafi Abu Waleed: Aafia Siddiqui Will Be Released over the Dead Body of Barack Obama
MEMRI: British Salafi Abu Waleed: Aafia Siddiqui Will Be Released over the Dead Body of Barack Obama
#2757 - British Salafi Abu Waleed: Aafia Siddiqui Will Be Released over the Dead Body of Barack Obama The Internet - 2010 - 11:55
Friday, February 18, 2011
FDR vs. Wisconsin Teacher's Collective Bargaining
Aug. 16, 1937 letter to Luther Steward, the president of the National Federation of Public Employees
[M]eticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees.
Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of pubic employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.
Vet manhandled for silent protest
VETERAN’S GROUP DEMANDS APOLOGY FROM SEC. OF STATE CLINTON
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protesters and do not allow free expression - and lauding freedom of speech on the Internet - 71-year-old military veteran Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes and hustled out of the building and, according to McGovern and his supporters, was “brutalized and left bleeding in jail.”
What McGovern did was simply remain standing silently in the audience and turned his back on her as Secretary Clinton began her speech.
That was it.
McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing Veterans for Peace t-shirt.
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, "So this is America?"
According to Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, attorney with the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, “For this peaceful expression of dissent, he ended up bruised, bloodied, arrested, and jailed. Secretary Clinton never paused, continuing her speech lecturing other countries about the need to allow freedom of expression and dissent, while Mr. McGovern was hauled out in front of her.”
McGovern was later found to have his arm covered with bruises. The metal handcuffs were fastened so tightly that his wrists were cut and some blood flowed from the cuts.
After being held by local police, McGovern was told he was being charged with disorderly conduct.
The First Amendment says:
Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Geithner Admits: Obligations in President's Budget "Unsustainable"
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today admitted under questioning from Sen. Sessions that the president's own budget, submitted Monday, calls for interest payments and obligations that are "excessively high" and "unsustainable." The president's plan accumulates $13 trillion in new gross debt, with interest payments on the debt rising to $844 billion a year by 2021.
Additionally, the Obama's budget ignores the recommendations of his own fiscal commission, causing the Democrat Co-Chair of the Commission, Erskin Bowles, to remark that the budget "goes nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare."
Under Obama's budget, total federal spending will increase another 65% by the end of the decade. In fact, accumulated deficits under the president's budget are greater than those in the Congressional Budget Office baseline, which assumes we essentially do nothing.
WH's Jay Carney: Stimulus "Goals Have Been Met"
RealClearPolitics - Video - WH's Jay Carney: Stimulus "Goals Have Been Met"
White House press secretary Jay Carney says the Recovery Act added several million jobs and lowered the unemployment rate. According to Carney, the "goals" of the stimulus package "have been met."
A reporter asked Carney why unemployment is at 9% and not 7%, the percentage projected if the stimulus worked. Carney dismissed the question. "We've said repeatedly that we don't want to relitigate the battles of the past," Carney told the reporter.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146147/Gallup-Finds-Unemployment-Mid-February.aspxWe are now at 10% unemployment.
Wisconsin
Protests swell to 25,000 people at Wis. Capitol
"Budget Repair" Bill Protest in Madison, WI Capitol Rotunda Feb 16, 2011
Walker takes broad swipe at public employee unions
At yesterday's demonstration against Scott Walker's budget plan, this video was made of a woman with a sign portraying the Governor with a Hitler mustache. Thereafter, a young man with a bullhorn explains that we need to tax the rich.
Madison schools, others closed amid call for demonstrations.
State Democrats absent for vote as Wisconsin budget protests swell.
Obama: 'Assault'...
Cf. http://realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/02/17/obama_on_wisconsin_collective_bargaining_law_an_assault_on_unions.html
The Wisconsin Republican Party put together a video using evidence from this week‘s liberal protests against the governor’s emergency budget bill that uncovers angry rhetoric from the left. The video juxtaposes the evidence with accusations and calls for civility from the left.
Rep. Paul Ryan On Wisconsin Protests: "Like Cairo Moved To Madison"
Cf. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/02/17/rep_paul_ryan_on_wisconsin_protests_like_cairo_moved_to_madison.html
Unions want to overturn election result.
Walker calls for Senate Dems to end their boycott and vote.
Budget Battle: Democrats Who Left State are Located.
Tea Party Activist Corners Dems Who Fled State
Teachers Union Has Stranglehold on Wisconsin Schools
Cf. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AADcf2E6myI
Violent Left
Cf. http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/02/17/video-from-wisconsin-protest-reveals-the-violence-and-hatred-of-the-left/
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Qaradawi advocates establishing a "United Muslim Nations" as a contemporary form of the caliphate
Qaradawi advocates establishing a "United Muslim Nations" as a contemporary form of the caliphate.
The Voice of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Iran Calls For a Unified Muslim World Coalition
Iran has called for a Unified Muslim World Coalition, or a Caliphate.
The term caliphate "dominion of a caliph ('successor,')," (from the Arabic خلافة or khilāfa, Turkish: Halife ) refers to the first system of government established in Islam, and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah (nation).
10th-12th Centuries, Shia Caliphate
New York Stock Exchange: Shah Calls Deutsche Boerse-NYSE Accord a `Great Deal'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUqzpA6ZF_0
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Sachin Shah, a special situations and merger arbitrage strategist at Capstone Global Markets LLC, talks about Deutsche Boerse AG's agreement to buy New York Stock Exchange parent NYSE Euronext in a $9.53 billion all-stock deal. Shah, speaking with Betty Liu, Jon Erlichman and Sheila Dharmarajan on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop," also discusses the prospects for more consolidation of exchanges. (Source: Bloomberg)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Ilzetzki Says U.S. Budget Must Address Long-Term Costs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Ei9YFGBP0
Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Ethan Ilzetzki, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, talks about the proposed fiscal 2012 budget that Barack Obama will present today as his administration and Congress negotiate boosting the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. He speaks with Maryam Nemazee on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse".
Spending Restraint, Part I: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton
Spending Restraint, Part I: Lessons from Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, 6:58
Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both reduced the relative burden of government, largely because they were able to restrain the growth of domestic spending. The mini-documentary from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity uses data from the Historical Tables of the Budget to show how Reagan and Clinton succeeded and compares their record to the fiscal profligacy of the Bush-Obama years.
Harvard's Niall Ferguson Schools Her on Muslim Brotherhood and Caliphate
Harvard's Niall Ferguson Schools Her on Muslim Brotherhood and Caliphate
Egypt: How Obama Blew It, Niall Ferguson, Newsweek
An army in control is not a democratic, liberal, revolution. Moreover, Obama was taken completely by surprise. The only organized organization is the Muslim Brotherhood advocating sharia law and the restoration of the Caliphate. Any appearance of a liberal, peaceful, democratic revolution is extremely unlikely. The Egyptian revolution is most similar to the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. Almost all revolutions are characterized by internal chaos and foreign aggression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gmr1uUZae6Q
Obama's FY2012 Budget
Taxes, Taxes, and More Taxes
Tax hike lowlights include:
* Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
* Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
* Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
* Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
* New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years
* New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years
* New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years
* Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years
* Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
* Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years
* A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
* Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.
Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law. That’s $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.
The “tax relief” in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code. There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in Obama's budget.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Investigative Project on Terrorism
Wikipedia
The Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Bettina Graf, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (Editor), Columbia University Press
An outstanding legal scholar, an Islamist activist and a renowned host of al-Jazeera's most popular religious program, 'Sharia and Life', Yusuf al-Qaradawi is one of the best-known and most controversial figures of contemporary Islamism. Indeed, it is difficult to think of another Muslim scholar-activist whose global influence matches, let alone exceeds, that of Qaradawi Born in 1926 in a poor village in the Egyptian Delta, as a young man he attended a lecture by Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and immediately joined the organisation's youth wing. In the late 1940s, Qaradawi studied at al-Azhar University in Cairo, excelling in theology, while running the Brotherhood's student wing. When in 1954 Nasser cracked down on the Brotherhood, Qaradawi was gaoled twice, but was released in time to obtain his degree from al-Azhar. In 1961 Qaradawi settled in the Gulf state of Qatar where he played a pivotal role establishing its Islamic higher education system. He eschewed any formal position in the Muslim Brotherhood when the movement was forced underground and instead developed into a major writer and ideologist of contemporary Islamist thought. From the mid-1970s Qaradawi became one of a handful of Islamist ulama (Muslim scholars) that became accepted as authorities on doctrinal and political matters, both by Islamists and within the wider Islamic resurgence. Since the 1990s Qaradawi has reached a global audience by cleverly exploiting new media: he was one of the first Sunni scholars to launch his own website, is involved with Islam Online and just celebrated ten years hosting his weekly religious affairs programme on al-Jazeera. Qaradawi's standing - among ulama, Islamists and the Arab (if not the Muslim) public at large - is such that he is undeniably considered the most important Sunni religious figure in the world today. This volume is the first book-length treatment of Yusuf al-Qaradawi in any European language.
Wikipedia
The Global Mufti: The Phenomenon of Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, Bettina Graf, Jakob Skovgaard-Petersen (Editor), Columbia University Press
An outstanding legal scholar, an Islamist activist and a renowned host of al-Jazeera's most popular religious program, 'Sharia and Life', Yusuf al-Qaradawi is one of the best-known and most controversial figures of contemporary Islamism. Indeed, it is difficult to think of another Muslim scholar-activist whose global influence matches, let alone exceeds, that of Qaradawi Born in 1926 in a poor village in the Egyptian Delta, as a young man he attended a lecture by Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, and immediately joined the organisation's youth wing. In the late 1940s, Qaradawi studied at al-Azhar University in Cairo, excelling in theology, while running the Brotherhood's student wing. When in 1954 Nasser cracked down on the Brotherhood, Qaradawi was gaoled twice, but was released in time to obtain his degree from al-Azhar. In 1961 Qaradawi settled in the Gulf state of Qatar where he played a pivotal role establishing its Islamic higher education system. He eschewed any formal position in the Muslim Brotherhood when the movement was forced underground and instead developed into a major writer and ideologist of contemporary Islamist thought. From the mid-1970s Qaradawi became one of a handful of Islamist ulama (Muslim scholars) that became accepted as authorities on doctrinal and political matters, both by Islamists and within the wider Islamic resurgence. Since the 1990s Qaradawi has reached a global audience by cleverly exploiting new media: he was one of the first Sunni scholars to launch his own website, is involved with Islam Online and just celebrated ten years hosting his weekly religious affairs programme on al-Jazeera. Qaradawi's standing - among ulama, Islamists and the Arab (if not the Muslim) public at large - is such that he is undeniably considered the most important Sunni religious figure in the world today. This volume is the first book-length treatment of Yusuf al-Qaradawi in any European language.
Friday, February 11, 2011
San Diego WMD
Reporter: Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?
Mr Hallor: At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things.
Reporter: So, specifically, you're looking for the dirty bomb? You're looking for the nuclear device?
Mr Hallor: Correct. Weapons of mass effect.
Reporter: You ever found one?
Mr Hallor: Not at this location.
Reporter: But they have found them?
Mr Hallor: Yes.
Reporter: You never found one in San Diego though?
Mr Hallor: I would say at the port of San Diego we have not.
Official Suggests WMD Intercepted at U.S. Entry Point Glo
Federal agencies have intercepted a "weapon of mass effect" entering the United States, San Diego's 10News last week quoted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official as saying.
Asked if authorities have intercepted chemical agents or other weapons at U.S. ports, San Diego Assistant Port Director Al Hallor said: "At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things."
Asked if authorities look for radiological "dirty bombs" or nuclear weapons, he said: "Correct. Weapons of mass effect." Hallor then appeared to again confirm that such a device had been located at a U.S. point of entry.
The interview was brought to a halt before Hallor could elaborate. Customs and Border Protection later said in a statement it had "not specifically had any incidents with nuclear devices or nuclear materials at our ports of entry."
Hallor could likely have had undisclosed knowledge of an intercepted weapon, former Secret Service agent and airline security head Glen Winn said (10News, Feb. 9).
Daily Mail has this: 'A weapon of mass destruction was found in the U.S.': Shock confession of Customs officer
A port official has admitted that a 'weapon of mass effect' has been found by 'partner agencies' in the U.S., raising major questions over a possible government cover-up.
The disturbing revelation came in an interview with San Diego's assistant port director screened by a television channel in the city.
The Customs and Border Protection Department tried to dampen speculation over his remarks, but doubts remained over whether he had inadvertently revealed a dirty bomb plot to attack the U.S. mainland.
Concern over a secret WMD bust came after U.S. cables made public by the Wikileaks whistleblower website revealed terror groups were plotting a 'nuclear 911.'
In the interview screened by San Diego’s 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said ‘weapons of mass effect’ had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.
Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: ‘Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?’
‘At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,’ the customs official replied.
‘So, specifically, you're looking for the dirty bomb? You're looking for the nuclear device?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Correct. Weapons of mass effect,’ said Mr Hallor.
‘You ever found one?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Not at this location,’ Mr Hallor said.
‘But they have found them?’ asked Mr Blacher.
‘Yes,’ said Mr Hallor.
‘You never found one in San Diego though?’ Mr Blacher asked.
‘I would say at the port of San Diego we have not,’ Mr Hallor said.
‘Have you found one in San Diego?’ Mr Blacher asked.
The interview was then interrupted and cut short by a public relations official before Mr Hallor was able to answer the question.
San Diego's Customs and Border Protection agency was unavailable for comment today.
Earlier, Mr Hallor told Mr Blacher: ‘Potentially every city in America is a target. Given the waterways and the access to the Navy fleet here, I’d say, absolutely, San Diego is a target.
He was explaining how the port checks cargo ships arriving at the port. He suggested the customs ‘partner agencies’ may have found the 'weapons of mass effect.'
Former Secret Service agent and airline security director Glen Winn told 10News Mr Hallor’s comments appeared to be credible.
‘This person was, I believe, knowledgeable, has a very important position with the port and the government and as such has that knowledge,’ he said.
‘You posed some very serious questions as to security gaps and discoveries that perhaps have taken place in this area.
'I want to know how many and where did you find them so if I'm in that area, driving around and I see something that is out of place, I make a phone call,’ he added.
But 10News said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told them Mr Hallor was 'just nervous' in the interview and 'mis-spoke'.
The spokesman denied officials said weapons of mass destruction had never been found in the U.S.- but would not answer questions about dirty bombs or chemical weapons.
After the interview, the Customs and Border Protection department in San Diego issued a statement denying it had dealt with any nuclear-related smuggling attempts.
‘CBP has not specifically had any incidents with nuclear devices or nuclear materials at our ports of entry,’ it said.
‘CBP is an all-threats agency. The purpose of many security measures is to prevent threats from ever materializing by being prepared for them.
'And, we must be prepared to stop threats in whatever form they do materialise at the border, whether it’s an individual or cargo arriving by land, air, or sea.
'Regardless of what the contraband or threat is, we’re being smart, evaluating, and focusing in on anything or anyone that is potentially high-risk.’
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Almost Done Smoking Obama
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Obama declared himself “95 percent cured“ so he is almost a non-smoker.
MSNBC Host Demands GOP Congressman ‘Show Me Your Christian Papers’
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
DNI James Clapper: Muslim Brotherhood "Largely Secular," "Has Eschewed Violence"
Yusuf al-Qaradawi Praises Hitler and the Holocaust
"The term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a congressional hearing today.
UPDATE: Jamie Smith, director of the office of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence later said in a statement to ABC News: “To clarify Director Clapper’s point - in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood makes efforts to work through a political system that has been, under Mubarak’s rule, one that is largely secular in its orientation – he is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization.”
"The term Muslim Brotherhood is an umbrella term for a variety of movements. In the case of Egypt, a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried al-Qaeda as a perversion of Islam," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a congressional hearing today.
UPDATE: Jamie Smith, director of the office of public affairs for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence later said in a statement to ABC News: “To clarify Director Clapper’s point - in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood makes efforts to work through a political system that has been, under Mubarak’s rule, one that is largely secular in its orientation – he is well aware that the Muslim Brotherhood is not a secular organization.”
Obamacare To Reduce Employment by 800,000 Workers
CBO Director Says Obamacare Would Reduce Employment by 800,000 Workers
Chairman [Paul] Ryan: “[I]t’s been argued...that the new health care law will create jobs and increase labor force participation. But if I recall from your analysis, it was quite the opposite. Is that not the case?”
Director [Douglas] Elmendorf : “Yes.”...
[…]
Rep. [John] Campbell: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, we'll -- and Dr. Elmendorf -- and we'll continue this conversation right now. First on health care, before I get to -- before I get to broader issues, you just mentioned that you believe -- or that in your estimate, that the health care law would reduce the labor used in the economy by about 1/2 of 1 percent, given that, I believe you say, there's 160 million full-time people working in '20-'21. That means that, in your estimation, the health care law would reduce employment by 800,000 in '20-'21. Is that correct?
Director Elmendorf: Yes. The way I would put it is that we do estimate, as you said, that...employment will be about 160 million by the end of the decade. Half a percent of that is 800,000.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US
The agency studied use of the process in shallower drilling operations in 2004 and found that it was safe.
These new oil fields would make them the fifth- and sixth-biggest oil fields ever discovered in the United States.
The fields are attracting billions of dollars of investment from foreign oil giants like Royal Dutch Shell, BP and Norway's Statoil, and also from the smaller U.S. drillers who developed the new techniques like Chesapeake, EOG Resources and Occidental Petroleum.
Last month China's state-owned oil company CNOOC agreed to pay Chesapeake $570 million for a one-third stake in a drilling project in the Niobrara. This followed a $1 billion deal in October between the two companies on a project in the Eagle Ford.
Drillers have unlocked decades' worth of natural gas, an abundance of supply that may keep prices low for years.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Muslim Brotherhood text reveals scope of radical creed
A translation of a book by the Muslim Brotherood’s leader sheds light on just how Egypt’s Brotherhood views itself and its mission. Jihad is the Way is the last of a five-volume work, The Laws of Da’wa by Mustafa Mashhur.
Hassan al-Banna, the movement’s founder, “felt the grave danger overshadowing the Muslims and the urgent need and obligation which Islam places on every Muslim, man and woman, to act in order to restore the Islamic Caliphate and to reestablish the Islamic state on strong foundations.”
Mandatory Arabic Classes Coming To Some Texas Schools;
The school district wanted students at selected schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant. Parents say they were caught off-guard by the program and only just found out. Some parents had concerns over religion. “The school doesn’t teach Christianity, so I don’t want them teaching Islam,” said parent Baron Kane.
At issue is Mansfield Independent School District's decision to force students at a few of its schools to learn Arabic. It's not an elective; Arabic will be a required language. Parents are also upset at the way the district notified them of the new requirement. The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant was awarded to Mansfield ISD last summer by the U.S. Department of Education.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Zuckerman Says Obama Aims to Repair Business Relations
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Mortimer Zuckerman, chief executive officer of Boston Properties Inc., talks about Obama's economic policies. Zuckerman, speaking with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness," also discusses AOL Inc.'s agreement to buy the Huffington Post for $315 million. (Source: Bloomberg)
David Cameron - Islamic Extremists and Multiculturalism
David Cameron - Islamic Extremists and Multiculturalism
Obama Redistribution Plan: Profits "Have To Be Shared By American Workers"
Cf. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/02/07/obama_corporate_profits_have_to_be_shared_by_american_workers.html
"If we're fighting to reform the tax code and increase exports, the benefits cannot just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They have to be shared by American workers, who need to know that opening markets will lift their standard of living as well as your bottom line," Obama told the Chamber of Commerce on Monday morning.
The good news for Obama: the Chamber of Commerce broke into applause twice during his speech Monday morning to welcome his ideas.
The bad news: they clapped just twice, in a 35-minute address.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Super Bowl virtually a national holiday, says UCLA economist
UCLA professor Lee Ohanian discusses the economics of the Super Bowl.
Has Revelation's 'pale rider' shown up in Egypt?
A mysterious, pale green figure seen in televised news coverage of the Egyptian riots has prompted some viewers to ask, "Could this be the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse?"
The footage, provided by Euronews and subsequently seen on MSNBC, CNN and uploaded over a dozen times to the popular video sharing site YouTube, captures the fiery, violent protests in Cairo this past week … and something else.
Between the crowds of protesters and barricades, the video shows a flowing, pale green image that resembles an erect rider atop a horse in Medieval-like barding. The ethereal figure remains for a few moments before floating over protesters' heads and off the screen.
The last of the biblical Book of Revelation's Four Horseman of the Apocalyse, the "pale rider" is said to be the bringer of death and the forerunner of "hell" on earth.
The Book of Revelation refers to a time when "the Lamb" – usually understood to be the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ – opens the seven seals of a scroll of judgment. Each of the first four seals is accompanied by a horseman of a different color, each bringing a separate calamity.
When the fourth seal is opened, Revelation 6:8 records, "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
Is the image from Egypt a fulfillment of Revelation's prophecy?
Comments from the tens of thousands of viewers who have watched the video on YouTube express a wide array of opinion.
Some claim the video's "pale rider" is a sign and the greenish tint is somehow symbolic of Islam, while others insist the image has been added to the footage by editing technology. Still others point to three, trailing points of light in the footage that move away from the crowds at the same time and speed as the "horseman," indicating that both the "rider" and the lights are merely smudges or reflections cast on the lens of a moving camera.
Islamism in Obama's U.S.
Hidden Jihad: The War in America - CBN.com, Robert Spencer
"Islamist-supporters infiltrate Obama Admin to subvert US security," reveals ex-CIA'er, Clare Lopez
Islamist-allied operatives appointed by Obama are undermining U.S. security policy - explains counter-Intelligence expert, Prof. Clare Lopez. Aimed at co-opting Americas foreign policy in the Middle East, a network including well-known American diplomats, congressional representatives, figures from academia and the think tank world - with ties to the clerical regime in Tehran - is directing the Obama Administration's policy towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Middle East.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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