Afghanistan Expensive for Germany Too

Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, has cost Germans $3.27 billion U.S. through the end of 2007 for "deployment related additional expenditures" to the federal budget. The budget calls for a further spending for the ISAF mission in 2008. Actual expenditures for this year, however, will be considerably higher because the budget only includes expenditures through the end of the current deployment mandate, which ends on Oct. 13. Despite the cost, Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, is expected to extend the mandate by an additional 14 months. So far, Germany's military spending in Afghanistan has been almost four times greater than what it has contributed in civilian development aid.

Florida Man Visiting Extremists in Pakistan

A 20-year-old American man, identified on his passport as Juddi Kenan, and a resident of Florida, was arrested today in the Pakistani border region. Officers were investigating what an American was doing in the border area, believed to be a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and others. Kenan did not have permission to be in the region as is required by Pakistani law so he was arrested in the Mohmand agency. Kenan was wearing traditional Pakistani clothes; he related that he was a student at a community college and was in the tribal region to visit a friend. Kenan carried a laptop and a travelling bag. If he is not an AQAM operative, then he might be a CIA plant I would guess. No one is on a joyride to a lawless tribal region.

Obama - ACORN Connection

Graphic source: Social Policy Barack Hussein Obama pictured with ACORN in 2004

While Hussein Obama's involvement in a 1995 lawsuit on behalf of ACORN is usually reported, Obama's own website, as well as most major media, fail to reveal the full extent of his relationship with the organization or have subsequently scrubbed the evidence away. However, the advantage of the Net is that nothing disappears forever. The hidden web is full of information included in proprietary scholarly databases where these very same "missing" articles can be easily uncovered. Obama's campaign website states:

Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.

In a 2004 article--"Case Study: Chicago-The Barack Obama Campaign, by Toni Foulkes, a Chicago ACORN Leader, was published in the journal Social Policy. The journal recently pulled this particular article from their website, while leaving links to all other articles up.

The journal states:

Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).

Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends.

Foulkes proclaims Obama's ACORN leadership training, but also clarifies Obama's post-law school organizing of "Project VOTE" in 1992 which was undertaken in direct partnership with ACORN. This is a tie between Project VOTE and ACORN with Obama's cooperation as ACORN has been accused of voter registration fraud. In addition, in March 2008, the Los Angeles Times also verified Obama's involvement with ACORN:

At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff. (LA Times, March 2, 2008)

Obama was an ACORN trainer.

Hussein is knee deep in ACORN nuts.

Nuts! to ACORN States Former Ohio Secretary of State

Ken Blackwell, the Ohio former Secretary of State, is calling for further investigation into voter fraud by ACORN as a challenge to democracy. The Obama campaign is reluctant to agree since they are so heavily involved with the organization.

Ohio Toss-Up

Ohio is more of a toss-up than many have stated: CNN's new Ohio poll of polls shows Hussein leading McCain by three points, 49 to 46%. 5% of the state’s voters were unsure about their presidential pick; previously, on 9 October, Obama led McCain by four points, in the 21 September poll, Barack led McCain by a single point. That's a horse race.

Current Developments in Afpak Illustrated

Graphic source: Department of Public Information

Information released to the public confirms the general sense of increasing urgency but coupled with significant inroads against AQAM in the Afpac region.

Obama Favors Delaying a Settlement in Iraq

The Washington Times quoted Iraqi Ambassador to the United States Samir Sumaidaie about a June 16 telephone conversation between Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari and Obama. Obama urged Iraq to delay the (memorandum of understanding) between Iraqi and the United States until the new administration was in place. Sumaidaie was present apparently and reported his recollection to the newspaper. It is reasonable that Obama wants to be a player and his interests are before the country's during the heat of a close political campaign.

Farewell to Van Evera

Stephen Van Evera, Professor of Political Science at MIT, would have us believe that the U.S. is in a similar situation as in the Concert of Europe, c. 1815. After the era of Napoleon and the French Revolution, the Concert was adopted by the old great powers of Europe of meeting from time to time in an International Conference, or Congress, in order to plan a solution by mutual agreement (hence "concert"). Austrian Chancellor Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich was the primary architect of the Concert and its most famous participant. The Concert of Europe became a de facto government of the world. The British balance of power was in abeyance and there followed an era of stability where Europe engaged in no major conflict for 43 years which is no mean accomplishment.

But the historical analogy does not fit. The Congress' first primary objectives were to:

contain France after decades of war;

achieve a balance of power between Europe's great powers;

uphold the territorial arrangements made at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 and in doing so prevent the rise of another Napoleon-esque figure which would result in another continent wide war.

None of the objectives fit the requirements of effective U.S. foreign policy. There is no nation-state, such as France that needs containing; there is nothing advantageous for U.S. interests to simply maintain parity with other leading nations; and, no territory will contain a Napoleon-like figure to any one territory.

A Napoleon or any monster like him today is much more lethal today given the phenomenon of Islamofascism. Second, the U.S. has prospered during a period of American hegemony which is only more difficult today given the difficulties of the U.S. economy, ongoing international threats, and Islamofascism. Boundaries are not barriers today when you consider the role of the media in the information war and the porous nature of territories as in the case of places like Pakistan.

Van Evera equates the danger of a WMD and Napoleon as a threat-from-below. But as many nations are already engaged in actively defending themselves especially since the threats have often moved beyond threats to actual bombings and killings. Yet, the existing bulwarks such as NATO have proved less than successful in thwarting attacks. Van Evera seems to simply state the obvious. Nations need to cooperate. We already know that. The trick is to get them to move in harmony since they are not.

It is unilateral U.S. action that Van Evera reserves for especial disdain. But what is the alternative? America was under attack following 9/11 and if anything the U.S. dragged its feet, or failed to heed the warnings from Bin Laden experts such as Michael Scheuer during the Clinton administration. In large part the Bush Doctrine arouse from being attacked directly and during war no nation can wait for an international Concert before acting.

Van Evera's idealistic faith in diplomacy is laughable. Here is one such precious gem: "the United States should speak in respectful tones to other governments" (p. 19, Leffler). Maybe if the U.S. said "pretty please" to Hugo Chavez he wouldn't be such a bad guy after all. There are significant portions of the world, the lands where our enemies live, that openly applauded the attacks on 9/11. We can't wait for friends or enemies to take decisive action when our national security is on the line.

Van Evera simply recommends diplomacy to stop WMD. Every sane nation desires this but he never explains how the failed diplomacies of the past will now work. He just knows that Bush didn't excercise enough of it. Even our staunchest allies fail to deliver. For example, in July of this year, Japan backed out of an earlier commitment to dispatch its Self-Defence Forces (SDF) to Afghanistan now that the security situation has declined. The self-limitation of allies does not hinder AQAM (al-Qaeda and Allied Movements).

Another unexplained notion is that we have to have ideas to combat al Qaeda. This will convince them? Hardly. No war of ideas will convince AQ that we are right.

As things may get worse Van Evera has the "selective engagement" of Robert Art. This is all well and good but there is no way to distinguish Art from Bush since George would consider himself as targeting the right people and he has selectively chosen to attack the worse threats.

Nations selectively attack their biggest foes. Van Evera approves of Bismarck between 1871-1890 because he "bolstered peace" (p. 24). What Van Evera does not mention is that Bismarck had defeated each of his enemies-–Denmark, Austria, and France-–in isolation. After 1871 Bismarck was committed to preserving the peace of Europe only because he had already provoked and/or defeated his threats, selectively.

Since the U.S. suffered only 1.7% of war deaths in World War I, and only 3.6% of the deaths in World War II, this is evidence for Van Evera that the U.S. paid a relatively small price while forging great alliances that can work again. The only thing it seems to prove is that the U.S. assisted others in their life and death struggle that if successful, our common enemies would have come for us, and, of course Japan had hit the U.S. mainland.

Van Evera gets the historial parallels wrong so it is not surprising that his arguments for the present conflicts do not fit.

Cf. Leffler, Melvyn P., and Jeffrey W. Legro, To Lead the World: American Strategy After the Bush Doctrine.

Ayers, Buddy Chavez, Viva La Revolucion!

In November 2006 at the World Education Forum with dictator Hugo Chavez at his side, William Ayers, Obama associate and Weather Underground bomber stated his support for "the political educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chavez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how . . . all of you continue to overcome the failures of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane." Ayers added: "Teaching invites transformations, it urges revolutions large and small. La educacion es revolucion."

Whose Your Daddy? No One

A DNA test has confirmed what scientists thought: a mother shark had a virgin birth. The pup has no father. A pup carried by a female blacktip shark contains no male genetic material. This is something female sharks of many species can do on occasion since virgin births have been proven in some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. The study appeared in the Journal of Fish Biology. The research does not indicate how frequently automictic parthenogenesis occurs in the wild.

Osama for President

Graphic source: Albany Times Union newspaper

If the chad fits wear it seems to be the slogan in Rensselaer County, New York state where absentee ballots went out with a typographical error. Ballots were printed with Barack Obama’s last name spelled as “Osama." Officials will re-send corrected ballots on request.

Indiana Voter Fraud by Obama's ACORN

In Indiana as well, there is evidence of voter fraud. More than 2,000 voter registration forms filed in northern Indiana's Lake County by ACORN have turned out to be bogus. In Lake County, home to the long-depressed steel town of Gary, the bipartisan Elections Board has stopped processing a stack of about 5,000 applications delivered just before the October 6 registration deadline after the first 2,100 turned out to be phony. "All the signatures looked exactly the same," Ruthann Hoagland, a Republican on the board. "Everything on the card filled out looks exactly the same." The attempted voter fraud this time around is more widespread and earlier than ever before.

Judge Orders Verification Required by Law in Ohio

U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus ruled that Ohio Democrat Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must perform verification required by the Help America Vote Act. That includes matching new registrants' information against information in databases maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration. Perhaps a Judge is seeing through the fraud that is taking place, at least in Ohio.

Obama's ACORN Plucked Again

Graphic source: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Another state and not just in Ohio are there instances of voter fraud by Obama supporters in ACORN. A Nevada secretary of state's office spokesman said that investigators are looking for evidence of voter fraud at the office.

Creepy Video Parallels

I am going to have to weigh in on the Obama Children's Chorus which is just creepy. And, if no one sees the parallels, they need to be reminded of what happens when you capture the youth in song.

Ohio Voter Fraud Ongoing

The voter fraud in Ohio continues unabated since observers are being turned away by court order.

Who Is Erratic?

One guy attacks the other for his "erratic leadership." At least one nominee possesses leadership accomplishments, and, the other? In Obama's 1995 book Dreams of My Father, he writes that he was once headed in the direction of a "junkie" and a "pothead. Referring to his emotional struggles as a young man, Obama writes, "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though."

Oh, ok, pot, booze, and blow are fine but the other guy is erratic: just checking.

NIMBY: Muslim Uigher Background

Graphic source: The Long War Journal

If the Uighers, Chinese Muslims, who are facing possible release, enter the U.S. we should be aware of what we are dealing with. The Muslims were captured in terrorist training camps as a fall-out of the search for al Qaeda after 9/11.

The Uighers who may be released are all connected to the most lethal of the Uighur groups to evolve out of the Soviet jihad called the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). Their near enemy is obviously China but no one can say for sure they these jihadists don't view the U.S. as the far enemy. The ETIM are international jihadists who share their ideology with al Qaeda and the Taliban. The swath of insurgency from various groups stretched from Western China through Central Asia.

The organization and related Uighur terrorist groups have been designated by the UN as one of the terrorist groups affiliated with the Taliban and al Qaeda; The US Treasury Department and the US Department of Homeland Security have also designated the ETIM a terrorist organization.

The Department of Defense has released unclassified documents produced at Gitmo for the Uighurs thus far incarcerated. The documents were produced during the detainee’s hearings before their Combatant Status Review Tribunals (“CSRT”) and Administrative Review Boards (“ARB”) between 2004 and 2006. All 22 of the Uighurs are alleged to have demonstrable ties to the ETIM and/or its sister organization the Sharq (East) Turkistan Islamic Partiyisa (STIP). All of the detainees were either: (a) identified as members of the ETIM and STIP and/or (b) received training at ETIM facilities and/or (c) resided at ETIM guesthouses or training facilities.

These are not people who should be released into any American's backyard.

Dow Down Again

I've heard the good Senators, as steady as they might claim, have solved the financial crisis. Yet, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 679 points--some 7 percent--again today. Maybe they should suspend the campaign and get to work. The Democrats have had a majority for two years. Yet, they have accomplished nothing.

Age Discrimination in the Presidential Campaign

Graphic source: Wikipedia Commons

With age discrimination so rampant in this presidential campaign it may be instructive to recall how other countries have handled the age issue of their leaders. Golda Meir was 76 when she ended her term as Prime Minister in Israel; French President Charles de Gaulle was 78, and Nelson Mandela as President in South Africa was 80. Mandela also was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

In a `you had to be there' moment from an earlier campaign, when Ronald Reagan was 73 he ran for re-election and in a 1984 televised debate against Walter Mondale, then 56, Reagan quipped: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I will not hold my opponent's youth and inexperience against him." The audience laughed and Reagan won the election.