Summary of Analyzing The Elect's Forged Certificate

Because of threats to his safety the actual identity of "Dr. Ron Polarik" is not revealed but he does provide a summary of analyzing The Elect's Certificate of Live Birth. He has written his research in a longer essay as well.

SCOTUS Set to Consider Donofrio: 5 Dec. 2008

A graphic of the Leo Donofrio petition states the Supreme Court is set to discuss The Elect's eligibility on 5 December 2009.

Learning From Enemies

In what looks to be a propaganda video recently narrated by al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, The Elect is mocked taunted for not being a leader like Malcolm X. Yet, he is identified as "son of a Muslim father."

The stark contrast is the side-by-side images of Obama being guided by an orthodox Jew to the Kotel in Jerusalem with the Muslim prayer of Malcolm X. al-Zawahiri appears to be chiding The Elect as a direct contrast to Malcolm juxtaposing the "house negro" and the "field negro." Al-Zawahiri seems to be alluding to the murky origins of The Elect and one that seems designed to probe The Elect's psyche.

Al-Zawahiri obviously identifies The Elect as a Muslim: "you pray the prayers of Jews and claim to be a Christian to climb the rungs of leadership in America."

Zawahiri seems to be calling on The Elect as a covert Muslim who should return to his roots and his higher calling, a black nationalist as Malcolm X.

Foreign Policy Lists the Ten Worst FP Ideas of The Elect

The prestigious journal Foreign Policy recently listed the ten worst FP ideas of The Elect.

Cf. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4461&print=1

The Elect is in Good Company

The Elect is thick as thieves with the company he keeps.

The Elect Beering Fruit

This Elect's beer is for you!

The Elect as Internationalist

At the very least, can we not agree that

foreign influence in the latest election is the most that we have ever seen?

Kenya To Erect Monument for the Birthplace of Obama

WRIF Michigan Radio Talk Show, Mike in the Morning, asked about a marker to be put up at Obama's birthplace. The Kenyan Ambassador, His Excellency Peter Ogego, states that a marker to the birthplace of Obama is planned.

Government To Bail Out The Elect's Sharia Compliant Bank: Citi

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are discussing how to save Citigroup. One option being considered is taking some of the risky assets held by Citigroup off its balance sheet, a move that would give the company more breathing room and put it in a better position to raise capital.

Citi donated to The Elect's presidential campaign and is Sharia-compliant.

The Elect Promises Everything to Everybody

In his second gaffe with foreign leaders The Elect promised Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the United States would send more aid and pay more attention to his war-torn country. Later of course, The Elect's aides declined to confirm that their discussion had included specific promises. Isn't the facade is a bit too thin, twice in a row, to separate world leaders geographically dispered? First he made promises to Poland, which were later rescinded, and now to Afghanistan as well. The Elect is promising everything to everybody privately and then denying it in public.

Elect Exploits Net to Censor Americans

The Elect's shameless exploitation of the Net continues today as Obama does not allow comments, or annotations, on his YouTube statements. This is a dangerous precedent which needlessly censors democratic interactivity by participants.

The statement is a one-way message. You can not comment, interact, or object to anything presented. This is Big Brother.

Oppose this anti-Internet, anti-freedom politician by registering your objection at change.gov.

Rep. Sherman States Congress Threatened With Martial Law by Obama-Bush Gang

Representative Brad Sherman (D-California) reported live on C-SPAN that members of the House were told if they did not vote for the bailout bill martial law would be declared in the U.S. This bill was rammed down the throats of our Representatives and the people.

Representative Michael Burgess (R-Texas) confirmed the same point.

Martin's Case Dismissed

The Hawai'i Court blocked the release of Obama's birth certificate. Andy Martin's case was dismissed and he will most likely appeal to the next highest court. It is a strange day in this country when a person whose name and nationality is a mystery and a simple request to release an original birth certificate is ignored.

This is a simple twist of fate. Judge Bert Ayabe upheld arguments from Governor Linda Lingle's administration that Martin had no standing under state law to obtain a copy of the document. Ayabe ruled that Martin provided "insufficient evidence to indicate that the public interest supports" release of the record. Yet, state Health Department director Dr. Chiyome Fukino has stated that her office has been barraged by requests for copies of the birth certificate.

So which is it? Is there public interest or not? Inquiring minds want to know. The Hawaiian officials are doing some double-talking.

Martin Denied Standing for Obama Certificate

Judge Bert Ayabe, Circuit Court judge, upheld arguments from Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle's administration that Andy Martin, an attorney, had no standing under state law to obtain a copy of Obama's Hawai'i birth certificate. I understand the issue of standing but if citizens do not have standing then who does?

Media Ban on Negative Obama Images

This is strange; once I had found all of one negative, smoking picture of Obama, I wondered how many photos like that had found themselves on the net. And, after searching a bit, I only found one more picture posted with Obama smoking. You mean to tell me that with all the paparazzi and politicos around, only two pictures have been taken during a media blitzed political campaign with a smoker, smoking? The web has nothing but positive images of Obama. As the Beatles sang, "Nothing is real, nothing to get upset about."

In fact, upon searching for negative images of Obama, I found more negative pictures posted of McCain and Palen. There were, of course, some posters and political

statements about Obama commenting on his politics.

Or, there were negative posters about the Democrats, or,

negative political statements about Obama,

but every image or photograph available about Obama is heroic, positive, presidential, or statesman's-like. It is as if there is a media ban on rational discussion, or ordinary discourse about Obama.

Note on Bittle, Where Does The Money Go?

The authors do not readily identify Treasury securities which are government bonds issued by the United States Department of the Treasury through the Bureau of the Public Debt. They are the debt financing instruments of the U.S. Federal government, and they are often referred to simply as Treasuries or Treasurys.

Alarmingly, the Chinese now hold the second highest total of bonds, not far behind our close ally Japan.

Major Foreign Holders Of Treasury Securities
(in billions of dollars)
Holdings At End Of Period:
Aug 2008
Japan
585.9
China, Mainland
541.0

If China decided to bank elsewhere and take their money out of the U.S., our economy would be in an even more precarious position.

Since 1970, the U.S. has operated under a deficit. In 31 of the past 35 years we have spent more than we have taken in. This is unsustainable. There are really only three options to fix the problem: raise taxes, nibble at the deficit, which the authors show is easier said than done and will not address the $9 trillion debt, or, balance the budget. In short, we can not afford our politicians who have acted so irresponsibly.

Fixing the deficit issue is difficult. A standard mantra is stop government waste, which is admirable, but this is not enough. Another tactic might be to heavily tax the "sin" taxes areas: drugs, cigarettes, etc., but the writers show also that this is an area that only effects 3% of the budget which is only make a slight dent in the problem. Even seemingly good ideas backfire which the authors demonstrate with the yacht tax. The idea was to just heavily tax yacht owners which seems like an idea that would only harm the wealthy. Unwittingly though, the little person was hurt as well. There are many more people who repair boats, sell them, maintain them and generally keep the industry as a whole afloat. They were harmed as well in the yacht tax. The federal budget is more of a conundrum that is ordinarily thought.

One good example is to examine how when even less popular or controversial programs are cut the problem remains. If all spending for the arts, space, foreign aid, and welfare were cut, only 4.08% of the federal budget would be effected. Even making deep cuts won't substantially address the budget problem.

How about bringing the troops home from Iraq? Will that work? Nope, sorry that is no solution either (p. 94). Bush moved the war funding from supplemental to the regular budget, but ending war funding won't close the deficit. The move only helped the funding become more transparent.

Another looming issue is the non-feasibility of continuing Social Security and Medicare. Until now, the programs have been pay-as-you-go arrangements which worked, until now (p. 97). The politicians had their hands in the pockets of working Americans since the money raised through these payments appeared to be a trust fund for Americans. However, the politicians treated the funds as free for the taking and they borrowed those funds to use. As boomers retire, money was available, but as more retire the question will be is there enough to pay the later retirees (p. 104). The illustrative graphs make it clearer just how severe the problem is (p. 105).

The only way out is to cut programs, raise taxes, or borrow more.

The politicians who attempted to level with the American people, even bipartisan stabs at the issue, failed. Gore considered the "lock box" notion a try to hold funds in reserve, and Bush as governor of Texas tried something along the same lines, but they were mocked by comedians and the ideas were abandoned.

By 2040, according to the authors, we will only have three seriously bad choices (p. 107).

They end the work on a more positive note but for the budget ideas to take hold they will need politicians who are honest, serious, and upfront about cutting the budget. I am more pessimistic about our chances.

Times Publishes Current Intelligence Assessment

Source: Cf. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/world/21intel.html?_r=1&ref=world

Global Forecast by American Intelligence Expects Al Qaeda’s Appeal to Falter

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: November 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — A new study of the global future by American intelligence agencies suggests that Al Qaeda could soon be on the decline, having alienated Muslim supporters with indiscriminate killing and inattention to the practical problems of poverty, unemployment and education.

While not contradicting intelligence assessments suggesting that Al Qaeda remains a major threat with a strong presence in the tribal areas of Pakistan, the report says that the group “may decay sooner” than many experts have assumed because of severe weaknesses: “unachievable strategic objectives, inability to attract broad-based support and self-destructive actions.”

“The appeal of terrorism is waning,” said Mathew J. Burrows, head of long-range analysis in the office of the director of national intelligence and a lead author of “Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World.” Mr. Burrows said polls and anecdotal evidence strongly suggested disillusionment among Muslims with Al Qaeda and its methods and goals since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The predicted decline of Al Qaeda is one of the few bright spots in the generally gloomy report, which describes a decline in the United States’ world dominance as China, India and other powers assert themselves.

“Although the United States is likely to remain the single most powerful actor, the United States’ relative strength — even in the military realm — will decline and U.S. leverage will become more constrained,” the report said.

By 2025, it predicted, “the U.S. will find itself as one of a number of important actors on the world stage,” playing “a prominent role in global events” but not a decisive one as in the past.

The report said the global shift from West to East in terms of wealth and economic power “is without precedent in modern history.” Of a projected population increase of 1.2 billion worldwide by 2025, Western countries would account for only 3 percent, it said.

“We’re projecting a multipolar world,” C. Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence Council and the government’s top intelligence analyst, said Thursday at a briefing on the report. “The unipolar moment is over, or certainly will be over by 2025.”

The previous report in the Global Trends series, completed in 2004, anticipated continued American dominance through 2020, though it recognized that the emergence of China and India as powers would transform the geopolitical landscape.

The new report describes a world riven by increased conflict over scarce food and water supplies and threatened by so-called rogue states and terrorists, widening gaps between rich and poor and an uneven impact of global warming. It said the chance of the use of nuclear weapons, while remaining “very low,” would rise in the next two decades as nuclear technology spreads.

The report said Russia’s emergence as a world power was “clouded” by persistent corruption and lagging investment in its critical energy industry. It also noted, without naming a specific country, that a government in Eastern Europe “could be effectively taken over and run by organized crime.”

Mr. Fingar acknowledged that the report, in the works for months, did not fully reflect the severity of the global economic crisis. But he said intelligence officials chose not to delay the report, judging that the long-term impact of the economic downturn would not be clear for months.

The Global Trends reports are produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council, which represents all 16 American intelligence agencies, in part to inform long-term thinking by new administrations. The reports project various possible sequences of events in the future; the new publication notes, between dire forecasts, that “bad outcomes are not inevitable.”

Even if Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups gradually lose support, the remaining violent extremists may have access to increasingly lethal technology, including biological weapons, the report found.

The comments on Al Qaeda’s future are based in part on the work of David C. Rapoport, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has studied the cycles of terrorist activity in the past, including those associated with anarchism, Marxism and nationalism.

The report said the global Islamic terrorist movement was likely to outlast Al Qaeda itself, with other groups likely to emerge and supplant it. But it expects a future of frustration and attrition for Al Qaeda, which Osama bin Laden built during the 1990s.

The intelligence agencies noted that Al Qaeda had focused almost exclusively on terrorism, a contrast with groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, which have transformed themselves into political movements.

“Al Qaeda has not achieved broad support in the Islamic world,” the report said. “Its harsh pan-Islamist ideology and policies appeal only to a tiny minority of Muslims.”

The Elect to Outsource More American Jobs

The Elect's top gun to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano, has been a strong advocate of increasing H-1B visas, a position that means more foreign IT workers can fill jobs that otherwise would go to Americans. Napolitano has urged an increasing for the H-1B visa cap to address what she has argued is a shortage of skilled workers. In September 2007, Napolitano was one of 12 governors who sent a letter to congressional leaders stating:

"Until we are able to address this workforce shortage, we must recognize that foreign talent has a role to play in our ability to keep companies located in our state and country; and therefore, need to ensure the increase availability of temporary H-1B visas and permanent residency visas (green cards)."

The governors urged hiring more foreign talent rather than Americans.

Napolitano "is as rabid a supporter of H-1B as you are likely to find," said Rob Sanchez of Chandler, Ariz., a software engineer who publishes the Job Destruction Newsletter, which is focused on technology-related labor issues.

"Napolitano has publicly and repeatedly called for major H-1B expansion," said Ron Hira, an assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology and author of Outsourcing America, and "in that respect she is no friend of American IT workers."

The Elect is recruiting an administration that has forcefully advocated for increasing the use of foreign tech workers. The recession has not blunted that advocacy.

The major benefactor in the increase of visas are of course the companies based in the U.S. that benefit from hiring cheap labor.

The major contributors to The Elect's campaign include Google, Microsoft, and IBM.

Supremes Get Serious

Cf. SUPREME COURT PRACTICE, 8th Edition, the ultimate SCOTUS resource.

As reported on earlier here, the Leo C. Donofrio suit may have legal legs to stand on. The Supreme Court has taken an extraordinary expedited action in fast tracking the New Jersey Citizen's suit challenging the presidential election.

It is unclear whether the stay application has now been accepted in lieu of a more formal full petition for certiorari (and/or mandamus or prohibition). It would be unusual if this was the case since it is rare but it was used in Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 at 98 (2000):

"The court ordered all manual recounts to begin at once. Governor Bush and Richard Cheney, Republican Candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, filed an emergency application for a stay of this mandate. On December 9, we granted the application, treated the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari, and granted certiorari." (Emphasis added.)

The case has certainly been "DISTRIBUTED for Conference", a process usually reserved for full petitions of certiorari. Stays are usually dealt with in a different manner.

The stay application was originally denied by Justice Souter but under Rule 22.4, Donofrio renewed it to Justice Thomas who did not deny it.

A renewed application is rare.

Justice Thomas has referred the case to the full court.

That much is clear from looking at the docket.

In any case, although it is unclear whether the full court has set this for Conference, or Justice Thomas has done it on his own, the action signifies an affirmative action inside the US Supreme Court testifying to the serious issues raised by this law suit.

Mission Failed

You can fool some of the people, some of the time, but you can't fool all the young people

all the time.

Bishops Warn The Elect

BISHOPS WARN OBAMA ON ABORTION; CATHOLIC LEFT REBUKED

November 12, 2008

In a statement released today, Francis Cardinal George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, made it clear that the bishops will fight any expansion of abortion rights that may occur under the next administration. Specifically, the bishops are objecting to the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a bill so sweeping and draconian that it would not only repeal every single state restriction on abortion, it would seriously jeopardize the right of Catholic hospitals and doctors to opt out of performing abortions.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue released the following remarks:

“Cardinal George is right to label FOCA ‘an evil law that would further divide the country.’ At stake are two issues: a) the rights of the unborn and, b) religious liberty.

“First, those who admit that abortion should be rare unwittingly acknowledge that there is a reason to limit its frequency: as Cardinal George said, ‘abortion kills.’ By contrast, no one maintains that root canals should be rare, and that is because this medical procedure—unlike abortion—does not result in the total denial of someone else’s rights.

“Second, religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment and cannot be trespassed upon lightly, and certainly not by abortion zealots. Those who support FOCA must realize that if Catholic hospitals are ever required to perform abortions, the bishops will close every one of them; no one would be hurt more than the poor.

“Cardinal George explicitly rejected the ‘common good’ mantra of the Catholic Left that justifies legal abortion while pursuing ameliorative social policies that may reduce abortions. At stake, he said, is the ‘legal protection of the unborn,’ something which is rejected by Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholic Democrats. We hope they amend their ways and fall in line with Catholic thought on this grave matter. If they do not, they will become indistinguishable from Catholics for Choice, a fully discredited organization.”

Cf. http://www.catholicleague.org/release.php?id=1515

2004 Dems Cover Up Problems Leading to Economic Crisis

C-SPAN coverage from 2004 reveals clearly that the Democrats were aware of and dismissed allegations that the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scams crisis would harm the country.

My Favorite Photo of The Elect

Zawahiri Blasts The Elect for Abandoning Islam

In a new video AQ promises to heap injury on The Elect as someone who has abandoned Islam.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda deputy, stated:

"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America."

The Elect was not an "honourable black American" like Malcolm X, he said, but an "abeed al-beit," a house slave or a "house negro" in the message's English subtitles.

Telepresence (Read Free) Alternatives

In the challenged confines of SMBs no one should question that full-on teleconferencing with big screens showing life-size images are preferable but if these are not are there any options? In other words, are there free alternatives?

It turns out that there are options.

High-resolution video teleconferencing is available from Ekiga. Another possibility is to be found in shared whiteboards by Access Grid. And, last but not least is a 3-D graphics virtual world teleconferencing option from OpenSim.

Obama Birth Controversy Solved: The Elect Was Born in 1776

With the blogosphere controversy around The Elect swirling, I decided to settle the matter once and for all. The Elect must have been born in 1776 along with our Founders as dual citizens of the British Empire and America. Obama was born in Kenya, or Hawaii, or Jupiter or somewhere but it really does not matter. His father was a British citizen thus the Elect has dual citizenship.

And, what does the Constitution say about the issue? The Founders allowed for their eligibility to be President, but naturally they did not want subsequent generations to be governed by a Commander In Chief with dual or split loyalties to foreign powers. The Founders grandfathered themselves in for eligibility. But they would be turning over in their graves knowing that an individual with dual or split international loyalties succeeded them. We had a Revolution for liberty; we had a Revolution for America. Unless The Elect can produce a valid birth certificate verifying he should be grandfathered in as the Founders were I believe we have a coup on our hands. We should return to demanding a government of laws and not of men.

Sharia Compliant Citi Losing 52,000 Employees

Sharia compliant Citigroup is staggering under the loss of losing 52,000 employees over the next few months, the largest reduction by a company since IBM's layoffs of 60,000 employees in 1993, and the 50,000 cuts by Sears that same year. Citigroup's latest round comes on top of the 17,000 cuts that the company has already made. Unless Citi has a Savior in Washington, D.C. Citi seems done for.

Attorney General Nod, Bananas, and Dead Civilians

In a recent report Human Rights Watch recommended that the U.S. Department of Justice end the ties between the Colombian government and paramilitary death squads. Little information will flow now that Eric Holder has relinquished his weighty law practice at Covington & Burling in favor of the U.S. Attorney General nod. Holder has a conflict of interest since he is a defense lawyer for Chiquita Brands in which Colombian plaintiffs seek damages for the murders carried out by the AUC paramilitaries, a terrorist organization. Chiquita has already admitted in a criminal case that it paid the AUC around $1.7 million in a 7-year period and that it provided the AUC with a cache of machine guns as well.

In the Clinton Administration, Holder helped to negotiate Chiquita's plea bargaining with the Justice Department in the criminal case against Chiquita. Subsequently, no Chiquita official received jail time. Moreover, the identity of the key corporoate officials involved in the shenanigans are sealed.

Mario Iguaran, the Attorney General of Colombia, is on record noting that Chiquita's payments to the AUC paramilitaries led to the murder of 4000 civilians.

Memo to the Elect

Here is a memo to the Elect.

As Japan Is, Could Iraq Become?

In the we can all dream department comes a statement from the head of al-Anbar Sahwa (Awakening) council, Abu Resha, who said that it is now the time for Iraq to become a strategic ally of the U.S. Resha added:

“President Bush and other U.S. officials confirmed to me during my last visit to Washington DC that they want to pull out troops from Iraq, after it becomes strong, free and immune to external interventions, especially from Syria and Iran.”

If it were possible to dream, Iraq could become in the Middle East what Japan became in East Asia: a formerly occupied nation, defeated in war, yet developed into a prosperous, balanced economy, and a strategic ally and military power in the region.

Obama Marines Back Up Bush on AFRICOM

Marine Corps Forces Africa, the Marine component of AFRICOM, is now officially activated. The primary focus of the new command will be on engagement through bringing U.S. Marine Corps competencies to the table in support of U.S. Africa Command. AFRICOM, which was first announced by Bush in February 2007, activated on Oct. 1 of this year, was formed in recognition of Africa’s growing strategic value. Previously, responsibilities for military activities on the continent were divided among U.S European Command, U.S. Central Command, and U.S. Pacific Command. Under the new administration, Bush's plan, originally proposed by Donald Rumsfield, will continue.

Candidate Obama: No Lobbyists; Elect Obama: Hires Lobbyists

"I am running to tell the lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over. They have not funded my campaign. They won't work in my White House."

Candidate Barack Obama

Today, after the election, the Elect has now chosen lobbyists to be a part of the Obama administration.

The Elect has 150 staff members being assigned to government agencies between now and Inauguration Day that are former lobbyists and some who were registered as recently as lobbyists this year. A great deal more are executives and partners at firms that pay lobbyists, and former government officials who work as consultants or advisers to those seeking influence.

Henry Rivera, a former Democratic commissioner on the Federal Communication Commission who was involved in planning for the agency’s transition, has dropped out of that role because he had represented clients on communications policy in the last year.

Instead, Rivera is now on the team handling science, technology, space and the arts since the Elect's rules permit people who have lobbied in one area to join an Obama transition team in another. Jim Kohlenberger will assist, he is an executive director of an advocacy group for Internet companies.

Some appointees work in areas where they have recently lobbied.

An Interior Department appointee is Keith Harper, who lobbied earlier this year for Native American tribes.

A Consumer Products Safety Commission is Pamela Gilbert, a former executive director of the agency who recently lobbied for a consumer advocacy group. She has lobbied for the company Barr Laboratories, for an investor group, and for an antitrust enforcement group.

In the Justice Department and civil rights areas is Theodore Shaw, a litigator for an arm of the N.A.A.C.P.

David J. Hayes, part of the areas of energy and natural resources, is the chairman of the environmental practice at the law and lobbying firm Latham & Watkins. He was personally registered as a lobbyist as recently as 2006, for clients including San Diego Gas and Electric.

Sally Katzen, another member of the supervisory group, was registered last year to lobby for the pharmaceutical company Amgen on Medicare reimbursements.

Louisa Terrell, a third member, is on leave from the public policy office of the Internet company Yahoo!

Tom Wheeler, a fourth member, is on leave from a firm that invests in technology companies and before 2004 lobbied for the cable television and wireless industries.

John L. White, a former Clinton official charged with overseeing the new Defense Department, is a partner in a firm that invests in defense contractors.

Michael Warren, charged with overseeing Treasury, is chief operating officer of a firm that lobbies for clients including the U.S.-India Business Council.

Warren became chief operating officer of Stonebridge and has now become a major contributor to the transition in the pivotal areas of the Treasury Department and economic policy. Although not a registered lobbyist, Mr. Warren helped manage Stonebridge while it lobbied the government for clients including the U.S.-India Business Council within the last year as well as Dynergy International, Airbus, and Conoco in earlier years.

Several of the officials have ties to the Fannie Mae, the government-backed mortgage firm whose implosion this fall contributed to the financial meltdown.

These officials include: Thomas Donilon, overseeing the State Department, is a partner in the law and lobbying firm O’Melveny and Myers who until three years ago lobbied for Fannie Mae. Wendy R. Sherman, also reviewing the State Department, once headed Fannie Mae’s charitable foundation. And James Johnson, a former top officer of Fannie Mae, is on the economics and international trade team, charged with reviewing the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

Christopher Lu, the transition’s executive director may have a conflict in that his wife, Kathryn Thomson, is a lawyer who represents corporate clients dealing with federal environmental regulations, while his older brother, Curtis Lu, is a top lawyer for Fannie Mae.

The vast majority of the lobbyists that the Elect picked are second-tier officials of the Clinton administration, who left during Bush's administration to work in the private sector, usually exploiting the connections they developed in the Clinton years.

Some of these officials cuurently are employed at firms that do business with the agencies they are examining. John O. Brennan, a former Central Intelligence Agency official, is president and chief executive of the Analysis Corporation, an intelligence contractor.

On the NASA review board, Lori Garver is now president of a strategic consulting company, Capital Space LLC, and previously worked for the aerospace company DFI International.

Among the officials charged with reviewing the Securities and Exchange Commission, likely to be scrutinized amid the financial meltdown, is Mozelle Thompson, who runs a legal and policy consulting business for publicly traded companies including Facebook.com.

The Elect has also chosen Jami Miscik, now reviewing American intelligence agencies, was the head of intelligence analysis at the CIA during its biggest mistake: about Iraq’s WMD. Thereafter she become a senior official managing risks in emerging markets for the investment bank Lehman Brothers, until its collapse this fall.

It is business as usual in Washington where the rhetoric never meets the reality.

Elect's Washington Times Ad

This full-page ad regarding the questions about Obama's birth certificate appeared today in the Washington Times National Weekly (Monday November 17th edition).

Elect's Video Birth Controversy Summary

A video summary of Obama's birth certificate forgery in included here.

Polar Bears Hungry Enough to Eat: One Another

Scientists claim Arctic polar bears are so hungry they are eating other bears.

Try here:

According to research and data pins, the polar warming is blamed on humans.

Catholics Urged to Repent for Elect Vote

A Greenville, South Carolina priest has asked his parishioners to repent for voting:

voting for the Elect that is.

Clinton Funds Problematic

Bill Clinton's post-presidential foundation funding, which may be problematic for Hillary Clinton to be named Secretary of State, includes members of the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a fund connected to the United Arab Emirates, the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, as well as ties to international business figures connected to human rights abuses that his wife has outwardly criticized, including the governments of Kazakhstan and China.

China Denies Afghan Role

China denied the possibility of sending troops to join in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suggested China engage in the ISAF in Afghanistan. "Except the United Nations' (UN) peace-keeping operations approved by the UN Security Council, China never sends troops abroad. The media reports about China sending troops to participate in the ISAF in Afghanistan are groundless," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang stated.

Pakistani AQ Terrorist Unfit for Trial

Aafia Siddiqui, 36, is "not currently competent to proceed as a result of her mental disease, which renders her unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against her," U.S. District Judge Richard Berman stated while reporting the results of the psychiatric evaluation.

Siddiqui is suspected of links to al Qaeda and charged with trying to kill American interrogators in Afghanistan. A subsequent hearing on Wednesday will include the possible use of medication to treat her.

Siddiqui, educated at MIT as a U.S.-trained neuroscientist, was detained for questioning in a governor's office in Afghanistan's Ghazni province. She grabbed a U.S. warrant officer's rifle and fired it at the interrogation team, which included two FBI agents. The warrant officer then shot her with his pistol. She was brought to the United States to face charges of attempted murder and assault.

Siddiqui, a practicing Muslim, refused to submit to a strip search or cooperate with prison doctors. Afghan police found documents in her handbag on making explosives, excerpts from the book "Anarchist's Arsenal" and descriptions of New York City landmarks. Since being on the run for five years, in 2004, the FBI called Siddiqui an "al Qaeda operative and facilitator who posed a clear and present danger to America."

Pakistani parliamentarians said she should be released and repatriated to Pakistan.

Time Promotes the Savior

In the primaries he was compared favorably with JFK, until it became obvious he was no JFK, now, before he is inaugurated even, Time is comparing him with FDR. Since Farrakhan has already dubbed the Elect the Messiah, he will soon be elevated to at least sainthood, or he will be considered our Savior.

This is not a bad deal for Time Warner; they only donated $508,148 to Obama's campaign, a cheap price to pay for the publicity of praise.

Berg Interview on the Election Fraud

An short summary of the Philip Berg case against Obama, and his failure to produce evidence of citizenship,

is instructive.

Muslims Back Hussein

Muslims back Hussein. The American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT) released a poll indicating that 89% of American Muslim voters picked Obama over McCain who garnished only 2% of Muslim respondents. This is also the highest American Muslim voter turnout ever reported.

Alan Keyes Files Suit in Cali Against Usurper Obama

Alan Keyes, former presidential candidate, a political activist, and media commentator, filed a lawsuit in California and warns that America may have a 'usurper' in Oval Office unless something is done to stop him. The suit calls on the California secretary of state to prevent the state's 55 Electoral College votes from being cast in the 2008 presidential election until President-elect Barack Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. There is no definitive proof that Obama is an American.

Kilcullen on Afghanistan

David Kilcullen, former Australian army officer and anthropology Ph.D, who has advised the American, British, and Australian governments, was one of General Petraeus’s strategic thinkers regarding the Iraq surge; Kilcullen is now a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

In a recent statement in the New Yorker he addressed four main areas of concern in Afghanistan which I quote here:

we are being both out-fought and out-governed for four basic reasons:

(1) We have failed to secure the Afghan people. That is, we have failed to deliver them a well-founded feeling of security. Our failing lies as much in providing human security—economic and social wellbeing, law and order, trust in institutions and hope for the future—as in protection from the Taliban, narco-traffickers, and terrorists. In particular, we have spent too much effort chasing and attacking an elusive enemy who has nothing he needs to defend—and so can always run away to fight another day—and too little effort in securing the people where they sleep. (And doing this would not take nearly as many extra troops as some people think, but rather a different focus of operations).

(2) We have failed to deal with the Pakistani sanctuary that forms the political base and operational support system for the Taliban, and which creates a protective cocoon (abetted by the fecklessness or complicity of some elements in Pakistan) around senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

(3) The Afghan government has not delivered legitimate, good governance to Afghans at the local level—with the emphasis on good governance. In some areas, we have left a vacuum that the Taliban has filled, in other areas some of the Afghan government’s own representatives have been seen as inefficient, corrupt, or exploitative.

(4) Neither we nor the Afghans are organized, staffed, or resourced to do these three things (secure the people, deal with the safe haven, and govern legitimately and well at the local level)—partly because of poor coalition management, partly because of the strategic distraction and resource scarcity caused by Iraq, and partly because, to date, we have given only episodic attention to the war.

So, bottom line—we need to do better, but we also need a rethink in some key areas starting with security and governance.

Cf. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/2008/11/kilcullen-on-af.html

Arabs Already Asking for Money From the Elect

"The League of Arab States should take an increased role and be recruited to provide some services in exchange for increased foreign aid development in education and health-care arenas for their impoverished people."

Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer, founder of www.TheMuslimGuy.com, and contributing editor for Islamica Magazine in Washington.

Arabs are already asking Americans for money; the Elect is expected to respond.

The Cost of Havoc: AQ's Price of Terror

The price of terror

Terrorism, as one Treasury official noted, is “not a rich man’s sport.”

An analysis of some of the most notable attacks show that al-Qaida and others it has inspired have spent between $5,000 and $500,000 to carry out the attacks. Although the numbers in most cases is an approximation—and may not include all costs, such as training—they serve as an indicator of how little is needed to get the world’s attention.

Michael Sheehan, the former counterterrorism director for the New York Police Department, says the department has long been guided by a “4 x 10” rule – “10 men + 10 weeks + $10,000 = 10,000-pound bomb.”

This summary bears out the rule.

— 1993 – World Trade Center, New York – approximately $31,000 to cover the costs of bomb components, rentals of the garage used to assemble the bomb and storage lockers for components, telephone calls to and from the Middle East, and plane tickets for travel to and from the United States. Six dead.

— 1998 – U.S Embassy Attacks, Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – less than $50,000 on bomb parts, rooms at a seedy downtown hotel, where the bombing was planned, and on an expensive suburban villa where the bomb was put together as well as satellite phones and laptops. 241 dead.

— 2000 – USS Cole, Aden, Yemen -- $5,000 to $10,000 to cover the cost of explosives, and inflatable boats as well as a camera to record the event. 17 dead.

— 2001 – September 11 attacks, New York and Washington -- $400,000 to $500,000 spent primarily for flight training, travel, and living expenses (such as housing, food, cars, and auto insurance). 2,975 dead.

— 2002 – Nightclub bombings, Bali, Indonesia -- $75,000 to $80,000 spent on explosives and living expenses for the bombers as well as for vehicles used to transport the bombs. Al-Qaida provided the bulk of the funding. 202 dead.

— 2003 – Attacks on two Jewish synagogues, British consulate and HSBC banking offices, Istanbul, Turkey -- $50,000 again spent primarily on the bomb and bombers, but also on vehicles and training suicide bombers. Also financed primarily by al-Qaida’s central operations. 57 dead.

— 2004 – Commuter train bombings, Madrid -- $10,000 mainly to purchase bomb components, rent safe houses and purchase cell phone detonators. 191 dead.

— 2005 – Underground Attacks, London – No more than $14,000, mostly for bomb components as well as travel and training. 53 dead.

Sources: United Nations, Central Intelligence Agency, US Department of Justice, 9-11 Commission.

Cf. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27644191/

Note on Microsoft China Research

A review of mine, marking the 10th anniversary of Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), will be published.

Another American Terrorist Arrested

An American, Tarek Mehanna, lied to the FBI two years ago during a legitimate terrorism investigation. Mehanna, who has a doctorate from the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, was arrested as he was about to flee the country to start a new job in Saudi Arabia. Mehanna was questioned about the whereabouts and activities of Daniel J. Maldonado, a former trainee of an Al Qaeda terrorist camp dedicated to overthrow the Somali government. Maldonado was captured while on the lam and a cooperating witness secretly recorded conversations with Mehanna, who worried about lying to the FBI, according to the affidavit. Maldonado was arrested in January 2007 as he fled Somalia. He became the first US citizen charged with participating in terrorist activities in Somalia. Last year, he pleaded guilty in federal court in Houston to receiving training at a terrorist camp in Somalia alongside Al Qaeda members. He admitted training to use firearms and explosives as part of an effort to help a group called the Islamic Courts Union overthrow the Somali government and install an Islamic state. Maldonado is serving a 10-year prison term.

Catholic Church Drops ACORN Funding

November 12th, 2008
Catholic Church drops ACORN funding

By Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN Special Investigations Unit

(CNN) — The Roman Catholic Church is cutting off funds to the community organizing group ACORN, citing complaints about its voter registration drives in the November 4 election as part of the reason.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development froze contributions to ACORN, the Association of Community Organizing Groups for Reform Now, in June after the group revealed one of its founders had embezzled nearly $1 million from the group. This week, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Baltimore, Maryland, the campaign’s chairman said it was cutting all ties with the group.

The CCHD has donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN-related projects over the past decade, including $40,000 to an ACORN chapter in Las Vegas, Nevada, that was raided before the election in an investigation into fraudulent voter registration forms. Among other questionable documents, the ACORN chapter submitted registration forms for members of the Dallas Cowboys football team.

Cf. http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/

Our Next Entangling Alliance

The Founders warned us about getting involved and trying to slay the world's monsters and Americans followed this wisdom for years. In more recent times however we have forgotten this simple admonition because of the pulling at our heartstrings or a favored project or two.

The next entangling alliance that will snag the Elect's administration is most likely to arise from Africa. In one of numerous wrong-headed moves former Secretary of Defense Rumsfield committed us to Africom and the Elect is not likely to disband the extension of an American sphere of influence.

Not surprisingly human rights groups are already clamoring for the Elect to get involved in an area that has no payback for Americans, but a great deal of potential blowback from, in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, where government forces have waged a bloody war against militias that some international critics have characterized as genocide. Either this fiasco or one very similar will plague us during the Elect's administration.

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir has agreed to al cease-fire with rebels, which could give the U.S. an opening if we would be foolish enough to take the bait.

Darfur activist John Prendergast's ENOUGH organization is a project of the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank run by Obama's transition co-chairman, John Podesta.

During the presidential campaign, Obama called the crisis in Darfur "a collective stain on our national and human conscience" and said he would make ending it a priority on "day one."

That sounds like a commitment to me; we are doomed to repeat mistakes of getting involved in the region as before.

There is no legitimate American interest, safety, or concern in the region.

We can do simple things that do not further entangle us in other people's issue. The Elect's administration can strengthen the current arms embargo and continue to support investigations by the International Criminal Court into war crimes by al-Bashir, leading Sudanese officials and certain members of rebel groups. Other than lead a moral effort, our duty is done to the region.

The primary responsibility should be borne by China, which has vast oil interests in Sudan. Other than unnecessarily provoking the Chinese Americans do not need the additional burden of Darfur.