David Drake

... we were in this combat outpost down in southern Afghanistan, in the Helmand River Valley, and we were inside this center, a command center, watching a video screen. They were watching live while these guys were digging a hole for a roadside bomb. And there were other indicators, too, besides digging the hole. There was a guy swimming across a canal with this wire, and the wires are used to detonate the bomb.

Unidentified Man #1: I have two guys on the west side of the cow buoys(ph) running wires across the canal to the west side, where a (unintelligible) an IED the other day. So, they're watching them right now.

BOWMAN: There were a couple of guys keeping watch and stopping traffic. And the Marines were intercepting a radio call from these suspected insurgents while they were doing these other activities.

MONTAGNE: And on the radio, they were saying we're planting a bomb?

BOWMAN: And on the radio they were talking about planting a bomb.

MONTAGNE: So from the Marines perspective, the Afghans really did appear to be insurgents. So what did they do?

BOWMAN: Well, they felt comfortable. They had all the indicators that these guys were insurgents planting a bomb. So they thought about using a machine gun to shoot these guys. There was another combat outpost not too far away. The problem was there was a compound of houses between where the Marines were with their machine gun and the guys planting the bomb.

So then they decided to bring in the helicopters and use the machines guns and the helicopters to shoot these guys. As the helicopters came in, these guys look up in the air and start walking away. One of the guys was carrying a yellow jug - and that's become the icon of the roadside bomb. They mix fertilizer and diesel fuel in this, and that becomes a part of the bomb. And then we saw one of these guys throw this jug into a haystack.

Unidentified Man #2: And hiding the jug into the hay pile right now, and then are walking near the open field, so just wait until�

BOWMAN: And they were gone. It was all over. They could no longer shoot at them.

MONTAGNE: So why didn't they shoot at them?

BOWMAN: Well, they thought that they were still too close to this compound of houses to allow these helicopters to use their machine guns to shoot, so they decided against it.

MONTAGNE: So, in being very, very careful about shooting at what they absolutely believed to be insurgents, they ended up, in effect, losing these guys. How did that make them feel?

BOWMAN: Well, they weren't happy at all. And some of them stormed out of this command center. And we talked with one of them afterwards. This is Lieutenant James Wendy(ph).

Lieutenant JAMES WENDY (U.S. Marines): There's no way that anyone other than the enemy would've been injured.

BOWMAN: So, why weren't you allowed to shoot?

Lt. WENDY: Honestly, I don't know. I'd like to say I wish we could play by the big boy rules, you know, but, you know, it's just the way it is. And if I had known how frustrating it'd be and was able to better prepare myself for that mentally, I think that maybe I would've been better off.

MONTAGNE: What about the military leaders? Is it reaching the top? Are they hearing these complaints about these rules of engagement that are so restrictive?

BOWMAN: You know, they are hearing these complaints. And I had a few minutes this week with their overall commander, General McChrystal, and I told him the same story, Renee, I told you. And I asked him about the rules of engagement. Here's what he had to say:

General STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (U.S. Commander, Afghanistan): I've been at this a long time now, since 9/11, and there were a tremendous number of times when I've seen activities done, which, on the surface of what was seen, looks exactly one way, looks completely convincing. And then in the aftermath, what you saw was incomplete. In fact, what we find is civilian casualties who are unarmed civilians.

I think when we err on the side of maturity and caution, there is a cost. And I know that we're asking an extraordinary amount from them to operate with such restraint and self-discipline, but I think it's how we win the war.

Since his inauguration, Barack Obama has tripled the number of troops fighting in Afghanistan. After announcing the latest surge of 30,000 new soldiers in a speech at West Point, it is clear that he is a president actively prosecuting a war, not merely tending to one that was left to him.

[...]

According to his speech, Obama is escalating while retreating, adding more troops while also setting a date for their departure. Obama said he was putting pressure on the Afghan government, but he didn't suggest how. Some of the blurring was by design. He smudged the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, explaining that while he was sending troops to Afghanistan, the struggle was now more regional than it was when the war started eight years ago.

The president's critics will complain about the 18-month deadline Obama set for starting the troop withdrawal. The president says he set a deadline to focus the minds of our partners in Afghanistan, but he also said the departure decision would be based on the recommendations of his field commanders. This is a version of the debate we had during the presidential campaign, when Obama set a 16-month deadline for withdrawal from Iraq. His advisers will no doubt admit—as they did during the campaign—that if military advisers say a withdrawal from Afghanistan in 18 months is inadvisable, then the troops won't leave. His Republican critics will also presumably agree, as John McCain did during the campaign, that if the commanders say it's OK to start leaving in 18 months, then that's just fine with them.

Obama insisted that his deadline-that-isn't-a-deadline would put pressure on the Afghan government. "The absence of a time frame for transition would deny us any sense of urgency in working with the Afghan government. It must be clear that Afghans will have to take responsibility for their security and that America has no interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan."

But Obama said nothing in the speech that put actual pressure on the government.

[...]

Obama's tone was methodical and emotionless. He often sounded like a reluctant warrior. He told the West Point students about signing condolence letters and greeting coffins arriving at Dover. "As your commander in chief, I owe you a mission that is clearly defined, and worthy of your service," said Obama. There were repeated references in the speech to the honor of their service.

The president said twice that he didn't take his decision "lightly." This seemed like an obvious shot at Dick Cheney and other critics who had complained that he had taken too long to make his final decision. (On the day of the speech, the former vice president claimed that Obama had shown "weakness.") Obama also spent considerable time reminding his audience about the troubled history of the Afghan war since the attacks of 9/11, implying that if Bush and Cheney had taken a little more time during the first seven years of the war, there would be no need for him to be giving the speech—or sending more troops into danger.

The Secret Service has formally apologized for allowing two party crashers into the White House state dinner on Tuesday night. The Secret Service continues to investigate how the husband and wife — who are looking for a role in a reality TV show — got past security and actually met the president. Melissa Blocks talks with Roxanne Roberts of The Washington Post.

The Secret Service issued an apology today for allowing two uninvited guests to crash the state dinner at the White House on Tuesday. Director Mark Sullivan said the Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed and that established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint. That failing, he said, is ours.

U.S. regulators on Friday [November 20] closed down Commerce Bank of Southwest Florida. Though there are some early signs of economic recovery, bank failures go on growing with rising loan defaults. This takes the total number of bank failures to 124, compared to 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007.

The government-administered insurance fund that protects depositors fell into the red for the first time since the fallout from the savings-and-loan crisis of the early 1990s as the pace of bank failures accelerated.

The fund had a negative balance of $8.2 billion at the end of the third quarter, federal regulators said Tuesday.

[...]

So far, the F.D.I.C. has seized and sold 124 banks in 2009, and analysts expect hundreds more to collapse in the months ahead.

A Superior, Wis., woman was arraigned in St. Louis County District Court on Wednesday after being accused of holding a knife to an anti-abortion demonstrator’s neck outside of Duluth’s Building for Women on Tuesday morning.

Mechelle Tallulah Hall, 25, is charged with second-degree assault.

Hall’s alleged motivation is unclear. According to the criminal complaint, at one point, she held the knife in a threatening manner and said "The reason I’m doing this is because I am certified crazy." She’s accused of holding the knife to the throat of a 21-year-old woman who was handing out pamphlets outside the Building for Women.

President Obama said Tuesday that he was determined to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, and his aides signaled to allies that he would send as many as 25,000 to 30,000 additional American troops there even as they cautioned that the final number remained in flux.

[...]

Mr. Obama went around the table in the White House Situation Room asking his senior advisers for summations of their individual assessments and to voice any concerns they still had, said an administration official who was briefed on the two-hour meeting.

With 2009 by far the deadliest year for foreign troops in Afghanistan, critics of reinforcing the 68,000-strong US contingent portray the mission as unnecessary and unwinnable, warning it has begun to resemble Vietnam.

A USA TODAY/Gallup poll released Wednesday showed rising pessimism among the US public, with only 35 percent approving of Obama's handling of the conflict, down from 56 percent four months ago.

America was divided on the president's expected decision to dispatch some 34,000 more US troops. Half of those surveyed backed the plans, while 39 percent said it was time to begin withdrawing forces.

[White House senior advisers] said Friday they were not alarmed by Geithner's rough treatment at the hands of Republican lawmakers on the Joint Economic Committee, which even included a call for him to resign.

Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has forbidden Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy to receive the Roman Catholic sacrament of Holy Communion because of his advocacy of abortion rights, the Rhode Island Democrat said Friday.

“The bishop instructed me not to take Communion and said that he has instructed the diocesan priests not to give me Communion,” Kennedy said in a telephone interview.

Kennedy said the bishop had explained the penalty by telling him “that I am not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion. He declined to say when or how Bishop Tobin told him not to take the sacrament. And he declined to say whether he has obeyed the bishop’s injunction.

...with banks reluctant to lend and consumers afraid of borrowing, chances of a strong and quick economic recovery are slim, bankers and investors said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit this week.

"It will take at least a couple of years to come out of this recession," said Denis Salamone, chief operating officer of Hudson City Bancorp (HCBK.O), the biggest U.S. thrift.

CONSUMERS PULLING BACK

The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter, its first growth in more than a year. But the main impetus was government subsidies on cars and housing.

"We have to be cautious here because unemployment is still a big uncertainty, is forecast to continue to rise, and so we have to take a cautious outlook, even though things are notably better than they were a year ago," American Express Co (AXP.N) Chief Financial Officer Dan Henry said.

Unemployment rose to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent in October and is expected to be a drag on the economy for some time.

"Companies are not yet confident that we will be out of this. And some are concerned about a second dip coming out of this recession and, therefore, they are not hiring," Salamone said.

"People's consumption attitude is going to be different over a period of time, and I think that will lead them to not be the whole engine of the world economy," said Takeo Sumino, chief operating officer of Nomura Holding America, a unit of Japanese brokerage Nomura Holdings

[...]

Mortgage delinquency rates and the percentage of loans in foreclosure jumped to record highs in the third quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It forecast the trend will continue into 2010.

Credit card losses are seen peaking next year, and commercial real estate losses will likely become a big headache for more lenders.

[...]

"If you think chargeoffs are bad now, wait until this unemployment rate sticks at 10 percent for over a 12-month time period," he said. "Everybody tries to live their lifestyle, and people only begin to change their lifestyle when they lose their job. Then reality sets in."

President Barack Obama absorbed history's expanse Wednesday from atop the Great Wall of China, a manmade wonder of such enormity that Mr. Obama found himself putting daily life in perspective.

"It's magical," Mr. Obama said, walking down a ramp alone, his hands in his pockets. "It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on earth is not that long. We better make the best of it."

Al Gore was on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien recently and was attempting to explain the utility of geothermal energy, which taps the Earth's heat to generate energy. In so doing, former Vice President Gore proved to be an ignoramus.

[...]

People think about geothermal energy — when they think about it at all — in terms of the hot water bubbling up in some places, but two kilometers or so down in most places 'cause the interior of the earth is extremely hot, several million degrees aces there are these incredibly hot rocks, , and the crust of the earth is hot ..."

The problem is that Al Gore got the temperature of the interior of the Earth wrong by several orders of magnitude. The actual temperature of the Earth's interior is upwards to six thousand degrees Celsius. "Several million degrees" would describe the temperature of the interior of the Sun.

In other words, if Al Gore were right, the Earth would not be a planet but a star.

Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill that runs to 2,074 pages and mentions neither Sen. Mary Landrieu nor her state of Louisiana. But the section's purpose is indisputable: to deliver $100 million or more in federal funds to the state. And in the process clear the way for one of three moderate Democratic fence-sitters — Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are the others — to help propel the legislation past its initial hurdle in a crucial Saturday vote.

The Obama administration, under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted "unrealistic data," according to a document obtained by ABC News.

[...]

...the omitted data from the 12 outlets reflected 60,803 jobs saved or created from over $20 million in stimulus funds. If the administration had included the data in its report last month, the total job growth from the stimulus would have exceeded 700,000, rather than the 640,000 ultimately reported.

[...]

"The more we learn about the administration's 'jobs created or saved' methodology, the more questions we have regarding its accuracy and validity," Rep. Darrell Issa told ABC News Sunday night. "Now we learn that OMB is playing an active role in trying to filter information. Given this hands-on role that the administration is playing, it would be appropriate to have OMB represented at Thursday's hearing."

[...]

Since the latest stimulus report, there have been numerous media reports that the jobs numbers were inflated.

The Associated Press said the report "significantly overstates the number of jobs spared with money from programs serving families and children, mostly the Head Start preschool program."

The Denver Post also cited overstated federal figures with the Colorado Head Start program, noting that the government reported 269 jobs saved or created by the program, but only three were actually saved or created.

The Chicago Tribune noted that the administration said $4.7 million in stimulus money for schools in north Chicago had saved the jobs of 473 teachers, but the school district only employed 290 teachers. The statistics – claiming that stimulus money had helped save or create 14,330 school jobs in Illinois – were "riddled with anomalies that raise questions about their validity."

The Boston Globe also reported that Massachusetts recipients of stimulus funds claimed that 12,000 jobs had been saved or created, "that number has been inflated by miscounts, erroneous figures, or claiming jobs for work not yet started."

A Bernalillo County Sheriff's deputy escorting Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade was hit this afternoon at Gibson and Carlisle.

Police say a woman drove around two police units blocking the intersection and hit a car driven by a sergeant with BCSO.

No injuries or arrests have been reported, but the sergeant has been taken to Presbyterian Hospital for evaluation.

A sheriff's spokeswoman would not say whether the vice president had already gone through the area at the time of the accident.

Veteran actor Edward Woodward has died aged 79, his agent has confirmed.

The Croydon-born star had been suffering from various illnesses, including pneumonia, and died in hospital, said Janet Glass.

Woodward is most famous for his roles in the cult 1973 horror film The Wicker Man, alongside Sir Christopher Lee, and TV series The Equalizer and Callan.

Sir Christopher described Woodward as "a very good friend and a splendid actor".

Ms Glass said he had been ill for several months and passed away surrounded by members of his family.

The actor, who lived in Hawker's Cove near Padstow, died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

"I knew him a very long time and he was a superb human being," she said.

"That integrity shone through in the roles he played. I can't ever remember, in all the productions he undertook, anyone having a bad word to say about him and he never had anything bad to say about anyone else either."

The success of Callan earned him an award for TV Actor of the Year and led to Woodward starring in a long-running American television series, The Equaliser.

His five years in New York made him wealthy, but Woodward regretted making the series, which took a heavy toll on his health.

Working 20 hours at a time, he coped by smoking 100 cigarettes a day - and had a major heart attack.

But the role did win him a coveted Golden Globe for best actor in 1987.

Obama turned his attention home and pleaded for lawmakers to "resist the temptation to turn this tragic event into the political theater." He said those who died on the nation's largest Army post deserve justice, not political stagecraft.

[...]

Obama said he was not opposed to hearings — eventually. But he strongly pressed lawmakers to hold off until the probes now under way are completed.

"There is an ongoing investigation into this terrible tragedy," Obama said. "That investigation will look at the motives of the alleged gunman, including his views and contacts."

How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor Akihito a wow bow (Updated with video, pic).

(UPDATES: 12:22 p.m. A brief news video has been added below, showing the greeting in this photograph. Contrary to some claims, the video shows no reciprocal bow by the emperor, who traditionally bows to no one. And we've added a file photo from 2007 of Vice President Dick Cheney greeting the Japanese Emperor in the same door way in a different fashion.)

The number of suicides among active- duty U.S. Army troops this year reached 133 in October, 18 more than in the same period last year and putting the service within reach of a new annual high.

The 133 reported suicides, including the National Guard and Reserves, between January and October compared with 115 during the same period in 2008 when the service recorded 140 by year’s end, an annual record, the Army said in a statement.

A new estimate by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) places the US death toll from the swine flu, or H1N1 virus, much higher than had been previously reported. The death rate among the young and healthy is also far greater than both recent CDC estimates and that of normal flu strains.

Nearly 4,000 American have died as a result of the swine flu, out of an estimated 22 million who have been infected with the virus, according to the new CDC calculations, which are extrapolations based on data gathered in ten states.

[...]

Approximately three quarters of all deaths have been among those aged 18 to 64. About 540 teenagers, children and babies have died as a result of the swine flu—a figure four times higher than that reported last week by the CDC, and seven times the death total for a typical flu strain—with the heart of flu season, December through May, still to come.

There have been a total of 98,000 H1N1-related hospitalizations, with more than a third of these, 36,000, among those age 17 and under.

[...]

The Obama administration ordered approximately 250 million doses of the vaccine, and confidently predicted that 120 million of those would be available to the public by this point. Instead, the federal government has received only 42 million doses as of Thursday, and not all of these have been distributed.

[...]

The White House cannot claim that its response to H1N1 came for lack of time to prepare, with epidemiologists concluding last spring that the virus would produce a full-scale pandemic that could claim many lives.

Such has been the administration’s incompetence and indifference to the pandemic that commentators have suggested the swine flu may well become “Obama’s Katrina,” a reference to the callous and blundering response of the Bush administration to the hurricane that laid waste to the US Gulf Coast and its principal city, New Orleans, in 2005.

As was the case with Hurricane Katrina, the swine flu epidemic has revealed the decrepit state of infrastructure in the US and the indifference of a government whose overriding concerns are the profit margins of Wall Street banks and the imperialist wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Delivery and disbursal of the vaccine in the US has been compromised by the decimation of public health care over the past several decades through budget cutbacks and layoffs. This has only been accelerated by the economic crisis, with doctors, nurses and administrators being laid off from vital public health jobs even as they are most needed.

Morale has fallen among soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday. It was the first time since 2004 that soldier suicides in Iraq did not increase. Self-inflicted deaths in Afghanistan were on track to go up this year.

The Afghan report also found a shortage of mental health workers to help soldiers who needed it, partly because of the buildup Obama started this year with the dispatch of more than 20,000 extra troops.

[...]

Other findings of the Afghanistan survey included:

* Exposure to combat, long recognized as a strong factor in mental health problems, was significantly higher this year than rates in 2005 and similar to rates in 2007 for the combat units.

* Combat units reported significantly lower unit morale in the last six months of their tours of duty, more evidence of the wearing affect of long deployments.

President Barack Obama paid fond tribute Wednesday to the determination of the U.S. military, from those who served generations ago to today's troops fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and missions around the world.

45 percent of people now disapprove of Obama's handling of Iraq, up from 37 percent; while 48 percent now disapprove of his handling of Afghanistan, up from 41 percent. A majority of Americans oppose both wars. And more than half — 54 percent — now oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan, an increase from 50 percent last month.

...after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term.

The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for.

A sculpture by Chinese artist Liu Bolin titled "Burning Man Obama" is tested at a workshop in Beijing November 11, 2009. The sculpture represents U.S. President Barack Obama's impact on the world.

Scottish singer Annie Lennox was presented with the 2009 "Woman of Peace" award on Wednesday at a summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Berlin for her work raising awareness of HIV/AIDS.

Lennox was chosen for her work in raising awareness of the impact on women and children, especially in South Africa, with her SING campaign enlisting 23 female vocalists to record a song of the same name.

"I want to express my profound gratitude and deep humility," the former Eurythmics singer said. "I honour all the women working around the globe to reduce the effects of this pandemics. This is for them, they truly deserve it."

[...]

Lennox, 54, was also presented with a piece of the Berlin Wall.

"It looks inoffensive like this because it has been painted on, but for a long time this was part of a wall of fear," Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit said.

Meeting in Berlin, a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates have awarded singer Annie Lennox their own award for her work with women and children suffering from AIDS in Africa. The World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates was meeting for the tenth time and the theme of their talks was "breaking down walls and building bridges."

[...]

Pop singer Annie Lennox was awarded the summit's 2009 Woman of Peace Award in recognition of her work to raise awareness of the impact HIV and AIDS have on women and children. Lennox's SING campaign combines the talent of 23 female vocalists in a recording of "Sing," which was written by Lennox, and has raised $2 billion (1.3 billion euros) since 2003. The money is used to fund treatment, testing and HIV education and prevention programs in South Africa.

"It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given us
Freedom of the Press.
It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given us
Freedom of Speech.
It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the
Freedom to Demonstrate.
It's the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the
Right to a Fair Trial.
It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and
whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who gives the protestor the right to burn the flag."

"Well, look, we -- we have seen, in the past, rampages of this sort. And in a country of 300 million people, there are going to be acts of violence that are inexplicable. Even within the extraordinary military that we have -- and I think everybody understands how outstanding the young men and women in uniform are under the most severe stress -- there are going to be instances in which an individual cracks. I think the questions that we're asking now and we don't have yet complete answers to is, is this an individual who's acting in this way or is it some larger set of actors? You know, what are the motivations? Those are all questions that I think we have to ask ourselves. Until we have these answers buttoned down, I'd rather not comment on it."

On the contrary we see that there is documentation that [McVeigh] did not accept the Christian faith.

In an article by United Kingdom’s “The Guardian” about McVeigh’s execution, we find this reference:

“In his letter, McVeigh said he was an agnostic but that he would "improvise, adapt and overcome", if it turned out there was an afterlife. "If I'm going to hell," he wrote, "I'm gonna have a lot of company." His body is to be cremated and his ashes scattered in a secret location.”(SEE NOTE 5)

Note the above that McVeigh “said he was an agnostic” but not only that, but that he was defiant about hell itself and remain unrepentant. Then we also find the same statement that he was an agnostic admitted by Lou Michel during a cyber interview with CNN. Lou Michel spent hours interviewing McVeigh in writing a book titled, “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing”. Michel’s words are enlightening:

Lou Michel: McVeigh is agnostic. He doesn't believe in God, but he won't rule out the possibility. I asked him, ‘What if there is a heaven and hell?’

He said that once he crosses over the line from life to death, if there is something on the other side, he will -- and this is using his military jargon – ‘adapt, improvise, and overcome.’ Death to him is all part of the adventure.”

Evidence of a terrorist link to the Fort Hood massacre mounted yesterday with reports that US intelligence officials knew for months before the shooting that Major Nidal Malik Hasan had been trying to contact figures associated with al-Qaeda.

The gunman named in the deaths of 12 soldiers and a civilian was conscious yesterday and talking to medical staff for the first time since the attack on Thursday last week, as the FBI stepped up investigations into claims that he had maintained links with a radical cleric who once preached to two of the hijackers in the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Major Hasan had attracted the attention of US intelligence agencies several months ago with his efforts to communicate with suspected al-Qaeda leaders by “electronic means”, according to two officials briefed on classified material who spoke to ABC News.

The disclosure was seized upon by senior congressional figures angered by indications that the CIA may have withheld vital information from the army and Congress’s own intelligence and security committees. It followed a demand from Senator Joseph Lieberman for a high-level investigation into what he called “very, very strong signs that Dr Hasan had become an Islamist extremist” — signs that include apparent ties to Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who moved to Yemen after the September 11, 2001, attacks and who called Major Hasan “a hero” yesterday.

[...]

Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he was furious that his committee had been denied an intelligence briefing on possible links between Major Hasan and al-Qaeda. He has written to the directors of the FBI, the CIA and the National Security Agency asking them to preserve all relevant documents for congressional review.

[...]

The file of apparent missed clues in this case is already thick: besides the apparent connection to Mr al-Awlaki, there is a presentation he gave to fellow combat-stress specialists in Maryland in 2007 in which he reportedly said that his faith trumped the US Constitution, and likened suicide bombers to soldiers willing to throw their bodies over those of their comrades to protect them.

“We were all very concerned about his beliefs and what he was capable of, and I’m not surprised that he did what he did,” Val Finnell, a former colleague, said. Another potential character witness who met Major Hasan when he was caring for her wounded son at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington said simply: “I looked into his eyes, and he scared me.”

A fellow Army doctor who studied with Hasan, Val Finell, told ABC News, "He would frequently say he was a Muslim first and an American second. And that came out in just about everything he did at the University."

Finell said he and other Army doctors complained to superiors about Hasan's statements.

"And we questioned how somebody could take an oath of office…be an officer in the military and swear allegiance to the constitution and to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and have that type of conflict," Finell told ABC News.

The era of the 1,000-page bill is over: We now have a 2,000-page bill from the House of Representatives.

Almost no one has seen the Senate Democrats' health bill. It's being written behind closed doors. This was supposed to be the era of great transparency. President Obama, to his great credit, said we'd all be able to watch this on C-SPAN, so Americans will know if the drug companies or if the insurance companies or lobbyists are in there writing the bill. But what do we have? We have the Majority Leader and some people from the White House writing the health care bill.

[...]

...what we have [is] a 2,000-page congressional Democratic health care bill that a Wall Street Journal editorial said yesterday when fully implemented would cost $2 trillion over a 10-year period of time.

It runs more pages than War and Peace, has nearly five times as many words as the Torah, and its tables of contents alone run far longer than this story.

The House health care bill unveiled Thursday clocks in at 1,990 pages and about 400,000 words. With an estimated 10-year cost of $894 billion, that comes out to about $2.24 million per word.

[...]

Optimistic lawmakers say it could take a week just to get through the bill’s text.

“I’ll have to call an emergency meeting of my staff and drop the customary procedure of me reading and my staff not reading,” joked House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), who famously told filmmaker Michael Moore that lawmakers “don’t read most of the bills.”

“It’s one thing to read it,” said Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.), a lawyer who voted against the first version of the bill on its way through the Energy and Commerce Committee. “It’s another thing to understand it when it’s written in legalese.”

[...]

North Carolina Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, 34 years old and a few inches taller than 5 feet, said the bill could act as a ”booster seat.”

[...]

McHenry took issue with the notion that the 2,000-page bill hasn’t changed much from the earlier, 1,000-page versions. To prove the point, he pulled out a Democratic-written summary of the changes.

All eight pages of them.

Asked why the House will vote on the roughly 400,000-word bill in a week when it takes a congregation a year to read the 80,000-word Torah at a synagogue, Rothman, who is Jewish, exhibited the wisdom of a Talmudic scholar.

“It only takes a year because you read one section a week,” he said.

But Republican Rep. Joe Barton, who is Texan, said the bill is “about four reams of paper” that add up to the American public “getting reamed.”

The president does not plan to travel to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall, drawing heated criticism from those who say he's ignoring a shining triumph of American-inspired democracy.

President Obama squeezed in a trip to Copenhagen last month to lobby, unsuccessfully, for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. He plans to travel to Oslo next month to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, an award that even Obama has said he does not deserve. And this coming week, he sets out on a weeklong tour of Asia.

But the president does not plan to travel to Germany to attend the 20th anniversary celebration Monday of the fall of the Berlin Wall, drawing heated criticism from those who say he's ignoring a shining triumph of American-inspired democracy.

"A tragedy," is how former House Speaker Newt Gingrich described Obama's absence.

Some question whether the decision not to go was a nod to Russia, with which the Obama administration is trying to mend relations, or just another attempt to play down the perception of the United States as an exceptional superpower.

"Ich bin beschaftigt!"

[...]

...some saw Obama's decision not to travel personally to Berlin as a snub to Merkel, Germany and the history behind the anniversary.

"Barack Is Too Busy," Germany's Der Spiegel magazine declared in a headline last month, writing that Obama had declined Merkel's invitation.

While Obama has traveled to Germany since taking office, he has not as president traveled to Berlin -- the site of his major speech in July 2008 during his overseas campaign tour. During that speech, he acknowledged Berlin's struggle, saying, "This city, of all cities, knows the dream of freedom."

Why then, critics asked, would the U.S. president not revisit that site to mark the culmination of that dream? After all, he has established himself as an intrepid traveler in office, setting off on a slew of overseas trips during his first 10 months on the job.

On several of the stops he has expressed regret for past American behavior, but the Berlin Wall anniversary was seen as an opportunity for the president to honor an American and Western victory for which the U.S. need feel no regret.

"It is a true shame that the president of the United States -- this man who cloaks himself in the rhetoric of hope -- won't be pausing to remember," Gingrich wrote in a column last week in The Washington Examiner.

The National Review's Rich Lowry wrote that the decision speaks to Obama's "dismissive view of the Cold War as a relic distorting our thinking."

"John F. Kennedy famously told Berliners, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.' On the 20th anniversary of the last century's most stirring triumph of freedom, Obama is telling them, 'Ich bin beschaftigt' -- i.e., I'm busy," he wrote. "Obama's failure to go to Berlin is the most telling nonevent of his presidency. It's hard to imagine any other American president eschewing the occasion."

The blogosphere and the cable news channels are full of outrage at the fact that Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, Citi, and J.P. Morgan have received thousands of doses of H1N1 vaccine, while shortages across New York City have prevented pregnant women and high-risk children from receiving shots first. Believe me, as a parent of a high-risk child who had a heck of a time getting her a shot last week—I think this is outrageous.

[...]

This is what happens when the government has to publicly ration healthcare. This wasn't an insurance company who turned this into a fiasco, or the vaccine manufacturers, or the doctors' offices. This was the government.

Instead of the H1N1 vaccine going to pediatricians' and OBs' offices for the children, pregnant women, and healthcare workers who needed it most, the government sent it to big businesses.

David Axelrod, President Obama's senior adviser, says the administration based its predictions about how many doses of the H1N1 vaccine would be available by mid-October on bad information.

[...]

Scott Simon: On Friday, the president talked about his frustration that H1N1 vaccine hasn't gotten out to more Americans. In August, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that 120 million doses would be available. They later scaled that back to 45 million. We're speaking today, on the last day of October, 25 million doses reportedly are ready. Did the government overpromise?

Freddie Mac, the second largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, on Friday posted a loss of $5 billion in the third quarter and predicted it would need more government support amid a "prolonged deterioration" in housing.

Increases in the value of securities Freddie Mac held over the period helped buoy its net worth, however, erasing its need to tap government funds for a second straight quarter to stay solvent while continuing to buy and guarantee home loans.

[...]

Results at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are widely watched as a barometer of the U.S. housing market since they own or back nearly half of outstanding mortgages.

[...]

Freddie Mac's survival will continue to depend on support from the government, which forced the company and Fannie Mae into conservatorship in September 2008.

Freddie Mac has taken $51.7 billion since then while Fannie Mae's draw will rise to $60.9 billion.

"If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers becaue they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory."

Co-worker Col. Terry Lee said that Nidal Malik Hasan told him he was opposed to the U.S. role in Iraq and Afghanistan and that, "we should not be in the war in the first place."

On Thursday morning, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan went to his next-door neighbor at the rundown apartment complex where he rented a one-bedroom unit and gave her most of his belongings, saying he would not need them any more.

...Hasan apparently gave a long lecture on the Koran and talked about how if you don't believe, you are condemned to hell. Your head is cut off. You're set on fire. Burning oil is burned down your throat.

And I said to the psychiatrist, but this cold [sic] be a very interesting informational session, right? Where he's educating everybody about the Koran. He said but what disturbed everybody was that Hasan seemed to believe these things. And actually, a Muslim in the audience, a psychiatrist, raised his hand and said, excuse me. But I'm a Muslim and I do not believe these things in the Koran, and then I don't believe what you say the Koran says. And then Hasan didn't say, well, I'm just giving you one point of view. He basically just stared the guy down.

[STEVE] INSKEEP: So we have a picture of a man, then, who, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was disliked by his colleagues. Or maybe disliked is not the word. Disturbed some of his colleagues is perhaps a better way to put it.

[DANIEL] ZWERDLING: No, and disliked is also a relevant word.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 31% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -7. That's the President's best daily rating in just over three weeks (see trends).

Tuesday's election results [in New Jersey and Virginia] confirmed data released earlier showing that 66% of voters are angry at the policies of the federal government and 60% say that neither Republican nor Democratic political leaders have an understanding of what is needed today.

...the U.S. unemployment rate rose to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent...

[...]

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- reached a record 17.5 percent from 17 percent in September.

[...]

The U.S. economic recovery will probably “run out of gas” as it heads toward a “new normal” of lower long-term growth and higher unemployment than over the previous decade, Nobel laureate Edmund Phelps said.

Critics say that the tone and brevity of Obama's remarks on Fort Hood 'did not appreciate the gravity of what he represents' while others say he had the right presidential instincts.

As the U.S. military and law enforcement were scrambling to save lives after a deadly shooting rampage at Ft. Hood, Texas, President Obama opened his remarks Thursday with a two-minute "shout out" to audience members who attended the Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Interior Department.

Obama's initial comments on the shooting that killed 13 and wounded scores of others came at the conclusion of Thursday's conference, which was attended by leaders from several of the 564 federally recognized American Indian tribes.

"I planned to make some broader remarks," he told the crowd. "But as some of you might have heard there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas."

The president's words on the deadly rampage came two minutes after he gave a "shout out" to an audience member and stressed the need to pass health care reform.

[...]

Critics say that through both the tone and brevity of his remarks, Obama "did not appreciate the gravity of what he represents," said Brad Blakeman, former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush

"It was uncomfortable to watch," he said of Obama's comments on Thursday.

"He should have begun his official remarks with the tragedy. The fact that he used colloquialisms like "shout out" -- and was so cavalier at the beginning of his remarks -- was a reflection of his inability to be presidential," said Blakeman, though he stressed Obama's comments were not "ill-intended."

[...]

"Republicans would criticize Obama on how he took a shower in the morning," said [Democratic strategist Bob Beckel].

"This is a guy who went to Delaware to see bodies brought back from Afghanistan," demonstrating a compassion for fallen soldiers and their families that Bush lacked, [said Beckel].

-- Born in Arlington. Raised primarily in southwestern Virginia, where he graduated from William Fleming High School in Roanoke. Also attended Arlington's Wakefield High School for a year.

-- U.S. Army psychiatrist.

-- Graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995, earning a bachelor's degree in biochemistry with honors and minors in biology and chemistry. Had previously studied at Barstow Community College in California and Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, where he earned an associate degree in science in 1992.

-- Entered the Bethesda campus of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in 1997. Graduated in 2003 as a medical doctor.

-- From 2003 through this summer, was an intern, a resident and then a fellow at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District.

-- Transferred to Ft. Hood this summer.

[...]

-- Was awaiting deployment to Afghanistan, which was to be his first Army service overseas.

-- He is single and has no children. He showed no sign of physical or mental problems in examinations as recently as September.

[...]

-- He attended the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring and is devout, according to Faizul Khan, former imam at the center. He attended prayers at least once a day, seven days a week, often in his Army fatigues, Khan said.

...instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks.

[...]

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks...

[...]

Did the president's team not realize what sort of image they were presenting to the country at this moment? The disconnect between what Americans at home knew had been going on -- and the initial words coming out of their president's mouth was jolting, if not disturbing.

Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting spree at a Texas military base in a murderous rampage that officials believe was carried out by an Army officer.

The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, told Fox News that military sources informed her that the gunman was about to be deployed to Iraq.

The shooter was killed and two other suspects, who are also soldiers, have been apprehended, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.

Hasan allegedly opened fire and killed 11 people on the base before he was shot, bringing the total number of fatalities to 12.

The general said there were "eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter," and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.

Cone called the attack "a terrible tragedy, stunning." He said the community was "absolutely devastated."

President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a "horrific outburst of violence."

"It is difficult enough to lose" soldiers overseas, but it is "horrifying that they should lose their lives at an Army base in the U.S.," he said.

[...]

...the motive for the attack, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. CT, is unclear.

Fort Hood, located just 60 miles north from Austin, is the largest U.S. military installation in the world, and has suffered the greatest number of casualities [sic] of all American bases in the war on Iraq.

The base is a 340 sq. mile facility located in Killeen, Texas and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division, which was one of the first groups of soldiers deployed to Iraq.

Cone said that a gunman entered a facility known as the Soldier Readiness Facility, where soldiers who are preparing to deploy go for last minute medical check ups and dental treatment. Sources told ABC News that the soldiers gathered there were getting ready to deploy to Iraq.

The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn't sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack.

"The gunman opened fire and essentially due to the quick respond of the police forces was killed," said Cone.

The shooter was killed by civilian law enforcement and one police officer died in the shootout, Cone said.

The gunman's suspected accomplices were taken into custody in an adjacent facility known as the old SportsDome Complex.

Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions. Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life - not end it.

Unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page government takeover of health care does just that. On line 17, p. 110, section 222 under “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan. The Speaker’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Exchange covers abortions.

What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan. It’s right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under “Insurance Rating Rules.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account - and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.

Section 213 describes the process in which the Health Benefits Commissioner is to assess the monthly premiums that will be used to pay for elective abortions under the government-run plan. The Commissioner must charge at a minimum $1 per enrollee per month.

A majority of Americans believe that health care plans should not be mandated to provide elective abortion coverage, and a majority of Americans do not believe government health care plans should include abortion coverage. Currently, federal appropriations bills include language known as the Hyde Amendment that prohibits the use of federal funds to pay for elective abortions under the Medicare and Medicaid programs, while another provision, known as the Smith Amendment, prohibits federal funding of abortion under the federal employees’ health benefits plan.

Speaker Pelosi’s 2,032-page health care monstrosity is an affront to the American people and drastically moves away from current policy. The American people deserve more from their government than being forced to pay for abortion.

The Circle of Life is almost complete at Walmart. I just discovered that Walmart now offers a large selection of caskets for those of us who are planning for the great hereafter. I suppose that it can’t be too long before Walmart also offers a mid-wife service, and after that, dormitories for its workers. People will be born, live and die without ever having to go anywhere else.

[...]

Why does a dead person need a 100% bronze casket with hand-crafted, high-gloss, brushed-finished highlights and a lush velvet interior? Admittedly, the Siena [sic] Bronze Casket is quite attractive and it looks quite comfortable. It even includes an adjustable mattress and a — get this — memory tube. And since it is being sold at Walmart, I can only assume that it is quite a bargain at $2,899!

Three thousand dollars for a box in which I might be placed after I am deceased which will then be buried in the ground and never seen again. Doesn’t that seem like an awful lot of money to spend on box in which my mortal remains will merely decay beyond all recognition? What’s the point, really, of spending money like that on something that can serve no real purpose until its owner is past benefitting from it? Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on a comfortable bed and mattress on which to sleep while alive?

I understand that the casket is not really used to benefit the decedent. It is there to comfort the bereaved. After all, when someone dies, it is not easy to pay one’s final respects and it is certainly a lot easier to do it if the decedent appears to be merely sleeping rather than stone cold dead.

That said, I really cannot see myself ever spending that kind of money on a casket, even a casket with pin stripes or a high gloss black finish that will make me feel as cool as Dracula. Rather, I will always maintain that a pine box should be more than satisfactory, as it was in the Old West.

Republican Bob McDonnell won the Virginia governor's race by a wide margin Tuesday, heading up a successful GOP ticket in the swing state which voted for President Obama a year ago.

McDonnell's victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds ends eight years of Democratic control of the governorship.

[...]

With 58 percent of precincts reporting, McDonnell had 61 percent and Deeds had 39 percent.

With 32 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Christie had 51 percent of the vote and Corzine about 42.

An abortion activist has accepted a sentence of six months probation for her part in an attack on a pro-life man in Arizona who was holding a pro-life sign that apparently upset her and another pro-abortion women.

In the September incident, 69-year-old Johnny Wallace was attacked by two women as he held two pro-life signs condemning the racist undertones of abortion and Planned Parenthood.

Wallace was alone in front of City Hall on the busiest street in town at the time of the attack. He was known to take up position at the spot most every day to make sure members of the community were reminded of the problems associated with abortion.

His two signs read "Abortion kills more black Americans in four days than the Klan killed in 150 years," and "Life begins at conception and ends at Planned Parenthood."

Wallace was approached from behind by two women who began by yelling profanities at him. One then attempted to take away and destroy his sign. After Wallace was wrestled to the ground, the other woman joined the attack.

Paramedics were called and Wallace was treated for minor injuries. He suffered an elbow injury that has required additional treatment.

Denise Redsteer, 48, accepted a "deferred prosecution" Friday in Flagstaff Municipal Court, according to City Prosecutor Lisa Stankovich. She accepted six months of unsupervised probation in order for the charges to be dropped, the Arizona Daily Sun indicates.

Stankovich told the newspaper that Redsteer has also agreed to pay a $150 prosecution fee and agreed not to engage in any criminal conduct during the probationary period.

Deferred prosecution does not admit guilt and the charges will be dropped if she is criminal-free for the duration of the probation.

Flagstaff attorney Mik Jordhal would not comment to the newspaper on the case until the case against Linda Chapman, 48 and the other woman to assault Wallace, has her case conclude.

Both women were cited and released on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage after the incident.

Troy Newman, the head of the pro-life group Operation Rescue, condemned the attack afterwards.

"Mr. Wallace was simply exercising his God-given rights as an American citizen when he was brutally assaulted because his attackers disagreed with his beliefs," he told LifeNews.com.

Terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay naval base will soon get swine flu vaccines, despite complaints that American civilians should have priority, a military spokesman said Sunday.

Army Maj. James Crabtree, a spokesman for the U.S. jail facility in southeast Cuba, said the doses should start arriving this month, with guards and then inmates scheduled for inoculations.

He acknowledged there may be an "emotional response" from critics who argue that terror suspects should not be allocated swine-flu medications while members of the U.S. public are still waiting due to a vaccine shortage.

[...]

The top House Republican, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, told CNN's "State of the Union" show on Sunday that he does not agree with the H1N1 vaccination plans for detainees at Guantanamo.

"I don't think it's a good idea. The administration probably didn't think it would be very popular either; that's why they announced it on Friday night," Boehner said.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has closed about 10 banks a month so far this year, but that number is growing. The FDIC closed nine banks this weekend alone -- plus commercial lender CIT Group Inc. (NYSE:CIT) filed for bankruptcy. That brings the total number of banks that have failed this year to 115.

[...]

So far in the last two years only 140 banks have failed. In October, 20 banks failed, and if that pace continues, then it is likely we could reach over 150 failures by the end of the year.

One of President Barack Obama’s top funders, Code Pink’s Jodie Evans, is encouraging the kidnapping of former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, according to new statements issued this week by Jodie Evans and Code Pink.

While it might be tempting to look at this latest effort by Code Pink as an innocuous publicity campaign, Code Pink’s history of working with state sponsors of terrorism and supporting violent protest against President Bush–and their near successful arrest of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales–is cause for concern.

Two weeks after meeting Obama at a high dollar fundraiser in San Francisco, Jodie Evans and Code Pink issued a call to action urging vigilantism against President Bush:

[...]

The actions being urged and guided by Jodie Evans and Code Pink could result in federal kidnapping charges against someone who takes up their call for vigilantism–or their death as the Bushes still have Secret Service protection.

Jodie Evans and Code Pink have published a how-to guide at their Code Pink website for conducting citizens arrests of the Bushes and former Bush administration officials over their policies defending the United States after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Jodie Evans and Code Pink provide advice on how to stalk, arrest and choose what state, federal or international criminal charges to make against Bush, his wife and others.

[...]

Bush and Cheney are included on Code Pink’s 10 Most Wanted War Criminals list along with former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

[...]

Liberals in the media have been calling on Republican leaders to dial down their rhetoric and have accused conservatives of causing a rise in threats against Barack Obama.

Will those same liberals call on Barack Obama to renounce Jodie Evans and demand Code Pink stop threatening President Bush, Laura Bush and former Bush administration officials before someone gets hurt?

The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.

[...]

Prominent Republicans singled it out as a glaring example of government overreach.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, at the time a lead negotiator on health care legislation, told constituents at a town hall meeting they had good reason to question the proposal.

"I don't have any problem with things like living wills, but they ought to be done within the family," he said. "We should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

Boeing will hand out 60-day layoff notices today to about 500 employees companywide, including about 60 in Washington. About 40 of the 500 are with the Commercial Airplanes unit.

Boeing has been issuing layoff notices monthly since January, when it said it planned to cut 10,000 positions from its baseline employment of 163,356 on Nov. 30, 2008. Through the end of September, Boeing employment was down by just over 5,000 jobs companywide.

Jason Shih, 25, was pulled over on Route 17 by East Rutherford police around 11:30 p.m. Friday for allegedly talking on his cell phone. Police found 19 Ecstasy tablets and hundreds of small glassine bags used for distributing drugs, police spokesman Capt. William Schanel said.

Schanel said Shih told police he was an official in Corzine's campaign, and several tickets to today's rally with President Obama at Newark's Prudential Center were found in his car.

"As he's exiting the vehicle, he's stating, "It's not mine,'" Schanel said. "He just said, "I'm assistant deputy director of Gov. Corzine's campaign, and they rented this vehicle for my use.'"

Schanel said the vehicle was rented, but said it is unclear who rented it. He said Shih is not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but he was very nervous.

"His hands were shaking," Schanel said.

Corzine campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Shih's claim is false, adding, "No one has ever heard of this guy."

A Paramus man claiming to work for Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign was arrested Friday night on drug charges after police found Ecstasy tablets in his car, authorities said.

A Corzine spokeswoman said the man does not work for either the governor's campaign or the Democratic State Committee.

1. Shih was planted by opposition to get busted by cops, to try and move bad press for Corzine.

[...]

2. The Corzine campaign actually knows this clown and there's a massive cover-up.

[...]

3. Some B & T ravebro was like, Brah. I work fah Jahn Cahrzine! And then the Corzine campaign got pissed, and called up these outlets, who then either removed the story[.]