March 17, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Speaking where few dare go, yesterday in a series of interviews Dr. Hagai Ben-Artz, Binyamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law, charged president Obama with being an anti-Semite.
Ben-Artz, quoted in Arutz Sheva, stated, "the time has come to tell the truth - we are talking about an anti-Semite...We Jews are a people from nearly 4,000 years ago. In another year, you [Obama] will disappear. Who will remember you?" [source, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136571]
Netanyahu's brother-in-law was also highly critical of the president's long-time pastor, Reverend Wright claiming in an interview with IDF Radio that the controversial church leader was, "anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic." [source, ibid]
Tensions between the United States and Israel have seldom been this strained. The most recent provocation took place last week with vice-president Biden's meddling in the politics of Jerusalem ["I condemn the decision" to build additional housing in East Jerusalem] followed by Secty of State Clinton's "blistering" [John Bolton's words, see - http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Clinton-Vents-Frustration-Over-Israeli-Jerusalem-Move-in-Call-to-Netanyahu-87493047.html] telephone conversation on the same matter with the Israeli PM.
March 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - When even the pedantically leftist AP takes note of the "growing unease," with which Europeans view their burgeoning Muslim populations, there must be considerable fire behind the smoke. [see, Culture clash: European art provokes Muslims, http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16029/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Ndcy9Xih]
At issue here is the central question in the culture clash between the West and Islam - at what point does our tradition of laissez faire liberalism - especially when it comes to accommodating alien and often antagonistic cultures - become a suicide pact?
Such questions are faced on a daily basis in both Europe and North America where similar migrations of primarily Third World individuals have often chosen not to become acculturated to their new surroundings.
On the Continent, France seems to have the most pressing problem with nearly 10% of its population being Muslim. Crammed - by choice and design - into segregated neighborhoods, these communities have been the scene of numerous violent Intifada type riots involving hundreds of participants.
"Six North Paris municipalities are burning, victim of an increasingly violent Intifada style uprising in Muslim immigrant communities that had its start two years ago and has been simmering ever since, this time flaring up over a traffic accident in which two immigrant youths on a speeding motorcycle were killed in a collision with a police car."
[see, Muslims Riot In France - Shades Of The Intifada - What The MSM Doesn't Want You To Know, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=france11.28.07%2Ehtm]
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to an Israeli news report, a number of Hispanic activists are visiting Israel on a trip sponsored by the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange.
Some of these guests of the AJC are members of the controversial group La Raza.
The National Council of La Raza [National Council of The Race] is primarily a left-wing organization which advocates Hispanic racial supremacy, undermining counter terrorism efforts in the United States through its advocacy of illegal immigration. The NCLR also has reportedly funded MEChA in the past, a virulently anti-Semitic group which is working towards making the American Southwest into a Hispanic nation - under foreign control.
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Responding to an increasing sense of urgency spawned by the rapidly escalating public disapproval with the Obama administration and Democrat Congressional leadership, the House has just overwhelmingly and in a bipartisan manner adopted Minority Leader Boehner's resolution to institute a full ethics probe of disgraced congressman Eric Massa.
Speaking for the GOP, Mr. Boehner stated, "The resolution that passed the House with a strong bipartisan majority today is a clear signal that an investigation to examine and answer the very serious questions arising from Democratic Leaders' response to their former colleague's conduct is necessary. These questions must be answered to begin repairing the broken bonds of trust between the Congress and the American people. We all have a responsibility to rise above politics and do what's right for the institution of the House...
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Today, GOP Minority Leader Boehner introduced a resolution calling for a complete ethics investigation of Eric Massa [D, NY].
Key in this investigation is when did House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi become aware of Massa's alleged sexual harassment of House staff, including possibly young male pages.
The resolution reads:
"Raising a question of the privileges of the House.
Whereas, on March 8, 2010, Representative Eric Massa resigned from the House;
Whereas, numerous newspapers and other media organizations reported in the days before and after Mr. Massa's resignation that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct was investigating allegations that Mr. Massa sexually harassed Members of his congressional staff;
Whereas, on March 3, 2010, Majority Leader Hoyer's office issued a statement saying, "The week of February 8th, a member of Rep. Massa's staff brought to the attention of Mr. Hoyer's staff allegations of misconduct that had been made against Mr. Massa. Mr. Hoyer's staff immediately informed him of what they had been told...
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Visiting Israel apparently with the sole intention of further damaging relations between the Jewish state and team Obama, Joe Biden yesterday sided with Pale Authority terrorist in chief Mahmoud Abbas in a concocted dispute with Israel over the building of housing units in Ramat Shlomo an Orthodox religious community in northeast Jerusalem.
Clearly demonstrating the administrations tilt towards the radical Palestinian position, Biden charged Israel with inflaming tensions, "As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did," directly after meeting with Abbas.
Taking their cue from the vice president's actions, the Palestinians immediately broke off the current round of peace talks with Israel.
March 10, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a federal indictment unsealed today, Pennsylvania resident Colleen Renee LaRose [aka Fatima LaRose] has been arrested upon suspicion that she was attempting to provide material aid to Islamic terrorists and that she allegedly traveled to Sweden to carry out an attack against a perceived anti-Muslim cartoonist.
It is believed that LaRose's target was Lars Vilks, a controversial Swedish cartoonist who had already been threatened with death by al-Qaeda.
"The indictment charges that American citizen LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators (located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the United States) recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad...further charges that LaRose and her unindicted co-conspirators used the Internet...in order to wage violent jihad....In addition, according to the indictment, LaRose received a direct order to kill a citizen and resident of Sweden, and to do so in a way that would frighten 'the whole Kufar [nonbeliever] world.'..LaRose agreed to carry out her murder assignment, and that she and her co-conspirators discussed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her blend in while carrying out her plans. According to the indictment, LaRose traveled to Europe and tracked the intended target online in an effort to complete her task..."
March 9, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Tom Campbell, the Democrat's idea of a wet dream phony conservative candidate for CA Senator, has been outed by Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism [IPT] as having continued to actively support fundraiser Sami Al-Arian even after the now confessed terrorist - having admitted providing "services" for Palestinian Islamic Jihad - was under investigation.
Sending a very strong signal at the time that Al-Arian might have been a tainted personality, his close associate [and brother-in-law] Mazen al-Najjar had been revealed in court proceedings as being a ""threat to national security."
"...He [al-Najjar] was a founding member - along with Sami Al-Arian, Khalil Shikaki, and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah - of the World Islam Study Enterprise (WISE), which was shut down in 1995 for its suspected ties to terrorism... On June 6, 1997, Immigration Judge R. Kevin McHugh denied al Najjar's bail request after reviewing classified evidence furnished by the government. In a one-sentence summary, McHugh stated that al Najjar was "associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a threat to national security."
During this period of time numerous media sources had done exposes on Al-Arian's radicalism, including NBC's Dateline which featured a clip of Al-Arian calling Jews "monkeys" and "pigs" and advocating the "death of Israel."
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On a day which featured a suicide bombing attempt and gun battle in the Eastern Afghan town of Khost, U.S. Secty of Defense Gates made his first post-surge visit to the troubled country.
Appearing at a joint media event with president Karzai, Gates warned of tough times and "dark days" as the struggle to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban escalates saying, "There is still much fighting ahead, and there will assuredly be some dark days. But looking forward there are grounds for optimism..." [source, Al Jazeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/03/201038181835654228.html]
Gates also met with the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, who refused to apply a timetable to the pushback operation, saying that forces should be ready to go sometime in early summer and that there will be no identifiable D-Day as the operation ramps up.
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A Pakistani state security spy agency was targeted by a suicide bomber today. Casualties are believed to be heavy, with dead so far numbering over a dozen.
The Special Investigation Agency [SIA] building located in Lahore was demolished in the blast.
It has been conjectured [see, http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018036124] that the SIA was chosen because of its counter terror activities in Punjab as well as due to fallout over the arrest of Abu Yahya Mujahdeen al-Adam believed to be an American al-Qaeda operative who was originally misidentified as Adam Gadahn, the American al-Qaeda spokesman.
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A second series of arrests were made last night in an expanding terror probe centering on the British Airways facility at London's Heathrow airport.
The three suspects have not yet been identified but news reports [see for example, http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2877333/British-Airways-staff-in-second-terror-arrest.html] state that they allegedly were engaged in a fundraising plot to possibly bring down a airliner.
The UK has been on severely heightened terror alert since the Christmas day attempted U.S. bombing by London resident Umar Abdulmutallab.
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Adam Gadahn [aka Adam Pearlman, Azzam the American, Adam Yahiye Gadahn] the U.S. born, high-level al-Qaeda spokesman was apparently not the suspect arrested in Karachi Pakistan a few days ago.
Though initial reports so identified him, Pakistani officials now claim that the man they apprehended is Yahya Mujahideen Adam who is also thought to be an American al-Qaeda sympathizer, but from Pennsylvania rather than Gadahn's home state of California.
Gadahn, a Muslim convert, was indicted in 2006 for treason - aiding al-Qaeda - and is on the FBI's most wanted list.
March 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Since the beginning of the second half of the 2009-2010 term we have been following over 100 bills dealing in various aspects of education and health for their effects on the right to life and family privacy rights as well as other public policy issues.
As of today many of those bills have failed or been held in committee. Two have been signed by the Governor. Today I present you with 17 bills affecting education and family. Please pass this information on to others; your pastors, educator friends, clubs. Above all please notify your elected representatives of your position on these bills.
Everyone has a right to submit their position on a bill, even non-profit, tax deductible organizations. This is public policy not campaigning.
We take a moment to recap our concerns over education bills and family primacy and privacy.
The following is a very brief and simple explanation of developments in education.
The US Department of Education was formed in 1965 out of the bowels of the then Health and Human Services Administration. The current Obama appointed Director is Arne Duncan who stated, upon his appointment that: :Education is the Civil Rights issue of our generation," and, further that: "education is an economic imperative."
March 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Team Obama was hit hard this afternoon by a major revelation by Fox News [see, http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/03/exclusive-unknown-doj-lawyers-identified] which has determined the identity of 7 of the attorneys currently working for DOJ who either represented accused terrorists, filed amicus briefs on their behalf or worked for firms who represented these clients, usually pro-bono.
Two DOJ attorneys had already been identified.
The seven are:
Jonathan Cedarbaum - Office of Legal Counsel
Karl Thompson - Office of Legal Counsel
Joseph Guerra - Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department
Tali Farhadian - Office of the Attorney General
Beth Brinkmann - Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Civil Division
Tony West - Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division
Eric Columbus - Sr. Counsel, Office of the Deputy Attorney General.
Previously outed include:
Neal Katyal - Principal Deputy Solicitor General
Jennifer Daskal - National Security Division Attorney
March 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In what might possibly be seen as a hopeful sign of incipient Islamic moderation, Tahir ul-Qadri a Pakistani born Sufi scholar today announced in London, a 600 page fatwa [religious finding] that terrorism in any form is inconsistent with the Muslim religion.
Specifically ul-Qadri condemned the practice of suicide bombing, saying its practitioners "are going to hell."
"I feel that the youth living in the Western world...since they don't go through the original Islamic sources they are being victimized and are being misguided on the concepts of Islam...you go on the Internet and you will find the extremist people and the terrorist people are running uncountable websites giving the wrong concepts of jihad wrong concepts of suicide bombing giving the fatwas in favor of suicide bombing, creating some exemptions for them and this is how they are being brainwashed..."
[source, BBC interview, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/03/100302_suicide_bombing_fatwa_nh_sl.shtml]
Such condemnations have taken place in the past, most conspicuously in the wake of the 9.11.01 attack in the U.S. and the 7.11.05 attack in London, unfortunately to little effect.
Some observers of these efforts have labeled them as having been crafted more for public consumption than anything else. Tahir ul-Qadri's declaration does appear to be a bit different however, if for no other reason than the sheer length of his exegesis.
March 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California was founded by Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian. The freshman class will consist of 25 students.
According to a report in Islam On Line [see, http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2010-02/24/02.shtml#ixzz0gTft8Pj9]
"Zaytuna College is in the rigorous process of seeking accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a process that will take a number of years and one that Imam Shakir hopes will be completed by the time the freshman class graduates...they have been able to achieve the goal of raising nearly $4 million needed for its temporary location at Berkeley. Now they face the challenge of raising upwards of $65 million for an endowment fund that will ensure a consistent monetary support and alleviate the need for constant fundraising."
All three founders have made extremist statements supportive of radical Islam.
At a 2004 rally in California Bazian, "ungrammatically declared to a crowd of protestors, "we're sitting here and watching the world pass by, people being bombed, and it's about time that we have an intifada in this country that change fundamentally the political dynamics in here. They're gonna say, 'some Palestinian being too radical' well, you haven't seen radicalism yet!" [source, http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=13384]
In a 2004 blog entry entitled Hamza Yusuf Fails My Test, Dr. Daniel Pipes wrote:
"I have offered a number of questions to ask of Muslims to determine whether they are radical or moderate. Hamza Yusuf Hanson, called by the Guardian "arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar," announced at the just-ended convention of the Islamic Society of North America, "I took that test and I failed. And I want to say to all of you, I hope you fail that test too." There is no "test" involved but if Yusuf informs me that he failed it anyway, that's useful information because it identifies him as an extremist."
February 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Two suspects [Zarein Ahmedzay and Adis Medunjanin] in the 2009 NY subway terror plot led by Najibullah Zazi were scheduled to appear in federal court today facing a five count indictment.
Among the most serious charges is conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States.
Says AG Holder,"The facts alleged in this indictment shed further light on the scope of this attempted attack and underscore the importance of using every tool we have available to both disrupt plots against our nation and hold suspected terrorists accountable for their actions...this attack would have been deadly, and the many agents, prosecutors and intelligence professionals who worked together seamlessly to thwart it deserve our thanks."
The two face additional charges which include providing material support, including currency, training, communications equipment and personnel, to a foreign terrorist organization, namely al-Qaeda.
If found guilty on all counts the two could be facing as much as 35 years in federal prison
February 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Mosab Hassan Yousef's long journey out of the dark world of terrorism began in 1996 when he joined the Israeli Shin Bet state security organization after being jailed.
In 1999 after losing his faith in Islam he converted to Christianity.
The details of that trek are set forth in Yousef's book "Son of Hamas," which will come out next week.
Yousef is the son of senior Hamas terrorist Sheikh Hassan Yousef making his rise to power in the organization less complicated than might necessarily be the case, providing the sleeper agent with sufficient information to have helped disrupt dozens of terrorist bombings.
February 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Finally responding to a November request by Charles Grassley [R, IA] and other Senators to identify which current DOJ attorneys either represented [or advocated for via submission of amicus briefs] Islamic terrorists before coming to the administration, or came from law firms who supplied pro-bono legal services to them, AG Holder continues to stonewall, refusing to identify - outside of the two DOJ lawyers whose work on these cases was already public knowledge - who within the department have represented terrorists.
The situation is neither academic nor does it represent a fishing expedition, as some of these same DOJ attorneys are engaged in shaping American anti-terror policy and their previous work may well indicate a level of bias unacceptable when dealing with sensitive national security issues.
Below the operative section of Holders letter, the entire text can be accessed at [Administration Refuses to Answer Questions About Government Employees Working on Guantanamo Detainee Issues at the Justice Department, http://grassley.senate.gov/about/upload/Judiciary-02-19-10-response-from-DOJ-on-Gitmo-recusals.pdf]
"With regard to the specific requests in your letter, the Department does not maintain
comprehensive records of such information about individual Department employees. We have,
however, obtained information responsive to your interests from the Office of the Attorney
General, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney
General, the Office of Legal Counsel, the Office of the Solicitor General, the National Security
Division, the Civil Division, and the Criminal Division. To the best of our knowledge, during
their employment prior to joining the government, only five of the lawyers who serve as political
appointees in those components represented detainees, and four others either contributed to amicus briefs in detainee-related cases or were otherwise involved in advocacy on behalf of
detainees. None, as far as we are aware, did so as registered lobbyists. Others had no
involvement in representing detainees or other entities in detainee cases, but came to the
Department from law firms where other lawyers represented detainees, often on a pro bono basis.
(It is not surprising that this should be the case: as best as we can determine, of the 50 largest
U.S. law firms, at least 34 have either represented detainees or filed amicus briefs in support of
detainees.) Among senior Department leadership, the last category includes the Attorney
General, the Acting Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, and the Assistant
Attorney General for the Criminal Division. In addition, the Assistant Attorney General for the
Civil Division previously represented one Afghanistan detainee, and his former employer represents other detainees..."
February 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - "This a indeed great victory for our holy warriors! The Dutch are the first to withdraw from Afghanistan. Allah be praised! This is only the beginning. Other infidel crusaders are bound to follow soon and the country will be ours once again! Praise be to Allah! We defeated the Russian infidels back in 1988. Then, it took less than ten years to throw them out. We'll now defeat the criminal gang in the White House and all those who alligned themselves with them against the Muslims! Praise be to Allah!"
Just imagine we are at Al-Qaeda Headquarters somewhere in Pakistan. Just imagine a high ranking Taliban leader listening to what a top-level Al-Qaeda member told him about the Dutch being the first to withdraw from Afghanistan. The above comments may be fictitious but I have no doubt at all that they are entirely in conformity with the Al-Qaeda/Taliban way of thinking.
Our enemies today are not very different from the enemies back in 1939-'45 - not very different from the equally fanatical German Nazis and Japanese, that is. Like today's Muslim suicide bombers, the Japanese had no fear of death, and the Nazis admired them for it. They 'are ready to die' ('todesbereit'), a Nazi paper wrote about the arrogant and extremely fanatical Japanese warriors whose only God was their holy emperor. (Fortunately many things changed after Japan was defeated.)
February 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to widely accepted terror authority Steven Emerson's, Investigative Project on Terrorism, the Muslim American Society is closely tied to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood:
"The Muslim American Society (MAS) is an organization with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood...The Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al-Banya in 1928, has provided the ideological underpinning for almost all modern Sunni Islamic terrorist groups..."
Given this degree of closeness, MAS' breast-beating claims of moderation ring hollow, so it is not surprising that its sister youth group, Muslim Americans for Palestine, would embody the same level of animus towards the West and especially towards Israel.
From the MAP website, "Muslim Americans for Palestine (MAP), a Project of the Muslim American Society (MAS) was established in 2009 to be a source of accurate information to the public at large, to repel and challenge propaganda and discrimination against Palestinians and to bond our community with the significance of Palestine in Islam." [source, http://www.mapalestine.org/home.html]
If MAP's recent convention was as described by Susan Schwartz writing for the Muslim Media Network [see, http://muslimmedianetwork.com/mmn/?p=5611] then the group is simply another Jew bashing operation led by immoderate Muslims.
As Ms. Schwartz notes, a statement by MAP speaker Reem Salahi claimed she "...spoke of "white flag murders", that is the murder by Israelis of innocent civilians whom they had ordered out of their homes and who had complied and exited waving white flags. In at least six incidents the Israelis shot them in cold blood."
Such assertions are part and parcel of radical Palestinian politics as is the absurd notion that Muslims somehow have a legitimate claim - trumping Israel's - to Jerusalem, a city they have renamed al-Aqsa.
February 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Invoking a Reagan Era spirit of optimism, David Harmer, candidate for California Congressional District 11, today kicked off his campaign at a packed breakfast event held in San Ramon, California.
Calling the upcoming November election, "the most consequential election in thirty years," Mr. Harmer related his experience as a young volunteer for Ronald Reagan, "thirty years ago in July of 1980 I was on the floor at the Republican National Convention in Detroit when Ronald Reagan accepted the nomination for the presidency of the United States."
That experience seems to have forged Harmer's political philosophy in the Reagan ideal of limited government at an early age.
In today's hard hitting speech, delivered without notes, Mr. Harmer chided the current regime as having turned away from America's founding principles. The solution he offered consists of a return to the, "tried and true principles which are as old as the nation itself," while posing the question, "in another thirty years, will our children still be free?"
Saying that question wasn't hyperbole, he characterized the upcoming elections as being "a test of national character," featuring, "two dramatically different world views."
He said the Democrat's pursuit of ever bigger, more intrusive government over the last two years, hastening under Obama, has forever, "abolished the myth of the moderate Democrat."
Mr. Harmer identified in rapid-fire manner some of the most problematic aspects of president Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid's philosophy, criticizing the Democrat approach. He attacked the current healthcare legislation as an effort to "create a top down, command and control one size fits all bureaucratic monstrosity."
On cap and trade he stressed that the administration's intent is to, "increase costs...to create artificial scarcity just to fit some utopian's notion of how we should live," adding almost parenthetically that, "we don't have resource problems, we have regulatory problems."
Noting the congressional district's rise in joblessness when, "unemployment is pushing 20% if you count discouraged workers," Harmer asked why we were still, "spending money we don't have on programs we don't need."
The candidate's call to action was not wasted on the enthusiastic audience, nor was his return to the common theme to, "liberate the people," from an out of control government which has grown out of touch and unresponsive to the needs of the people.
With GOP and Democrat registration in the district tied at 39% each and with Independents quickly moving away from the president, it seems that David Harmer's candidacy is for real and his chances of electoral victory in November better than average.
February 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Convicted in NY just a few weeks ago on terror charges [see Pakistani Scientist Convicted in NY on Terror Charges] Dr. Aafia Siddiqui has become a cause célèbre in her native Pakistan.
Siddiqui, born in Pakistan but educated in the United States, was convicted in Judge Richard Berman's Southern New York District court on seven counts including attempted murder of U.S. citizens and U.S. officers and government employees. She was also found guilty of possessing a firearm in the commission of these crimes. Throughout the trial Siddiqui's court demeanor verged on the bizarre, haranguing the court with outbursts, especially directed at Israel, "This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America?your anger should be directed where it belongs. I can testify to this and I have proof." [source, http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202441940762&]
Since the conviction, numerous - primarily anti-American - street demonstrations throughout Pakistan have demanded that Ms. Siddiqui be returned to her home country, where she would presumably be rewarded for having carried out a limited jihad against the United States.
Pak president Zardari has approached U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke, claiming that the return of Siddiqui would "improve relations" between Pakistan and America.
The "relationship" - such as it is - between the nuclear armed Muslim nation of nearly 200 million and America has been "strained" over widespread concern that it isn't serious about battling Islamic radicalism and that elements of the country's intelligence service - the ISI - have actually taken part in various terrorist attacks, especially against its arch-rival India, and are working hand-in-glove to aid Afghanistan's Taliban.
If one is looking for evidence that president Obama's America bashing Muslim charm offensive has been effective one had better steer clear of the image presented by Zardari groveling at the feet of Holbrooke hoping to secure the release of terrorist Siddiqui, because that scene offers a disturbing vignette into the dark heart of Pakistan and by proxy, the Muslim world.
February 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A new film Crossing the Line - the Intifada Comes to Campus has debuted in an effort to call attention to the increasing prevalence of Anti-Semitism and Jew bashing on North American college campuses.
Crossing the Line shows how students and professors have used the mechanism of radical Palestinian politics to mask their basic anti-Semitic world view.
The film also explores the linkage between the Muslim Student Association and Egypt's seminal propagator of global jihad, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Below a short clip:
Crossing the Line was produced by Raphael Shore whose other works - Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East, Obsession: Radical Islam's War against the West and The Third Jihad: Radical Islam's Vision for America have served to call attention to the ongoing jihad being waged by radical Muslims. It was directed by Wayne Kopping, and distributed through Imagination Productions.
February 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With Dutch PM Balkenende's government having fallen again, this time over the country's failure of will to maintain a skeleton commitment [approximately 2,000 - 1,600 combat troops 400 working in support roles - who, when they fight, do so under extremely limited rules of engagement] as part of the NATO effort in Afghanistan.
What worries U.S. officials about the government shakeup is whether the development might lead to a domino effect, ultimately scuttling the NATO presence in Afghanistan altogether, at precisely the time when U.S. forces have started the long anticipated push-back against the Taliban and remaining al-Qaeda elements.
With electorates long dominated by the left [witness less that 15% public support for the NATO commitment in either Britain or Germany, see, http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2010/0222/Dutch-government-collapse-Will-other-European-troops-now-leave-Afghanistan] the possibility of a NATO breakup over the question is very real.
"Future schools will be centers for family and social services as well." - William L. Lepley, Dir. Iowa Dept of Education
By CAMILLE GIGLIO
February 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The above quote by William L. Lepley was contained in an eye -opening article on education for the future written in the early 1990 's and entitled: 21st century schools will offer learning for all citizens. He was making predictions for the year 2010 most of which seem to be coming true.
Among several revealing predictions he listed,"students evaluations will improve. Instead of grades, students will be assessed not on the work they complete but on the skills they master. Community service will be a graduation requirement."
Community service is already a graduation requirement in many schools, especially private and religiously affiliated schools. Right now there are 14 public and Charter schools designated as International Baccalaureate Schools offering Certificates of Mastery rather than traditional graduation diplomas.
He added,"Open enrollment will allow students to attend different schools to take advantage of a particular curriculum or offerings at that institution. Students will move out of the system without barriers such as district boundaries, grade levels, neighborhood locations or regulatory restrictions."
In January the California Governor signed a state version of the federal Race To The Top legislation calling for, among other things, "open enrollment" and suggesting that the understanding of neighborhood will become much broader. It was also suggested by Assemblyman Mark Wyland 's legislative Aide s of regionalization of 6 or more states with California to establish core career technology standards.
February 17, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Toyota Motor Corporation has been by most accounts the world's most successful automobile manufacturer for many years, a lofty domain secured officially in 2008 when the company dethroned the pretender, General Motors.
The omnipresence of Toyota's marquee was based upon a deserved reputation for quality which far surpassed that of its domestic competitors.
Of note, a JD Power quality study published in the summer of 2009 once again declared Toyota the leader in automobile quality, a position it has had a lock on for ages. An AP article published at the time literally screamed, "Toyota Still King, Toyota, which overtook GM last year as the world's biggest automaker, dominated the J.D. Power honors. It swept awards in 10 vehicle categories, and its plant in Japan that builds the Lexus SC 430 and Toyota Corolla took the award for top plant. For GM, only two brands performed above average..." [source, Toyota Still King, June 22, 2009, http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2009/06/jd_power_and_associates_detroi.html]
The brand was so popular that a particular model the Prius, a hybrid vehicle, became a cult classic among the enviro-crowd, a symbol bespeaking [rightly or wrongly] the owner's devotion to the small carbon footprint lifestyle so in vogue among today's progressives.
February 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Alarmed at California GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's omnipresence in the state's media markets, a bevy of Democrat heavy hitting insiders is mounting a significant pushback.
Three groups comprise the effort, the Democratic Governors Association [DGA] , Level the Playing Field 2010 and California Working Families 2010. The first advertising blitz should hit the airwaves shortly.
DGA is based in Washington, DC which might in some circles raise the specter of "outside" interests meddling in CA politics.
As Capitol Weekly notes about the developing campaign, "A new independent expenditure committee backed by labor groups and other major donors is coming together to boost Jerry Brown and other Democratic candidates across the state... The Working Families coalition is expected to include labor unions including the California Conference of Carpenters.. It will be run by several political operatives with close ties to the Obama administration. Among them, Larry Grisolano, a partner in the Chicago-based political firm AKPD, where Obama political guru David Axelrod is a partner..." [source, http://www.capitolweekly.net/article.php?_c=ymfa5d7izjxlyd&xid=ymetxslr5i5n50&done=.ymfa5d7izkhlyd]
February 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Given the negative direction American foreign policy has drifted in the space of a single year under team Obama, it would be foolish to underestimate this administration's witlessness.
That said, Secty of State Hillary Clinton's revelation today that "by gosh," Iran might not be democratic and it just might be heading towards dictatorship [military...led by the Revolutionary Guard Corp] is among the most vapid things yet to come out of team Obama.
That level of ignorance, at the same time demonstrates what a ridiculous choice Hillary Clinton was for Secty. of State.
"We see that the government of Iran, the supreme leader, the president, the parliament is being supplanted and that Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship."
< [source, Los Angeles Times, Iran moving toward military dictatorship, Clinton says, http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-clinton-iran16-2010feb16,0,1406253.story]
Of course the problem goes much deeper than individual incompetency, it's systemic.
If her analysis holds any water at all, Hillary's thesis [no doubt signed off at the highest levels in the West Wing] must be based upon the proposition that since the creation of the Mullocracy in 1979, the Islamic dictatorship that has seemingly dominated the country for over 30 years now has actually been subject to the will of the people, exercised through the Iranian parliament.
As a result, it now comes apparently as a total shock to State that the legislature doesn't really call the shots in Iran, and this development might lend itself to a corresponding lack of freedom in the country.
One might have hoped that this crowd would have taken the hint, judging from the river of blood flowing in Tehran's streets, perhaps Mrs. Clinton and her oafish handlers need a brief history lesson.
In 1979 the Carter administration [the patron saint of the current DC brain-trust] created the Iranian Revolution, so let's lay the big egg in the appropriate nest, Barack and Hillary's party.
February 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Nestled in the verdant surrounding hills of Moraga, California, in soft focus, St. Mary's College seems to be the embodiment of what Catholic higher education should be about.
Established in 1863 by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the institution's administration quickly passed to the De La Salle Christian Brothers who have run it ever since.
Though nominally providing a Catholic educational environment, like most American college campuses, St. Mary's has become in many way secularized to the point where whatever link to "Catholic" it has is more synonymous with the word's alternative definition of "universal" rather than being reflective of a substantive relationship with the world's largest and oldest, Christian sect.
The school's literature [a marketing study in this case] bears testament to the validity of such a conclusion:
"Catholic: Saint Mary's Catholic identity is evident in both the name and the appearance of the college. There's a chapel. There's a "mission" feel to campus architecture. But is Catholicism experienced as something deeper? Is it an integral part of a Saint Mary's education? Our research yielded mixed responses to these questions. Among alumni, we found a stronger connection to Saint Mary's Catholic nature among older (and Catholic) alumni; they told us Catholic traditions were an important part of their Saint Mary's experience. (In fact, any perceived move away from Catholic self-definition could be seen as a betrayal by those who identify with Saint Mary's Catholic traditions.) Non-Catholic and more recent alumni tend to see Saint Mary's as a liberal arts college that just happens to be Catholic."
[source, 2008 study - Seeking the Highest Point - Inspiring a Stronger Brand
for Saint Mary's College, http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/about-smc/vice-provost-of-enrollment-vp-college-communications/documents/institutional-marketing-plan/pentagram-report-07-08.pdf]
In other areas, the college's drift away from providing a traditional Catholic educational experience is also evident.
February 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A new Islamic broadcasting network, the Netherlands Muslim Broadcasting Foundation or SMON, has recently been granted permission to broadcast in the Netherlands. There were lots of problems with previous similar Muslim networks, and it may not be very different this time. Chairman of the new network is Radi Suudi, a Dutch Palestinian and a wellknown defender of Palestinian causes. I once visited him in Amsterdam to discuss Middle Eastern issues. I remember he even demanded money for the information provided by him. 'Time is money,' he simply said. He may be right, but very few people I talked to in my long journalistic career, ever asked for money.
SMON was initiated by the Dutch Union of Moroccan Mosque Organizations and the Dutch branch of the World Islamic Mission (WIM). However, Mohammed Anas Noorani Siddique, the spiritual leader of WIM, is a radical cleric from Pakistan. He strongly condemns a moderate and liberal Islamic sect called the Ahmadiya. 'I would rather die than consider them to be Muslims,' he said in September 2006. SMON chairman Suudi claims that Siddique's organization will not be able to influence the content of TV or radio programs. The broadcasting board and the journalists will be independent, he says. I am not so sure about this.
Another dubious supporter of Suudi's broadcasting network is a Dutch Moroccan named Mohammed Cheppih. Although Cheppih nowadays presents himself as a moderate Muslim, he once publicly applauded Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Palestinian suicide bombers and propagated corporal punishment. I remember he showed an intense interest in several major Dutch terror trials back in 2002 and 2003. He also played a role in the fundamentalist Al-Fourqaan Mosque in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven where he had many friends. Two of his friends traveled to the Indian part of Kashmir at the end of 2001, presumably to join the Islamic jihad. Cheppih was then chairman of the controversial Muslim World League (MWL). Cheppih got his theological training in Saudi Arabia. His Saudi professor Abu Bakr El Jezeiri, an arch conservative Muslim theologian, published the book 'The Path of the Muslim,' in which he called for the public execution of gay men by throwing them from the highest roof in the city. In addition, El Jezeiri told his followers: 'Adulterous' women must be stoned to death. He also advocates the death penalty for Muslims who convert to Christianity, Judaism or communism. (El Jezeiri's book was translated into Dutch and made readily available by several mosques and Islamic bookshops.) Cheppih has now publicly distanced himself from such radical views but is there any guarantee that he is not just another Tariq Ramadan, a man he strongly admires but who, unfortunately, has a reputation of being rather double-tongued?
February 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Against a backdrop which finds the Western world in a state of paralysis and denial regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions, today the country's dictator, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that Iran had succeeded in enriching uranium to a weapons grade level.
The boast accompanied a statement yesterday again threatening Israel saying that it should be destroyed now, "once and for all."
The announcement was made on a day in which anti-government demonstrations were planned across the country, especially in Tehran. Though reports are still spotty coming out of the country it appears that government action designed to limit access to the city by the protesters was largely successful.
February 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Reid have both sworn that, regardless of opposition, they will see the passage of Health Care Reform no matter how high they have to jump or low they have to crawl - or, into how many pieces of legislation they have to break the monster into before you swallow it all.
In the mind of the bureaucrat a person needing health care is not a patient. That person is a consumer of a health care industry services, mainly preventive services. To these types, all a person has to do is resign themselves to womb to tomb care in exchange for the promise of a guaranteed outcome producing healthy happy workers and community volunteers who need not rely on themselves because the government does it all for you.
The main reason that strong objections have arisen around the health care package has been the recognition that it is a mandated nationwide master plan controlled and developed by bureaucrats for bureaucrats not for the health care industry and certainly not for the benefit of individuals.
While we are all being distracted by this obviously important debate, legislators across the country have found another pathway for obtaining their objective of centralized control of citizens lives. That route is through the development of what is referred to as workforce development and/or Career Technical Education - CTE.
If the people are ill and in need of government infusions of assistance so is the economy, ailing and in need of large doses of bureaucratic ObamaWorkforce legislation.
February 9, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Robert Ford is slated to become ambassador to Syria, restoring diplomatic ties with the Bashar al-Assad led government broken in 2005 when Syria's involvement in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was strongly suspected.
Ford is considered by some [see, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61258F20100203]d to be part of the "Arabist" contingent at State, a pejorative term meaning diplomats who some believe are pro-Arab [gone native] in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because the extensive experience they have in the Middle East has led them to a pro-Palestinian bias.
Ford has wide experience in the Middle East. A fluent Arab speaker, he has most recently served in Algeria with previous service in both Iraq and Lebanon.
He will come on station at a critical time, when Iran, Assad's prime benefactor, is coming under not only Western but Arab pressure because of its threatening nuclear stance.
February 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The London School of Islamics [LSI, created in 1981] is a British Muslim pressure group [it bills itself as "an educational Trust"] whose mission statement reflects an ambitious agenda.
"1. The aim is to make British public, institutions and media aware of the issues of the Muslim community in the field of education and possible solutions.
2. To help with social, personal, emotional and educational issues and problems.
3. To provide marriage guidance and counselling. [sic]
4. To find divorcees, widowers and disabled persons partners for marriage."
Floating above these laundry list issues looms what seems to be the LSI's real emphasis, goading the British government into underwriting the Islamification of the country, starting with its schools.
"The demand for Muslim schools comes from parents who want their children a
safe environment with an Islamic ethos. Parents see Muslim schools where children can develop their Islamic Identity where they won't feel stigmatised for being Muslims and they can feel confident about their faith. Muslim schools are working to try to create a bridge between communities. There is a belief among ethnic minority parens [sic] that the British schooling does not adequatly [sic] address their cultural needs. Failing to meet this need
could result in feeling resentment among a group who already feel excluded. Setting up Muslim school is a defensive response."
Rather than promoting a "bridge" between Britain's aggressive Muslim population and the larger society, it seems far more probable that the establishment of state-funded Muslim schools will quickly see them devolve into Muslim-centric enclaves which will inevitably lead to further schism, a lever really by which the state could be used to fund its own remaking according to a Shari'a compliant template.
February 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Designed to rip the hastily applied conservative veneer from newly minted CA Senatorial candidate Tom Campbell, the Fiorina for Senate campaign has placed a devastating ad on YouTube, critiquing the career politician's long record of economic and social liberalism.
The ad begins with the words "purity" and "piety," followed by a voice sarcastically intoning "our fiscally conservative leaders..." It then segues into the image of a rather plump sheep atop a Greek column, a position from which it then tumbles unceremoniously, head over hoofs, to the ground.
After fully developing the sheep imagery, the piece rapidly shifts into a more standard type political hit piece detailing the numerous occasions in which Campbell has and continues to advocate liberal tax measures, most recently his backing of a plan to - unbelievably - triple California's already highest in the nation gasoline tax by 2012.
The ad ends with the sheep showing its true intent, morphing into a wolf in disguise.
Of note, when Campbell, a perennial candidate for just about any office, decided to abandon his short-lived campaing for governor in favor of running for the seat of Barbara Boxer instead, some political insiders thought it would snuff the life out of political neophyte Fiorina's bid for the same seat. However, the release of this ad proves those concerns were misplaced and that thsi candidate has more than enough aggressiveness to lock heads with the likes of RINO Campbell.
February 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a rare positive development coming out of what is arguably the most dangerous area on the globe, today India announced its desire to meet with arch-rival Pakistan primarily to discuss security matters.
Relations between the two countries have been on hold since the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed nearly 170 including 6 Americans.
It is widely believed that elements of Pakistan's ISI were involved in the operation though Pakistan immediately and vigorously denied the charges.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi the Pakistani Foreign Minister, stated that he welcomed the offer and that it was his desire that the discussions should be wide ranging.
February 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, born in Pakistan but educated in the United States, has been convicted in Judge Richard Berman's Southern New York District court on seven counts including attempted murder of U.S. citizens and U.S. officers and government employees. She was also found guilty of possessing a firearm in the commission of these crimes.
Throughout the trial Siddiqui's court demeanor verged on the bizarre, haranguing the court with outbursts, especially directed at Israel, "This is a verdict coming from Israel, not America?your anger should be directed where it belongs. I can testify to this and I have proof." [source, http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?id=1202441940762&]
Siddiqui was arrested in the Afghani province of Ghazni. accused of attempting to carry out a terrorist attack. A search of her handbag revealed plans to carry out a mass casualty type assault. During an interrogation session conducted by U.S. forces Siddiqui grabbed the M-4 carbine which the interrogating officer had laid on the ground and started firing wildly. She was subdued by the same officer who brought her down with his side arm.
She was subsequently extradited to New York for trial.
February 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With millions of eyes glued to television sets all over the world, viewers were stunned into silence when at approximately 9:00 EST on the morning of February 1, 2003, during the always critical re-entry phase of the flight, the shuttle Columbia came apart in the upper atmosphere for reasons largely still unknown [the role of solar flares are strongly suspected] resulting in the loss of the entire crew and the grounding of the space fleet.
So it was surprising then that Mr. Obama took the occasion of the seventh anniversary of that shuttle disaster to announce his decision to kill the single lasting testament of the JFK administration, the lunar manned space flight program.
Curiously, for the anti-capitalist Obama, at the time of the announcement - perhaps to provide plausible deniability - he suggested that manned space should instead become the purview of private enterprise, stranger still when considering that by killing the U.S. program much of the newest hardware [specifically, the Ares missile and Orion crew capsule] would die with it, pulling the rug out from the primary mechanism whereby space travel might become more appealing
When asked to comment about the decision "Bizarre," is the term Michael Griffin, a physicist and former NASA Administrator used to describe it adding, "for the U.S. government to deliberately give up its lead in something which is fundamentally an enterprise of governments ... for the United States to give up something that's an important part of our national identity in favor of outsourcing it to commercial enterprises when and as they come into being is bizarre."
Demonstrating a grand vision sorely lacking in Obama's frigid collectivist mechanistics, in 2004 testimony to Congress Griffin stated, "for me the single overarching goal of human space flight is the human settlement of the solar system, and eventually beyond. I can think of no lesser purpose sufficient to justify the difficulty of the enterprise, and no greater purpose is possible."
For this administration, so wrapped up in "democratizing" the economy through federal confiscation, to reject a government role in space travel - perhaps one of the few areas of enterprise in which a government/private partnership can thrive - the decision to so cavalierly kill the soul of the space program demonstrates the intellectual wasteland from which it emanates.
Compounding the shortsightedness of this move - announcing it on the anniversary of the Columbia disaster - is simply additional evidence that for all of the purported wisdom housed within this administration, in the non-pretend world, it has far less grasp of the "vision thing," than even the originator of that odd locution, GHW Bush.
February 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - There is an old aphorism which goes "be careful what you wish for, it may come true," or some variation on that theme, which comes to mind observing the chorus of breast beating, wailing and gnashing of teeth which have accompanied the release of the autotopsy of imam Luqman Abdullah.
Abdullah, leader of a radical Islamist separatist group which called itself "the Ummah," [Arabic for the Muslim community] to which he preached a message that Islam should be spread by violent jihad, once reportedly quipping, "Don't carry a gun if you are going to give it to the cops, give them a bullet instead," was killed in Dearborn during a gunfight with various police agencies including local police and at least one FBI SWAT team.
According to the Detroit FBI's initial complaint, Luqman Abdullah (aka Christopher Thomas), age 53, of Detroit, Michigan was charged with 5 felonies, violating, "18 U.S.C. 371 Conspiracy to Commit Federal Crimes, 18 U.S.C. Sale or Receipt of Stolen Goods Transported in Interstate Commerce, 18 U.S.C. 922(d) Providing Firearms or Ammunition to a Person Known to be a Convicted Felon, 18 U.S.C. 931 Possession of Body Armor by a Person Convicted of a Violent Felony and 18 U.S.C. 551 altering or Removing Motor Vehicle Identification Numbers." [source, FBI website, Eleven Members/Associates of Ummah Charged with Federal Violations One Subject Fatally Shot During Arrest, http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/de102809.htm]
The autopsy documents [go here to view, warning its fairly graphic, http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/detnews/2010/pdf/0201imam.pdf] 21 bullet wounds to the imam's body, testament to the ferocity of the engagement. The attached toxicology report noted the presence of chlorpheneramine - an antihistamine, dextromethorphan - an antitussive [cough suppressant] and diphenhydramine [generic for Benadryl] also an antihistamine, in Abdullah's blood.
Immediately upon the release of the report, the Islamist apologists hastily declared their availability to a media always eager to pounce on tragic events they can spin into boiler plate narratives suggesting police brutality, over reaction or both.
February 2, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Speculation is swirling around DC upon cable news announcements that various smaller East Coast cities are being considered as potential sites for the trial of KSM, now that opinion seems to have turned against New York City, especially in the wake of Mayor Bloomberg's solid opposition.
If reports coming out of the Connecticut Law Tribune [see, http://www.ctlawtribune.com/getarticle.aspx?ID=36237] are correct, New Haven, Connecticut is in the running, for this unenviable undertaking.
" Cable News Network and other media outlets reported Monday that no final decision has been made on moving the trial out of New York City. But Fox News and the New York Post are among those that have mentioned Otisville, N.Y. (home to a federal prison that could house the suspects during a trial), White Plains, N.Y., and New Haven as possible sites. Neither organization provided a specific source for its information, other than someone inside the White House."
All of this is further evidence of disarray within DOJ and the WH
In an exclusive interview with the Law Tribune, an attorney for Abu-Jihadd suggested that New Haven was particularly attractive from the standpoint of security, having professionally dealt with maintaining public safety during the trial of his client.
February 2, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Found not guilty on the basis of a controversial 2008 decision, the highest court in the Netherlands has ordered a retrial of the "Hofstad Group."
In this matter the group was charged with making preparations for an attack which has yet to come to fruition.
The Hofstad Group became known publicly as the organization to which Mohammed Bouyeri, the assassin of Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh in November of 2004, election day in the U.S., belonged.
The charges on which the 6 members of Hofstad will be retried stem from their membership in a terrorist organization.
Given Hofstad's decentralized structure proving that it meets the Dutch definition of a "terrorist organization" is the crux of the new case.
One of the suspects in the original trial, a "Jason W" was found guilty of possessing explosive devices and plotting to kill Dutch policemen. Under Holland's lenient sentencing laws, he is only serving a 15 yr sentence.
February 2, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The U.S. House of Representatives is quickly moving to block the Obama administration's ill-considered decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a civilian court proceeding.
Legislation to that effect will be introduced today, authored by Frank Wolf [R-VA].
The bill has already garnered 34 sponsors, 3 of which are Democrats.
Rather than confront the administration - on unequal terms - over its decision, the bill is designed to prevent the trial from proceeding by denying the funding with which to carry it out.
The bill essentially mirrors an amendment which Wolf offered previously, to the 2010 omnibus spending bill, which was defeated on a straight party-line vote.
Though estimates differ, most agree that the cost of the KSM trial and accompanying heavy security measures would be in the range of $250 million dollars.
February 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - We have noted in the past with alarm, the leftist cant of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB] and its advocacy of positions which undermine the country's national security and the interests for which the Conference supposedly speaks, for example its support of the Soviet led "Nuclear Freeze," ongoing phony interfaith dialogue with individuals and organizations representing a radical Muslim ideology and its support of immigration policies that are so extreme they obliterate the concept of national borders - a dominant principle in Western civilization and international law - recognized for nearly 400 years, at least since the Treaty of Westphalia [1648].
In this same spirit of recklessness has been the USCCB's support of governmental control of the American health care industry - Obamacare.
Publicly their only objection is the inclusion in the legislation - only partially ameliorated via the "Stupak" amendment - of language which promotes funding of abortion, something currently not allowed under federal statutes.
Regardless of whether or not abortion is explicitly or implicitly included in Obamacare should it become law, the effort itself remains a brazen attempt by the feds to seize control of citizens' right to privately make their own health care decisions.
The Church's complicity in such an unprecedented attempted abrogation of free will - a cornerstone of Christian theology - is shameful.
Underecutting this nuanced opposition the group has entertained in the past - the remnants of which are still lurking philosophically - a partnership with at least one of the key mechanisms which today supports this Soviet style healthcare meddling - a major promoter of "abortion rights."
Drawing our attention to this matter is Katie Walker of the American Life League who writes today:
A national group that promotes abortion and homosexual rights has deep ties with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, according to a report released Monday...
February 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A new Islamic broadcasting network, the Netherlands Muslim Broadcasting Foundation or SMON, has recently been granted permission to broadcast in the Netherlands. There were lots of problems with previous similar Muslim networks, and it may not be very different this time. Chairman of the new network is Radi Suudi, a Dutch Palestinian and a well known defender of Palestinian causes. I once visited him in Amsterdam to discuss Middle Eastern issues. I remember he even demanded money for the information provided by him. 'Time is money,' he simply said. He may be right, but very few people I talked to in my long journalistic career, ever asked for money.
SMON was initiated by the Dutch Union of Moroccan Mosque Organizations and the Dutch branch of the World Islamic Mission (WIM). However, Mohammed Anas Noorani Siddique, the spiritual leader of WIM, is a radical cleric from Pakistan. He strongly condemns a moderate and liberal Islamic sect called the Ahmadiya. 'I would rather die than consider them to be Muslims,' he said in September 2006. SMON chairman Suudi claims that Siddique's organization will not be able to influence the content of TV or radio programs. The broadcasting board and the journalists will be independent, he says. I am not so sure about this.
Another dubious supporter of Suudi's broadcasting network is a Dutch Moroccan named Mohammed Cheppih. Although Cheppih nowadays presents himself as a moderate Muslim, he once publicly applauded Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, Palestinian suicide bombers and propagated corporal punishment. I remember he showed an intense interest in several major Dutch terror trials back in 2002 and 2003. He also played a role in the fundamentalist Al-Fourqaan Mosque in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven where he had many friends. Two of his friends traveled to the Indian part of Kashmir at the end of 2001, presumably to join the Islamic jihad. Cheppih was then chairman of the controversial Muslim World League (MWL). Cheppih got his theological training in Saudi Arabia. His Saudi professor Abu Bakr El Jezeiri, an arch conservative Muslim theologian, published the book 'The Path of the Muslim,' in which he called for the public execution of gay men by throwing them from the highest roof in the city. In addition, El Jezeiri told his followers: 'Adulterous' women must be stoned to death. He also advocates the death penalty for Muslims who convert to Christianity, Judaism or communism. (El Jezeiri's book was translated into Dutch and made readily available by several mosques and Islamic bookshops.) Cheppih has now publicly distanced himself from such radical views but is there any guarantee that he is not just another Tariq Ramadan, a man he strongly admires but who, unfortunately, has a reputation of being rather double-tongued?
January 30, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - President Obama's State of the Union address Wednesday night was a MOM moment. It reminded me of a dinner menu - an appealing pre-entree, a nice dessert and a lot of gravy to cover up the main course in the event it was hard to swallow.
Convincing the public to swallow the main course - centralized management and direction of everyone's life, is Obama's goal. Like a rich meal that clogs the arteries, this main course could clog your cognitive ability, rendering you incapable of recovery.
It was a masterpiece of psychological conditioning regarding the government's role in social and political activities. It fit the out a template offered by Paul E. Rondeau a noted researcher in the subconscious marketing and delivery of change. [see, www.culture-of-life.org]
January 27, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a January 27 piece published in the WashPost [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html] the author, Dana Priest, tried her hand at countering the increasing criticism of team Obama's nonsensical anti-terror efforts, declaring, "The collaboration with Yemen provides the starkest illustration to date of the Obama administration's efforts to ramp up counterterrorism operations, including in areas outside the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones."
So that the correct interpretation would be drawn, that Mr. Obama leads a vigorous and effective policy to defeat the violent proponents of radical Islam - and to the detriment of Obama's critics - in a heavy handed manner she quickly followed with the obligatory dig at the GOP and the left's satanic über-villain, Dick Cheney, "Republican lawmakers and former vice president Richard B. Cheney have sought to characterize the new president as soft on terrorism after he banned the harsh interrogation methods permitted under Bush and announced his intention to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."
One small fact escaping mention in Ms. Priest's journalistic spoon feeding is that until just a few weeks ago, the terror fighter residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was taking incarcerated terrorists from GITMO and releasing them directly to Yemen, whereupon of course they once again joined up with the local al-Qaeda jihadist cells.
Looming even more menacingly in any discussion of this administration's terror policy vis a vis Yemen is Obama's complete failure to aggressively debrief the Christmas bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Fact: It was reported by ABC [see, Terror in the Skies, Suspects Family Speaks Overnight, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/abdulmutallab-yemen-northwest-flight-253-terror-suspect/story?id=9430536] a month ago, that Abdulmutallab was absolutely babbling, upon being detained, about his training in Yemen and that there were others who were trained at the same time and were on their way to the United States who would soon strike.
January 26, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Released last week with little fanfare, the Department of Defense's "Independent Review Relating To Fort Hood" demonstrates in a startlingly clear manner, the self-destructive mindset which has often plagued our national security apparatus since the inception of the war on terror, and which has gained serious momentum over the last 12 months.
Some key observations:
The 86 page study [Get Full Report Here] reflects nothing so much as the product of multiculturally biased self-censorship - an unwillingness to pursue the obvious connections because of offending protected classes. As a result it's really hard to imagine this document being taken seriously anywhere outside of government. In this case "close enough for government work" doesn't work.
Major Hasan's case is unique - 12 soldiers were killed and dozens wounded, some very seriously, yet the emphasis in the study stresses prevention of all violence in general, including sexual predation, when dealing with Hasan's specific act and his motivational factors should be of prime focus.
Though the report is claimed to have been prepared independently, how can that be so? The over 100 team members [this is really a case of a horse being designed by committee] seem to be almost entirely military, defense establishment or related types. They are entirely too close to the problem, reducing whatever value their analysis might provide because bias under such circumstances is a reasonable concern.
The text of the analysis was clearly stripped of any possible reference that might in any way point to the religious motivation of the alleged perpetrator.
January 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With the arrival, via the reliable al-Qaeda courier service al-Jazeera, of another warning from Osama bin-Laden occurring just a few days before Mr. Obama's first State of the Union Address, it's an opportune time consider just what al-Qaeda has been demanding from the United States as a condition for bin-Laden to call off the dogs of holy war.
Likewise an assessment of how successful this administration has been in understanding and dealing with the terrorist threat is in order.
Generally it has been the position of the left, subscribed to by Mr. Obama, that the current iteration of terrorism, rather than finding its genesis in an interpretation of Islamic theology, is in large part fueled by righteous enmity against the United States and the West caused by the way these comingled entities have historically dealt with the Muslim world.
It follows from this proposition that if the United States takes a more conciliatory approach, while at the same time helping to address the relative impoverishment that the overwhelming majority of Muslims must endure, that the defusing of these supposed root causes of radicalization will largely end that which motivates the jihadists.
Thus the origin of Mr. Obama's Muslim outreach, most forcefully detailed in his June 6, 2009 Cairo speech [see, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Cairo-University-6-04-09/], with the below statement, emblematic of this approach.
"More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam. Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims."
It must be remembered that the Cairo speech was only part of a grander apologia - offered in a particularly supplicating manner - to atone for [what the president perceives to be] America's past history of oppressive actions.
Judging by the recent domestic al-Qaeda inspired attacks - Sgt. Hasan at Ft. Hood and Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab on Christmas day as well as the rapidly escalating violence in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama's efforts appear to have not only gained him nothing of a tangible nature but seem to have precipitated an increase in the type of activity the effort was supposed to ameliorate.
Osama Bin-Laden, through his terrorist organization al-Qaeda has a near 15 year history of delivering major threats to the United States. His first fatwa [an official judgment based upon Islamic law] was issued in 1996 [see, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/terrorism/international/fatwa_1996.html].
January 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The day was quite rainy, but not too cold. Though it may have discouraged a few people from coming, there were still an estimated 25,000 in attendance. Their presence attests to the staunch and determined Pro Life community willing to endure some discomforts to send a message to the elected officials of this state and country, that Pro Life people still have a conscience and intend to advance their cause.
I especially liked the comments of one 5th grade young man from Sacramento, there with his grandmother. He attends public school and often gets into trouble with his teachers and school officials he said, because he tries to tell his schoolmates that abortion kills babies.
The sight of hundreds of young parents with baby strollers, heavily protected from the elements, was encouraging. The many members of religious communities that were there from as far away as Los Angeles, was heartening along with groups of teenagers from Bakersfield and Modesto.
During a morning Mass held at St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, there were as many as 8 Bishops presiding.
This day's event will be worth holding in memory when we are confronted with the reality of conflicted priests and religious who insist on supporting President Obama's health care program and, in fact, lending their names and their church's name to letter's in support of Obamacare.
It can be a discouragement to hear priests declare that they only support the health care delivery part of the agenda but declare that they make sure that groups like PICO and ACORN understand that they don't support that group's abortion agenda. One pro abortion protester said it almost right in a sign he carried. The sign said: "abortion is health care." Turn the words around and you see the truth - healthy care is abortion. Obama's plan for healthcare is the numbing of the mind and conscience which is why all legislators who support it must be rejected.
"Bo" from Folsom
This man, his wife, on the left, and a friend came from Modesto with about 300 others
January 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Not even constant showers which drenched many, could keep West Coast pro-life forces home today as tens of thousands streamed into San Francisco to bear witness to the personal, moral and societal damage caused by abortion.
Coalescing around the idea that Women Deserve Better, the 6th annual "Walk for Life" was by all accounts a successful demonstration that not even San Francisco, perhaps the most
liberal city in America, could escape a call to public accountability over this serious issue.
With an estimated 23,000-25,000 braving the elements, young, old and in between gathered at the foot of Market St. at Justin Herman Plaza, scene of innumerable leftist demonstrations through the years. The mood was light yet reflective as an army of busses ferried the faithful to the site
Speakers at the event coming from as far away as Paris, France, delivered enthusiastic and uplifting speeches as the crowd huddled together to stay warm.
A two mile march to Crissy Field followed the rally, where, with the Golden Gate bridge as a backdrop, busses were waiting for the return trip to Northern California parishes.
Though most of those turning out were Catholic, numerous other faiths were also represented in this multidenominational, multiethnic outpouring of hope and concern. Counter-protesters were almost nonexistent and trouble was nil. Perhaps a dozen hard-core Stalinists were gathered nearby, obviously cowed by size of the pro-life crowd.
Amidst steadily falling public support for abortion, the ability of this growing movement to turn out so many willing to brave inclement weather should not have been that surprising, yet the sight of so many gathering today under these conditions sent a powerful message that the United States has come a long way back since the dark initial days after Roe vs. Wade countenanced this tragic procedure.
January 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It's clear from recent Congressional testimony by the Obama administration's national security team, led by John Brennan Deputy National Security Advisor, that there was nothing that even approached a reasonably thorough interrogation of the Nigerian Christmas bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before he was read his Miranda rights, allowing him to lawyer up, effectively silencing him.
Reading between the lines - not so difficult with this administration - it appears that the WH in conjunction with the DOJ simply made the decision on the matter - granting Abdulmuatllab the same rights which accrue to American citizens - only then informing the agencies which should have been consulted well before such a decision had been rendered.
That the need for an intensive interrogation of Abdulmutallab was required, should have been obvious to anyone even marginally well-versed in intelligence matters. With the bomber's well know direct links to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, he could have provided vital intelligence - regarding most critically - the existence of further bombing plots. That information which now, due to this national security team's incompetence, we will never know.
The number of lives potentially threatened by this serious breach is impossible to gauge at this point, leaving the United States in a reactive, rather than aggressively pro-active , wide open for whatever lingering plans might still be operative.
Speaking to this spectacular intelligence failure Congressman Frank Wolf [R-VA] has addressed his concerns to Mr. Brennan, noting - unbelievably - that five months into the process, the administration is still refusing to provide lawmakers with any information regarding the profound changes that have been made to the previous interrogation policy, the one mind you that countenanced in the enhanced debriefing of KS Mohammed, revealing the existence of numerous ongoing terrorist plots.
January 21, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a remarkably powerful way the U.S. Supreme Court has struck a huge and far reaching blow in support of the First Amendment, overturning significant aspects of previous "campaign finance reform" legislation, declaring it unconstitutional.
The 5-4 Decision written by justice Kennedy struck down a key provision in McCain Feingold, the onerous legislation passed during GW Bush's first term, which many on the right considered unconstitutional at the time as well as the 1990 Austin decision.
The specific case deals with a campaign documentary generated by the non-profit Citizens United which was critical of then candidate Hillary Clinton.
Fearful that the campaign piece might be violative of McCain Feingold, Citizens sought declaratory and injunctive relief to avoid potential criminal and civil penalties.
The DC District Court decided against the plaintiff and from there it was appealed to the SCOTUS which today ruled in favor of Citizens, overturning the District Court decision.
In order to deal with the core issue - the ability of corporate entities to exercise free political speech - it was necessary for the decision to go farther than that however, "this case cannot be resolved on a narrower ground without chilling political speech, speech that is central to the First Amendment's meaning and purpose." [source, Citizens vs FEC, pg. 3]
In doing so the court overturned the 1990 ruling, Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which held that prohibiting political speech by a corporation was constitutional..."This Court is confronted with conflicting lines of precedent: a pre-Austin line forbidding speech restrictions based on the speaker's corporate identity and a post-Austin line permitting them. Neither Austin's anti distortion rationale nor the Government's other justifications support...The First Amendment prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for engaging in political speech, but Austin's anti distortion rationale would permit the Government to ban political speech because the speaker is an association with a corporate form
January 20, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The realization had to come sooner or later, the signs were everywhere.
Congressmen running from town hall meetings as the Tea Party movement shattered the echo chambers from which they normally plied their trade.
The presence of a million angry people descending on the capitol steps in September, expressing outrage over the growing acquisitiveness of a state out of control.
The back-to-back losses in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections.
Even the completely tone deaf could have heard the shot reverberating across America from the heart of liberalism last night...right?
Nope, not even close.
Consider these comments made late last night and early this morning.
"I think that it would a terrible mistake to walk away now. If we don't pass the bill, all we have is the stigma of a caricature that was put on it. That would be the worst result for everybody who has supported this bill." - David Axelrod, Obama Sr. Advisor
"I'm very confident we can pass health-care reform." - David Plouffe, Obama campaign manager.
"We will get the job done. I am confident of that. I have always been confident of that...Massachusetts has health care and so the rest of the country would like to have that too," Pelosi said, referring to the state's health care program. "So we don't [think] a state that already has health care should determine whether the rest of the country should." - Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House.
One might hope that this is all just false bravado, the defensive, nearly involuntary reaction one might expect after a quick succession of unexpected disasters.
But again...nope, not even close.
What has been demonstrated now over the space of nearly a year is that those running the Dem party - and this includes their critical funding/support structure in Soros fundies such as MoveOn - have taken collectivism into their bosoms so thoroughly that in a de-facto manner it has become their religion.
I had a vision...
The year was 303, the location Rome, the emperor Diocletian, Christians the target. It was in this period - before Constantine and his conversion - that persecution of the followers of Christ flourished in large public spectacles of unimaginable brutality.
Rather than submit, these believers would rather die, their faith inuring them to the whispers of the rational mind that temporal salvation lied in the mere rejection of their beliefs.
The apparation rippled, then once again came into focus...the year was 2010...the jailed and torn apart had become the masters.
Among this class a new priesthood of metaphysical jailers and torturers arose, this time refined, expensively coiffed and clad in Armanis.
The aching in their souls, that dark chasm into which most dare not look, still clawed from within, papered over now not with a salvific message, but with arrogance, they had become god unto themselves.
Instead of the ceremonial execution of theological dissidents, the soft persecution of total control loomed.
Such is the faith of Mr. Obama and his backers, they can't turn away from the abyss, even with the portents clear to all - perhaps even themselves - that destruction awaits.
Though the dream has broken, the image remains...then the revelation that while the faith given testimony to by the victims of Diocletian still flourishes today, gently guiding lives rightly, strengthening and providing hope, the counterfeit religion of utopianism has and will forever only resulted in misery and in its most extreme form, the deaths of tens of millions in the gulags of Siberia and the ovens of Buchenwald - a feat unattainable even by a Diocletian.
January 19, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - "It's time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it. It's time to make education America's national mission." - President Barack Obama, November 4, 2009
With the coming of a new administration the G.W. Bush education reforms [the promotion of national educational standards - No Child Left Behind] are now history.
In their stead, "Race to The Top," is the current catch phrase for the legislation supporting the Obama administration's nationwide educational goals. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 [ARRA] provides about $100 billion for education K-12.
California's budget is in the red, its schools are being closed and teacher's jobs are being eliminated and the Governor has gone to Washington to plead the case for an infusion of federal funding.
California, New York and Florida [Texas, originally slated to participate, has withdrawn from the program, concerned over it's invasive nature] are now leading all states in the race to receive
$350-700 million of the $4.5 billion available to these states in the federal Race To The Top K-12 program. [source, Contra
Costa Times, http://www.caracetothetop.org/cs/rttt/print/htdocs/intent.htm]
Apparently it all hinges on the ability of these states to prove to the feds that they will
change and reform the their educational programs, models and testing standards to
align them with the Obama agenda.
Taking advantage of the current cash strapped economy, the Obama administration has succeeded in
dangling billions of our tax dollars in front of state and private sector businesses, in essence bribing them to submit to federal management of local employment and educational matters.
While these programs may have some ameliorative effect in the immediate future, the administration and it's communitarian supporters don't merely want immediate relief, additionally they seek permanent change bringing about greater federal oversight of the focus and outcome of education and job programs.
They plan to gain that power by taking over control of education. To firmly establish their communitarian goals they must gain control of input into the minds of children and out-of-work adults.
January 18, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an item which has received far too little attention, we note once again how central Pakistan is to a successful effort in Afghanistan. This was unfortunately demonstrated - to tragic effect - on December 30 when Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, believed to be a Jordanian, detonated a powerful explosive device, killing 7 CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost region.
The precision with which the bombing was carried out and the type of explosive used points in the direction of outside assistance having been given to the operation, " The speculation about a possible ISI hand in the suicide attack is being traced back to U.S. and Afghan government sources who said in the analysis of explosives used, it was found they were of standard military grade which points to the ISI. [source, The Hindu, http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article79491.ece]
Downplaying the possibility of state level ISI players having been involved in the costly incident, Stratfor, a U.S. based intelligence think tank, however does not discount that lower level ISI operatives could have assisted the attack, "The possibility that jihadist sympathizers in the lower ranks of the Pakistani intelligence complex may have offered their services to the TTP cannot be ruled out, however. Given its history of dealing with Islamist nonstate proxies, the Pakistani intelligence apparatus is penetrated by the jihadists, which partially explains the ability of the TTP to mount a ferocious insurgency against the state." [source, Stratfor]
A video, obviously put together before the attack, but released thereafter, shows Balawi claiming credit for the bombing. Also in the video was new Pak Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud - his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, former Taliban leader, was killed in a U.S. drone attack in August.
Pakistan's ISI is widely understood to have been central to the rise of the Taliban, having given much aid throughout the 1990s. At one point, then prime minister Benazir Bhutto's government is believed to have provided funding for the group.
The ISI has also been implicated in other serious terrorist incidents including India's Mumbai bombing. As we reported in an October 1, 2006 piece [see, Musharraf's Pakistan Express Going Off The Rails - India Charges ISI With Collusion In Mumbai Bombing, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=mumbai100106.htm]
January 18, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Following close on the heels of the December kidnapping of Spanish aid workers in Northern Africa by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, we find another splinter group, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, operating out of Yemen issuing a broad series of threats against the United States and Arab states hostile to the Salafist/jihadi movement.
"The duty of our Muslim nation is to declare jihad against the infidels and their agent helpers, not only on the ground, but in the sea and air as well as their Crusader warships in the Gulf of Aden," according to the statement. "As they declared it to be an open war on the people of Islam, we must declare an open war against [them]."
[source, Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703626604575010851735076606.html]
Though all of these groups are either loosely or more closely affiliated with the main branch of al-Qaeda, they have assumed distinctly local characters as they seek to take advantage of local conditions and populations in an effort to extend their reach, while frequently cross-pollinating, "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM); AQIM is an offshoot of the Algerian Salafist Group for Combat and Preaching which declared allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2003." [source, Moroccoboard, http://www.moroccoboard.com/viewpoint/68-hassan-massiki/830-al-qaeda-in-the-islamic-maghreb]
January 17, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - President Obama stumping in Massachusetts today for floundering Dem Martha Coakley was completely taken off his game plan, and worse, off his teleprompter by the presence of a pro-life protester.
In the ensuing 5 minutes, while security hustled the individual out of the hall, the president seemed thoroughly confused, uncomfortable and unable to effectively deliver the speech he hoped would benefit Coakley's chances on Tuesday.
Below the video:
The incident served to unmask both the growing anger against team Obama as well as to expose the president as a bumbling, foolish looking pretender who appears to be incapable of defending his policies in the face of any criticism.
January 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a September 2008 stump speech, then candidate Barack Obama advocated the establishment of a national security force.
Since then various alternative media sources [the subject is radioactive as far as the MSM is concerned] have explored the meaning of Obama's words and what they might ultimately portend.
Below the relevant portion of the speech given July 2, 2008.
"Obama, July 2, Colorado Springs, CO: [As] president I will expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots [from 75,000] and make that increased service a vehicle to meet national goals, like providing health care and education, saving our planet and restoring our standing in the world, so that citizens see their effort connected to a common purpose.
People of all ages, stations and skills will be asked to serve. Because when it comes to the challenges we face, the American people are not the problem ? they are the answer. So we are going to send more college graduates to teach and mentor our young people. We'll call on Americans to join an energy corps, to conduct renewable energy and environmental clean-up projects in their neighborhoods all across the country.
We will enlist our veterans to find jobs and support for other vets, and to be there for our military families. And we're going to grow our Foreign Service, open consulates that have been shuttered and double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 to renew our diplomacy. We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we've set.
We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded. We need to use technology to connect people to service. We'll expand USA Freedom Corps to create online networks where American can browse opportunities to volunteer. You'll be able to search by category, time commitment and skill sets. You'll be able to rate service opportunities, build service networks, and create your own service pages to track your hours and activities.
This will empower more Americans to craft their own service agenda and make their own change from the bottom up."
[sources,
Fact Check - almost always aligned to the left - http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/is_obama_planning_a_gestapo-like_civilian_national.html and the Wall Street Journal, which carried the campaign's pre-speech release, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/07/02/obamas-remarks-on-service/]
Obama delivering the controversial section of the speech below.
It seems fairly clear that what Obama was referring to - in laundry list manner - though dealing generally with domestic service, was directed at a civilian, but highly trained quasi-military force capable of being inserted into hot spots to handle law enforcement duties professionally so that the responsibility wouldn't have to fall on the over burdened military.
That seems a reasonable idea...however...
Recently [2009] the RAND think tank produced a monograph on the subject titled rather suggestively A Stability Police Force for the United States. Justification and Options for Creating U.S. Capabilities
The following section clearly envisions the possibility of such a force being used domestically, mentioning the Posse Comitatus Act which prohibits the military from carrying out domestic law enforcement. Actually the study mentions the Act 16 times.
"In particular, for the
MP option to be as cost-effective as possible, relief from the
Posse Comitatus Act would be required to permit its members
to perform domestic law enforcement functions."
[source, RAND Study pg. 105, http://wwwcgi.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG819.pdf]
The juxtaposing then of Mr. Obama's speech against the hard reality of the RAND study does indeed give pause for concern, not in the conspiratorial sense that some publications suggest, but from the standpoint of the potential misuse with which such a force might be used.
That is a question that requires the widest public scrutiny and public debate well before legislation might be considered.
January 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Martha Coakley, The Democrat candidate for "Ted Kennedy's" seat in the U.S. Senate continues to make a fool of herself whenever she is forced to answer questions of importance to the state's electorate.
In a January 14 interview conducted with WBSM's Ken Pittman, Coakley expressed a belief that healthcare workers have no right to the free exercise of their conscience
Please note the below video.
When people come together to discuss what has come to be called Obamacare, what often get's lost in the process is the understanding of just how injurious these proposed regulations are - aside from their obvious deleterious effect on the American healthcare system - to American civil liberties, a point to consider as Massachusetts voters go to the polls on Tuesday.
January 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In many ways the clash between Internet giant Google and the communist Chinese government is demonstrative of the administration's flawed foreign policy approach - walk and talk softly while brandishing an olive branch.
The matter front-and-center here involves a sophisticated Internet attack, taking place in mid December, launched against the prominent search engine with the apparent ultimate intent of accessing data on Chinese dissidents, housed on the company's Gmail servers. Upon investigation, the company discovered, alongside hacked email accounts, that a considerable amount of intellectual property had also been stolen.
At the same time as this was taking place, possibly as many as two dozen similar attacks were being launched against various other American companies doing business in the country, including defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman.
Initially Google challenged the Chinese to cease and desist its fishing operation, however in the face of the country's intransigence, the company stated that it would no longer comply with Chinese directives to filter content on the Google.cn web presence, and was willing to take the extreme step of closing its offices rather than subject itself to further predatory practices.
"These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China."
In throwing down this cyber-gauntlet, Google has admirably distinguished itself in this confrontation, first in the forthright manner with which it has admitted to having been targeted, and second, having responded in such a robust manner. Other companies have been reticent to even identify themselves as having been subject to these high-level hacks with G.M.'s China group president Kevin Wale indicating that the U.S. government owned company's appetite for such abuse was apparently endless, "They're not causing us any major impact at the moment." [source, Yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_google]
G.M.'s tepid response was strikingly similar to team Obama's - they now being cut from the same cloth.
January 9, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a new YouTube video, Representative Sue Myrick [R-NC] draws attention to the rising danger of homegrown terrorism, domestic jihad.
About the threat she stated, "...but there is one challenge that you haven't been hearing about, because your government hasn't been informing you and that's the rise of homegrown radical extremism in our country. The Ft. Hood shooting brought it back into focus."
Congresswoman Myrick relied upon 4 respected terrorism experts to provide expertise in helping her understand the matter in depth, including Steven Emerson and Walid Phares.
January 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It was with a certain amount of negative prejudgment that I recently screened Guy Ritchie's new work, Sherlock Holmes, with our Cultural Editor having warned me that the movie, was good but could have gone straight to DVD.
With that in mind, it was surprising then to see the story rendered so flawlessly, updated rather tastefully for a modern audience not accustomed to the dour, turgid presence of Basil Rathbone and comical antics of Nigel Bruce as Watson, circa the 1930s.
The plot, though perhaps overreaching [arch villain Lord Blackwood seeks to dominate the world through feigned magical powers] serves to showcase the characters and provide motivation for the substantial departure the writers [Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham, Simon Kinberg] have taken from the original.
Starring Robert Downey Jr., as Sherlock Holmes, Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, Rachel McAdams as the femme fatale Irene Adler and Mark Strong as Lord Blackwood the roles are perfectly cast for the quirky moodiness of the work, which sees Holmes a troubled but brilliant savant on a mission to save the world and Watson his steady companion and foil, albeit one over fond of gambling and skilled in the art of avoiding marriage.
In supporting roles, Downey's antagonist/love interest is believably gravitates between sexy and vulnerable seasoned with a considerable does of steel. The scene where she menacingly cracks walnuts in one hand being one of many deft touches to her character and the film in general. Strong is well cast as thin-shouldered, vaguely vampire-ish Lord Blackwood and he proves himself at ease in evoking the sense of cruel coldness appropriate for a wannabe master of the world.
The cinematography is superlative, verging on stunning in some instances and far better than one might expect in what has been variously and incorrectly characterized as a formulaic set-piece. The blocking of scenes is flawless and camera angles were well chosen, leaving the action framed in such a manner as to subtly enhance the story.
The colors, tones and the use of light and darkness are also a cut above. London of the 1870s is beautifully [if almost mournfully] rendered; all the hustle characterizing the grandeur, the peak if you will of the British empire set against dank brownstones lit by an omnipresent and oppressive sepia tinged sky. The interiors are fittingly moody and appropriately lit, with a hint of foreboding and doom.
And now for a contrasting view, please take headline links on both pieces for complete reviews.
BY - TOM FREDRIKSEN, PipeLineNews.org Culture Editor
January 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It isn't often I review currently running movies. Personally, I feel a good movie, or any movie for that matter must simmer on the back of one's mind, gestating amid reflections both conscious and sub-conscious, until a proper opinion can be properly birthed.
Such was to be the case concerning the release and review of Madonna's ex Director Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and his?what is the word?remake? No that's not it. Ah yes, blasphemy of the beloved Sherlock Holmes genre. Events beyond my control force an early hand.
I speak of genre as at the heart, a Sherlock Holmes adaptation, either in print or IMAXed film is first and foremost a mystery tale.
Or it should be.
The currently running movie well cast and starring Robert Downey Jr. [Chaplin, Iron Man] hits most of the marks on cue, classical elements of a Holmes mystery. Downey's earlier work in portraying Charlie Chaplin allowed him the ability to slip into the accent easily and in the end one of the reasons Ritchie abandoned his search for a younger Holmes and went with Downey.
Someone should have reminded Ritchie that they already did "Young Sherlock Holmes" a few years ago.
The problem is, despite the skilled work by Downey, his attempt to add some credibility to the Holmes character itself got in the way of the special effects, and farciflul plot. They seemed more obligatory than central.
Certainly Downey managed to work in his "elementary" deductions, however, in my opinion Director Guy Ritchie treated them as elementary school.
January 4, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On New Years' Eve, Bill Ayers, the unapologetic Weather Underground domestic terrorist who launched Barack Obama's political career, his wife, the equally notorious Weather Underground leader Bernardine Dohrn, Jodie Evans - Code Pink bigwig and a major Democrat Party funder with over 22k in donations reported to the FEC in 2009 - and a gaggle of other Jew hating leftist bigots gathered in front of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to join in solidarity with the terrorist group Hamas.
In a December 31 posting to a weblog [see, http://www.theittlist.com/ittlist/ind/gaza_freedom_march_dispatch_3] Ayers wrote, "The GFM wanted to enter Gaza 1,400 strong to express solidarity with civil society, witness their struggle for survival and self-determination, and join in a massive peace march."
"Civil society" in this case being that fostered by Hamas in Gaza.
Protest observers said the crowd numbered less than 500, far below the organizers' rather generous estimate.
The event was so beyond the pale that Egyptian authorities decided to break it up in a manner befitting a totalitarian Middle Eastern Islamic state, "Members of the Gaza Freedom March are being forcibly detained in hotels around town as well as violently forced into pens in Tahir Square by Egyptian police and additional security forces. Reports of police brutality are flooding a delegate legal hotline faster than the legal support team can answer the calls. The reports span from women being kicked, beaten to the ground and dragged into pens, at least one confirmed account of broken ribs, and many left bloody." [from GAF PR blurb, see http://www.france24.com/en/20091231-foreign-activists-hold-freedom-march-protest-against-israeli-blockade-gaza-closure]
January 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Well in advance of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's fortunately truncated Christmas Day terrorist attack on Northwestern flight #253, in an October 2, 2009 piece [see, Congressman Frank Wolf Demands GITMO Terrorists Not Be Sent To Unstable Countries] we drew attention to the critical breach of national security the Obama administration had created via its policy of releasing GITMO detainees, many of whom were gathered on the battlefield as mujahideen, back to their countries of origin, including Yemen, home of a newly resurgent al-Qaeda.
For months now, Obama's ruinous amateur hour repatriation program has been slammed by a small coterie of national security hawks in the House of Representatives, led by Frank Wolf:
"Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today urged the Obama Administration to reconsider sending detainees held at Guantanamo Bay to unstable countries such as Yemen, Afghanistan or Algeria.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Wolf wrote that the administration should halt all transfers until "evidence is provided to this Congress demonstrating that the detainee can be properly received and monitored in the receiving country."
Wolf, the top Republican on the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, cited a number of recent press reports detailing the deteriorating security situation in Yemen, including a piece in this week's Time magazine, headlined, "Is Yemen the Next Afghanistan?", as the reason for asking for any transfers to be stopped."
Throughout this time and despite numerous requests for information, Obama, Eric Holder and the Dept. of Justice have stonewalled all attempts made by Congress to determine the extent and the degree of threat repatriation represents.
We call upon the administration to immediately halt this injurious program and suggest that a full review by Congress, as part of their oversight responsibility, is in order to determine how deeply this long standing policy has damaged the national security interests of the United States.
March 17, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Speaking where few dare go, yesterday in a series of interviews Dr. Hagai Ben-Artz, Binyamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law, charged president Obama with being an anti-Semite.
February 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Invoking a Reagan Era spirit of optimism, David Harmer, candidate for California Congressional District 11, today kicked off his campaign at a packed breakfast event held in San Ramon, California.
February 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Convicted in NY just a few weeks ago on terror charges [see 
February 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Given the negative direction American foreign policy has drifted in the space of a single year under team Obama, it would be foolish to underestimate this administration's witlessness.
February 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The London School of Islamics [LSI, created in 1981] is a British Muslim pressure group [it bills itself as "an educational Trust"] whose mission statement reflects an ambitious agenda.
February 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With millions of eyes glued to television sets all over the world, viewers were stunned into silence when at approximately 9:00 EST on the morning of February 1, 2003, during the always critical re-entry phase of the flight, the shuttle Columbia came apart in the upper atmosphere for reasons largely still unknown [the role of solar flares are strongly suspected] resulting in the loss of the entire crew and the grounding of the space fleet.
February 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - We have noted in the past with alarm, the leftist cant of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB] and its advocacy of positions which undermine the country's national security and the interests for which the Conference supposedly speaks, for example its support of the Soviet led "Nuclear Freeze," ongoing phony interfaith dialogue with individuals and organizations representing a radical Muslim ideology and its support of immigration policies that are so extreme they obliterate the concept of national borders - a dominant principle in Western civilization and international law - recognized for nearly 400 years, at least since the Treaty of Westphalia [1648].
February 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A new Islamic broadcasting network, the Netherlands Muslim Broadcasting Foundation or SMON, has recently been granted permission to broadcast in the Netherlands. There were lots of problems with previous similar Muslim networks, and it may not be very different this time. Chairman of the new network is Radi Suudi, a Dutch Palestinian and a well known defender of Palestinian causes. I once visited him in Amsterdam to discuss Middle Eastern issues. I remember he even demanded money for the information provided by him. 'Time is money,' he simply said. He may be right, but very few people I talked to in my long journalistic career, ever asked for money.
January 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Not even constant showers which drenched many, could keep West Coast pro-life forces home today as tens of thousands streamed into San Francisco to bear witness to the personal, moral and societal damage caused by abortion.
January 21, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a remarkably powerful way the U.S. Supreme Court has struck a huge and far reaching blow in support of the First Amendment, overturning significant aspects of previous "campaign finance reform" legislation, declaring it unconstitutional.
January 20, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The realization had to come sooner or later, the signs were everywhere.
January 19, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - "It's time to stop just talking about education reform and start actually doing it. It's time to make education America's national mission." - President Barack Obama, November 4, 2009
January 18, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In an item which has received far too little attention, we note once again how central Pakistan is to a successful effort in Afghanistan. This was unfortunately demonstrated - to tragic effect - on December 30 when Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, believed to be a Jordanian, detonated a powerful explosive device, killing 7 CIA operatives in Afghanistan's Khost region.
January 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a September 2008 stump speech, then candidate Barack Obama advocated the establishment of a national security force.
January 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It was with a certain amount of negative prejudgment that I recently screened Guy Ritchie's new work, Sherlock Holmes, with our Cultural Editor having warned me that the movie, was good but could have gone straight to DVD.
January 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - It isn't often I review currently running movies. Personally, I feel a good movie, or any movie for that matter must simmer on the back of one's mind, gestating amid reflections both conscious and sub-conscious, until a proper opinion can be properly birthed.
January 4, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On New Years' Eve, Bill Ayers, the unapologetic Weather Underground domestic terrorist who launched Barack Obama's political career, his wife, the equally notorious Weather Underground leader Bernardine Dohrn, Jodie Evans - Code Pink bigwig and a major Democrat Party funder with over 22k in donations reported to the FEC in 2009 - and a gaggle of other Jew hating leftist bigots gathered in front of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to join in solidarity with the terrorist group Hamas.
