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JOHN BRENNAN'S DISGRACEFUL PERFORMANCE

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Scott and John have already eviscerated the dreadful performance of Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan on FOX News Sunday. Before his appearance, the Washington Post had reported that "the normally reclusive Brennan is scheduled to appear on several Sunday TV talk shows." We now have a pretty good idea of why Brennan is "normally reclusive."

By departing from his norm, Brennan has shown himself to be a hack and has undermined any lingering confidence that the Obama administration has a clue about how to fight terrorism. His statement, in response to a question about what the downside might be to treating Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant --

"there are no downsides or upsides in particular cases" --

In the most telling moment of his interview with Wallace, Brennan was unable to deny that this is what the adminstration has done in this case.

WALLACE: But wait, wait. Let me ask you specifically. After Abdulmutallab got lawyered up, did he stop cooperating with authorities? Did he stop talking?

BRENNAN: I'm not going to address exactly what he did before or after he was -- talked with his lawyer. We got information. We continue to have opportunities to do that.

Maybe the CIA should put that exchange up at its Langley headquarters too.

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Pantybomber exposes naked bureaucracy

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On Christmas Day, a gentleman from Nigeria succeeded (effortlessly) in boarding a flight to Detroit with a bomb in his underwear. Pretty funny, huh? But the Pantybomber wasn't the big joke.

The real laugh was the United States government. The global hyperpower spent the next week making itself a laughingstock to the entire planet...

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White House: No matter what, we're sending Gitmo prisoners back to Yemen

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As Susan notes below, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Obama White House not to go forward with plans to send a number of Yemeni terrorists now being held in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility back to their home country.

But the Obama White House insists it will continue to send those Gitmo inmates to Yemen -- a country now recognized as a hotbed of terrorism so dangerous that the U.S. has decided to close its embassy there...

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Terror probes - what you’re not being told

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On August 1, 2001, Hollywood actor James Woods witnessed four men of Middle Eastern appearance engaged in suspicious behavior on a transcontinental flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Mr. Woods’ first public recounting of his observations was five months after 9/11 on The O’Reilly Factor. During that February 15, 2002 broadcast, Mr. Woods stated that the suspicious behavior of the four men

“would have been blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.”

Investigation ultimately confirmed that the actor witnessed a “practice run” for the 9/11 hijackings. He ultimately learned that all four men he observed aboard his flight were terrorists who took part in the murderous hijackings on 9/11 – and that they were not all on the same plane during the actual hijackings.

Fast forward to Christmas Day 2009, when Islamic terrorist Umar Farouk Abdul-Mutallab carried PETN onto Delta-Northwest flight 253.. [snip]

The meaning of this is simple: the security of our airlines are being probed and probed heavily by al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists. Failing to admit and make public this tactic is endangering the lives of everyone flying this holiday season – and beyond.

We have been proven ineffective in our fight against such probes not by the savvy nature of the terrorists, but by the neutering of our pre-flight security for fear of ethnic and religious profiling and outright failure to identify our enemy and provide an honest portrayal of their objectives. We are advised to report suspicious activity, yet are ridiculed and even threatened with predatory lawsuits when we do, as in the case of USAir Flight 300 in November 2006.

The time to identify threats to our citizens aboard our aircraft is on the ground, not at 35, 000 feet, and certainly not in a forensic lab in some makeshift morgue...

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Let's profile and save lives

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If there had been some common-sense profiling at the Amsterdam airport when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab got in line for a flight to Detroit, officials would have found the detonator stuffed in his underwear and that would have been the end of the story -- no last minute heroism required by passengers, no possibility of hundreds dead... [snip]

Saving lives is what it's about, of course, and that's what the Army failed to do in the case of Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, who announced his jihadist fanaticism to just about anyone who would listen but was apparently left alone because officials thought it would be unseemly to kick a Muslim out of the Army. He shot 13 people to death at Fort Hood.

Political correctness can be deadly.

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Spy chiefs turn on President Obama after seven CIA agents are slaughtered in Afghanistan

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Barack Obama was accused of double standards yesterday in his treatment of the CIA.

‘One day the President is pointing the finger and blaming the intelligence services, saying there is a systemic failure,’ The fact is that we are doing everything humanly possible to stay on top of the security situation' ... The deaths of our operatives shows just how involved we are on the ground.’

Backlash: Agency officials are angry at the president's about face

But CIA bosses claim they were unfairly blamed at a time the covert government agency has been stretched further than ever before in Afghanistan and Pakistan...

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Cars again torched in France at New Year

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Paris - Youths burned 1,137 cars across France overnight as New Year's Eve celebrations once again turned violent, the French Interior Ministry said on Friday. Car burnings are regular occurrences in poor suburbs that ring France's big cities, but the arson is especially prevalent during New Year's Eve revelry. The number of vehicles torched was only 10 short of the record 1,147 burned this time last year...

[The missing word, again; French “youths”, from poor Muslim suburbs,...]

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British universities: seats of learning – and loathing

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Many British universities are breeding grounds for Muslim extremism. Islamic specialist Ruth Dudley Edwards explains why financial need and government interference have rendered academics oblivious to this threat to democratic society...

Our universities have become breeding-grounds for Islamism Photo: Alamy

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Bowing to Shariah law aggravates radical Islam

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Generally speaking, showing respect to other cultures and religions is a great virtue that can create peace and harmony among different civilizations. However, it is vital to distinguish between, for example, traditional dancing and the stoning of women until death as parts of various cultures.

Tolerance for the former is useful; however, tolerance of the latter is entirely destructive.

We also need to distinguish between religious values, such as fasting, that predominantly affect the person who practices them, and those religious values that have a negative effect on others.

The U.S. must insist that Muslims here practice their faith and fit it within the borders of the American legal system, and not the other way around.

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Ouch! Putin Answer About Terrorism Stuns Press Conference to Silence

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Ouch!

This video of Russian ex-President (now Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin's response to a question about terrorism at a G-8 summit press conference was posted in early 2008. However, his answer is worth noting now in light of Barack Obama's rather dispassionate first response to the Nigerian Christmas Day bomb plot terrorist which came off as sounding like a tepid legalistic statement from a deputy district attorney. Here is a transcipt of the question from a French journalist and the blunt response from Putin which stunned the press conference to silence:

FRENCH JOURNALIST: ...Don't you think that by trying to eradicate terrorism in Chechnya you are going to eradicate the civilian population of Chechnya?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you want to become an Islamic fundamentalist and be circumcised, come to Moscow. We are multiconfessional. We have very good specialists. I can recommend one for the operation. He'll make sure nothing grows back.

Double ouch! And Putin wasn't joking as evidenced by his lack of even a hint of a smile and the deadly look of steel in his eyes. While we are busy Mirandizing terrorists such as the Nigerian underwear bomber, Putin has a whole different approach to terrorism. Call him the anti-Obama.


A few comments from the YouTube thread of this video:

Putin means Terrorism must be stopped at all cost. It cannot be negotiated with.

I love that awkward silence at the end.

Even the guy next to Putin was like 'Did he just say what I think he said?'

I don't agree with much of Putin's imperial attitude and policies but after watching this video, it is frightening to think how much he must dominate Obama in private negotiations. And what must Putin think about Americans reading Miranda rights to apprehended terrorists?

[Watch this.]
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Putin: Russia to develop offensive weapons to keep 'balance' with U.S.

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Moscow, Russia - Russia needs to develop "offensive strike systems" to preserve strategic balance with the United States, without producing its own missile defense, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Tuesday.

Putin's comment, made at a press briefing in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok, echoed a similar call from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week.

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Patsies For Putin?

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National Security: The White House wanted to "push the reset button" on U.S.-Russia relations this year. But recent remarks by Vladimir Putin indicate that Russia now takes us for a bunch of suckers. Talks on a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty have hit a snag. The old Start agreement expired Dec. 5 and with nothing to replace it, Russia is playing hardball.

So far, unfortunately, it looks like the U.S. is playing only softball...

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Executive Order: International Police Granted Full Immunity in US and Not Subject to FOIA Requests

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In 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued an Executive Order which gave permission to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to operate within the boundaries of the United States. Reagan’s EO put INTERPOL under the same basic guidelines as the CIA, FBI, ATF and other Federal law enforcement agencies.

Two weeks ago, without any announcement, debate, discussion or inquiry from journalists charged with “speaking truth to power” President Obama issued an amendment to this EO.

The amendment removed part of Reagan’s order that kept INTERPOL from having full diplomatic immunity while operating within the United States.

In other words: Under Reagan and right up until two weeks ago, INTERPOL was authorized to operate within the USA but they did not have full diplomatic immunity and had to adhere to certain laws set forth for investigative agencies. Laws that prohibit authorities from violating our constitutionally protected rights... [snip]

One other tasty tidbit: Due to the amended language created by President Obama, INTERPOL is now, no longer subject to Freedom of Information Act Inquiries.

I wonder if during his vacation in Hawaii if one of the intrepid reporters could ask the President:

“Mr. President, is it true that due to your amendment to Executive Order 12425, INTERPOL may break into a home without a warrant, seize private property of a US citizen, hold a citizen for questioning without the right of legal representation and not be subject to any legal or criminal repercussion?”

I’d really like them to ask that question. Wouldn’t you?

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"REPEAL Amendment to EO 12425"


Whitehouse: mailto:president@whitehouse.gov
YOUR Senator: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
YOUR Congressman: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml

or: Speed Message them with your personal distribution list...

and as always, pass it on...

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U.S. Loan Effort Is Seen as Adding to Housing Woes

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The Obama administration’s $75 billion program to protect homeowners from foreclosure has been widely pronounced a disappointment, and some economists and real estate experts now contend it has done more harm than good. Since President Obama announced the program in February, it has lowered mortgage payments on a trial basis for hundreds of thousands of people but has largely failed to provide permanent relief.

As a result, desperate homeowners have sent payments to banks in often-futile efforts to keep their homes, which some see as wasting dollars they could have saved in preparation for moving to cheaper rental residences. Some borrowers have seen their credit tarnished while falsely assuming that loan modifications involved no negative reports to credit agencies.

Some experts argue the program has impeded economic recovery by delaying a wrenching yet cleansing process through which borrowers give up unaffordable homes and banks fully reckon with their disastrous bets on real estate, enabling money to flow more freely through the financial system.

“The choice we appear to be making is trying to modify our way out of this, which has the effect of lengthening the crisis,”

[As predicted from the first.]

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POLL: People Think Stimulus Package Hurt Economy

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Bad news for the Obama administration and Democrats who want to run the economy. According to Rasmussen Reports: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 30% of voters nationwide believe the $787-billion economic stimulus plan has helped the economy. However, 38% believe that the stimulus plan has hurt the economy. This is the first time since the legislation passed that a plurality has held a negative view of its impact...[snip]

Obviously, the American people have seen through the Obama program. Now they need to make their views heard on Capitol Hill before the Democratic majority does permanent damage...

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Obama’s Only Real Accomplishment

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Let’s get it straight, behind all the hubbub and noise, the international trips and summits, the TV specials and constant addresses to the nation and any other nation that would let him in, the huge spending plans and the photoshoots—Barack Hussein Obama has accomplished only one thing in his first year in office.

Obama’s only real accomplishment is that he took hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money, and directed them to his donors on Wall Street,the unions and the insurance industry.

Barry Hussein took in nearly 15 million dollars in donations from securities and investments companies, and his first priority was to pay it back with a massive bailout that has exploded the deficit...

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What bias?

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On December 22, the networks calmly, briefly, and quietly acknowledged the news that the government revised its economic-growth number for the third quarter downward, from 3.5 percent to a less impressive 2.2 percent. As 2009 comes to a close, the media elite are showing enormous patience with the pace of a recovery, without any troublesome talk of whether Barack Obama’s dramatic expansion of government is helping or hurting the economy.

Back in 2004, when unemployment was 5.4 percent instead of the present-day 10 percent, these same networks were comparing George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover. The government announced 250,000 new jobs were created, but the anchormen talked incessantly about how Bush was losing unemployed voters in Ohio.

The Business and Media Institute found 77 percent of reports on economic indicators on ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC (as well as The New York Times and The Washington Post) were negative that summer.

The economy can no longer be blamed on Bush. Obama has shaped it with his fiscal policies. He owns it. So when wil his allies in the press ever acknowledge that the "jobs program" is a fiasco, and that Team Obama failed to match its own hyperbole on what the "stimulus" would accomplish? [snip]

Ronald Reagan’s economic recovery program generated the greatest peacetime expansion in history. That is fact. To this day, the "news" media report it as a failure. Obama’s economic program thus far has been a disaster. That is fact. To this day, the "news" media "report" it as a "recovery."

George Orwell would be proud...

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ObamaCare on Drugs

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Democrats are starting to mash together the Senate and House health-care bills, all of the negotiations taking place in secret. One reason to keep quiet is so voters don't discover items like the Senate's destructive change in the way retiree health benefits are taxed. This is a revenue grab that will cost many retirees their private drug benefit coverage, with knock-on harm for the federal budget and financial markets... [snip]

When even the budget scorekeeper spurns economic incentives, you know pure politics is in charge. We suspect the White House will discover soon enough that everyone is a lot more rational, and a lot smarter, that it presumes...

[ONLY if we let them know it...

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POLL: Obamacare Disapproval at New High

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Rasmussen's health-care polling results since Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid orchestrated the Christmas Eve vote are full of undeniably bad news for Democrats. In roughly ascending order of bad news (if one is a Democrat)...

Likely voters oppose Obamacare by more than the (18-point) margin by which Ronald Reagan beat Walter Mondale: 58 percent to 39 percent.

There are far more likely voters who "strongly" oppose Obamacare (46 percent) than there are likely voters who support it even "somewhat" (39 percent).

Only 24 percent of likely voters think that the quality of health care would get better under Obamacare, while 54 percent think it would get worse -- a gap of 30 percent.

Only 13 percent of likely voters think that the cost of health would go down under Obamacare, while 63 percent think it would rise -- a gap of 50 percent.

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No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide in Past 160 Years

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Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere.

To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and FINDS finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.

This directly contradicts the majority of climate models that assume that the airborne fraction will increase.

Because understanding of the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide is important for predicting future climate change, it is essential to have accurate knowledge of whether that fraction is changing or will change as emissions increase.

The research is published in Geophysical Research Letters.

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The wasteful avalanche of 12 million light bulbs

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Twelve million low-energy light bulbs were posted to households over Christmas by an energy company as part of its legal obligation to cut carbon emissions, despite government advice that many would never be used...

Npower did not know how many of the bulbs would be used.

“There is nothing under [the carbon emissions reduction target scheme] that means we have to get evidence that bulbs are being used. It’s up to the customer,”

she said.

[The Green religion: it has nothing to do with the environment.]

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Sarah Palin, Man of the Year
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2009 was an extraordinary year in which ordinary people did extraordinary things not because they were the easy things to do, but because they were the right thing to do... [READ, very gratifying examples re:] ... The list of such candidates was long as the United States and Canada are nations that still celebrate and nurture rugged individualism... [snip]

While each of the finalists was deserving, there can be only one man of the year — Sarah Palin. In the pantheon of people who stood up this year for that which is right, no one else stood taller.

She endured the most and came to symbolize the majority of American citizens who are stunned by the attempt to rapidly dismantle this great nation of ours and transform it into another Euro-weenie socialist country that apologizes for trying to save the rest of the world over the years.

Naming Sarah Palin as Man of the Year is the only logical conclusion to a year when Americans who petitioned their government for a redress of grievances were smeared as “un-American” by the people who are temporarily in charge.

Americans love her for sharing their values of home, hearth and country. They love her for being of the the people, by the people and for the people.

Oh, not the 'elites' and the elitist wannabes. The little potty-mouthed drones on the left think they are so sophisticated as they mock 14-year-old girls, babies with Down syndrome and people who shop at Wal-Mart. The Washington Post’s book reviewer bragged that she did not read Sarah Palin’s book. Ignorance is now a status symbol for the left.

But ordinary people are reading her book, and they're impressed... She is genuine. Her beliefs in freedom, in independence and in community service reflect how she was raised. She does not hide who she is. There are no ulterior motives. There is no one underneath her bus...[snip]

The question anymore is not whether she is ready for the presidency — unlike our current president, she has had her mettle tested in fire several times now and passed with quite more than a gentleman’s B+ — but rather the question is whether she is too pretty to be president.

Sarah Palin, Man of the Year

The other finalists...

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