Mexican Police - New Headquarters for Intelligence

On November 25, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Secretary of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna officially opened the Center of Intelligence of the Federal Police.

It is located on the campus of the Public Security Secretariat headquarters in the Alvaro Obregon delegation of Mexico City. The building is complete with underground facilities and reportedly energy independent from the rest of the SSP campus. It includes four departments: security, operations, national alerts and strategic installations. The center is directly connected to over 600 state and municipal offices as well as 169 Federal Police (PF) stations throughout the country. 

President Calderon boldly stated that this new intelligence center represents a step forward in the PF’s ability to battle organized crime across Mexico, but its true security and effectiveness remain questionable. The center has been operating for the last four months, allowing the staff to identify problems and make appropriate changes before the official opening. The center is designed to be interoperable with Colombian and U.S. systems to allow a free flow of information among the three countries. However, the necessary information-sharing agreements reportedly are still in the works. Nobody really believes that that what is managed within the inner sanctum will remain secure from the cartels - and particularly The Federation (the cartel that controls and manages the narcotics trafficking in well over half of Mexico).

In many states within Mexico, the cartels are the de-facto government. A senior member of a very influential cartel told me that roughly one third of the businesses in a state in Mexico operate because of loans made from "the cartel". To the extent that's true, the cartel operates within that particular state in Mexico as a guarantor for loans well in excess of any other single lender. I also am left with the distinct impression that the federal police within that particular state work as the enforcement arm of the cartel. Arrested persons are therefore predominantly comprised of people who were not serving the interests of the cartel.

The new Federal Police Intelligence Center is similar to Special Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIF) utilized by the United States government. The centralization of sensitive information on cartel activity in this facility will undoubtedly make it a high-priority target for cartels to penetrate, if they haven’t already. 

The Policia Federal Preventivia (Federal Prevention Police) (badge above - right) were instituted to protect against kidnapping. While well managed at the outset, they've been plagued by corruption more recently.

Hunger & Food Banks

There should be no hunger in America. 

I can't speak to other nations' means, but I can speak to ours. 

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS HAVE FAILED and they will continue to fail to feed the needy, no matter who is president or who sits in the legislature. I am not talking about food stamps, which are regularly traded for drugs (going rate is $1 foodstamp for $.30 worth of narcotics on the street). I'm not talking about government subsidies, which have had a checkered past and limited value. I am talking about food and food banks which survive based on the charity of good people.  To cite a well used metaphor, the government couldn't pour sand out of boot if the instructions were on the heel. You'd be paying three times the value of a can of beans for the government to hand it out.

I returned a few minutes ago from the local food bank and there was a long line of people waiting for a bag of food each (fresh fruit) and a bag of food each (canned goods). Those people were not standing in line because they had a dark motive for a hand out. They were standing there because they were hungry.

Our family has a practice. When we go to Costco or a warehouse store, we buy a flat or two of canned goods or peanut butter each time. Every month or so we drop that bounty off at the food bank.

Government hand-outs at taxpayer expense provide the excuse or perception that the poor are cared for. In most states, we're tapped by the federal and state government at an obscene level to "care for the poor". What we do is create massive bureaucracies with vast overhead costs so that 90% (or so) of the money is consumed by the government jobs and a trickle goes out the other end to the poor. People feel as though the thousands of dollars they pay annually for the sake of the poor actually go to the poor. People feel as though they've done enough when they look at their check stub (what they earned, minus what they pay in tax) and for a long time I felt the same way.

Sadly, it's not enough. We need to do what we can, when we can, because there is no excuse for hunger in America.

America's Option

In the referenced link above, MAINFO quotes Russian Analysts who are predicting a civil war in the United States commencing in early 2010.

Russian Military Analysts are reporting to Prime Minister Putin that US President Barack Obama has issued orders to his Northern Command’s (USNORTHCOM) top leader, US Air Force General Gene Renuart, to “begin immediately” increasing his military forces to 1 million troops by January 30, 2010, in what these reports warn is an expected outbreak of civil war within the United States before the end of winter.

I think we all agree that the United States is in a tight space, made tighter by the irresponsible policies of the Barack Hussein Obama Administration and the US Congress, however the Russians are more hysterical than usual in their predictions of a civil war within the United States by the end of winter 2010.

The people of the United States, albeit foolishly, elected Barack Hussein Obama to be their leader. Buyer's remorse has followed and a number of conservatives have had the chance to say, "I told you so." There is another election in 2010 and people will have the opportunity to make a choice to change the direction of the legislature - or - to keep the Democrats in power, led by such stalwarts as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Never underestimate the stupidity of the general public - so they may remain in office.

Buyer's remorse/voter's remorse rarely translates into a civil war. And if there was public unrest, I don't know which side the military or police would land on. My sense is that they would be loyal to their oaths of office. I don't think that Barack Hussein Obama is entirely comfortable with that, because the oath of office is to the Constitution and not to Dear Leader personally.

However, to suggest civil war is to lack an understanding of the American people - at this stage of the game.

Going out of Business

In the region of California where I live, unemployment rates are over 20%. That's not the speculative rate, taking in those who have been unemployed so long they're off the government's books, the teenagers who have never been employed or the self-employed people who have been driven out of work and don't qualify for unemployment insurance. That's the book rate, which means the real rate is higher.

Many businesses have closed. Very few have opened. Many strip malls are empty with a few stalwarts still trying to grasp at straws. I go to businesses to buy things where I have gone before and they're not there. Sometimes there is a sign. Sometimes no sign at all - they threw in the towel without a whisper. Not even a note.

To hear idiots like Vice President Joe (Slow Joe) Biden speak, 'happy days are here again', but he and his coterie of puffed up, bloated fatcats and Washington insiders must not leave the DC Beltway much. Or, more likely, they simply don't care. Barack Hussein Obama (mmm-mmm-mmm), concerned with himself alone, is even further in the ozone.

Car dealerships that once had a large inventory on the lot, now have half a dozen or a dozen cars floored for customer's inspection as they cope with lack of sales and credit.

I spent the day with friends at their business. I own a piece of that business. These guys are scientists. If you watch the Science Channel on television, you've seen them. They're world class experts at what they do who teach at the California Institute of Technology, one used to be a professor at MIT. They create cool stuff that improves people's lives by advancing the bar technologically. One very small security measure we've completed provides a very inexpensive device that will change the way people are able to secure their homes and property - well it would if we could stay in business. The manufacturers we planned to use have ALL gone out of business - and we could get the work done outside the US but there are export restrictions that extend to manufacturing. Across the board, the little company is going under because of the inability to obtain loans because money is tight. It might go under.

And for every company that fails, people are out of work. Failed companies and the unemployed do not pay taxes. The more the government makes good its promise to tax those evil, rich Americans that make over $250,000 into the poor house, the less likely those evil rich will be motivated to RISK opening businesses and employing people. I mean why bother when Barack Hussein Obama (mmm.mmm.mmm) promises to take what you earn for the sake of social leveling?

One of my best friends has a wife who is a noted computer scientist - and there aren't even any employment ads in AMERICA for her specialty. A number of companies in India have been courting her, but she has no interest in moving to India. I just hired her husband to work for me - he was out of work. He was concerned that maybe, just maybe, they'd have to move to India just to find work. That's the hope and change Dear Leader brought.

Welcome! You're in the ObamaNation!! It's a place of CHANGE that idiots voted for.   It's just one big party here and don't worry about illegal aliens - the Mexicans have gone home because they can't find work either.   

Can Computers Predict the Future?

Military planners have long used war games to plan for future conflicts. Beginning in the 1950s, defense analysts began to develop computer-based models to predict the outcomes of military battles that incorporated elements of game theory. Such models were often restricted to two opposing forces, and often had a strict win-lose resolution.

Today, defense analysts face situations that are more complex, not only in that conflicts may involve several opposing groups within a region, but also in that military actions are only part of an array of options available in trying to foster stable, peaceful conditions. For example, in the current conflict in Afghanistan, analysts try to estimate how particular actions by their forces—building schools, burning drug crops, or performing massive security sweeps—will affect interactions between the many diverse ethnic groups in the region.


I'll grant you that the smartest computer in the world could not have predicted on September 12, 2001 that a quasi Muslim - call him a Muslim of convenience - Barack Hussein Obama (mmm.mmm.mmm) would have risen to be the next American President.  That notwithstanding, can our outlandish behavior, given that we frequently act against our best self-interest, be predicted by computer gaming? Can virtual worlds help us to avoid pitfalls by "gaming" the outcome?

Do you believe that this sort of game-related activity could predict voting behavior of the American public in the future?

Walking the Walk

I have been flying from place to place lately. On one flight I spoke with a flight attendant who hoped fervently that the government would bail the industry out because they are all going broke. He explained to me that since every other major industry was receiving an influx of funds from the US Treasury, he felt that it was only right that the airline industry got its share of the pie. My response went something like this, "so you think that we should borrow more money to subsidize fares?" He hadn't really thought it through. The Obama concept of hope and change meant redistribution of wealth based first on breaking the back of the American economy so that the voters would accept any measure, no matter how absurd, as a solution.

These measures are brought to a vote at night, on weekends, with huge pressure applied to individual legislators where greed and power combine to 'get out the vote'. Trillions of dollars are pledged to government programs following the path of previous failed programs. The voting public is assured that they are "entitled" to the promise of socialism. Obama's legion of czars over nearly every function of government insures that the agenda is pursued aggressively.

And we sink just a little deeper into the morass every single day as Obama's "New face of America" - that smiling plastic shell with the gargoyle's leer behind it - becomes "our face". The Commander-in-Chief of the US Military adds his speech (delivered from the teleprompter) and adds his voice to the shrill American and foreign voices that hate the American military. 

Barack Hussein Obama wasn't at the site of the Berlin Wall on November 9th to Celebrate the Fall of the Wall because he does not see things the way we do. He cheers on the Communist Chinese because the Rape of Tibet has no meaning to him. He tearfully apologizes to those who would revel in our destruction and fervently quotes from the Quran. He cautions the media not to "rush to judgment" when a US (Muslim) Army Officer slaughters his own without provocation. He sells the nation into financial bondage at a rate never seen before in the history of the world for the sake of funding "bail outs" as he sits as the de facto CEO of General Motors.

Is there anything nice one can say about Barack Hussein Obama?

Chris Plante Tears Up 3 CNN Liberals Re: Lou Dobbs

Guest Post by Opus #6:
Here is a nice mop-the-floor moment on CNN. They kept trying to make the point that Lou Dobbs had to go because he gave out his "opinion" too much. When there are other "opinion" people on CNN with WORSE ratings. Ha! I hope their rating reflect their quality. Or lack thereof.
Hat Tip NNN.

The Terrorist Next Door

Scenario: Your next door neighbors are friends. They are white Americans who converted to Islam some years before and though they dress as traditional Muslims and though the father grows his beard long and proud, they are model citizens.

They are part of the local community and the only thing that seems to separate them from the rest of the neighborhood in any way is their faith. And freedom of religion is a Constitutionally guaranteed activity.

Then one day you wake to find the police and FBI are hauling weapons and explosives from the house.

Does that sound strange to you?  (The Indictment - CLICK HERE )

______________

http://www.theherald-nc.com/front/story/10861.html

(right) Daniel Boyd

WILLOW SPRING, North Carolina — In a two-story house with a neat lawn, a lake and fruit trees in the back yard, the Boyd family lived a normal, quiet existence, neighbors say.

Daniel Boyd made a living as a contractor while his wife, Sabrina, stayed home with the family. Their oldest sons, Dylan and Zakariya, worked with their father. Their teenage son and daughter hung out with other kids in the neighborhood, fishing and playing badminton.

But in Johnston County, where people proudly fly the U.S. Flag and pack into churches every Sunday, the Boyds were different. They were devout Muslims and talked openly about their faith. Daniel Boyd wore a beard and long robes; his wife often dressed in long skirts and long-sleeved shirts.

Despite the religious and cultural differences, the Boyd family fit in well in Shadow Lakes subdivision, near the Wake County line, neighbors said. The family went to a Memorial Day picnic in the neighborhood. They took walks along the streets of the quaint community.

“I’ve never heard any gossip about them,” said Susan Bedwell, who lived next door to the Boyds. “If anybody said anything, it was something good.”

This would seem an unlikely place, and an unlikely family, to receive so much attention and scrutiny. But last week, Daniel Boyd, two of his sons and four other men were arrested after a three-year federal investigation. Authorities say the men were at the center of a plot to wage terrorism overseas. The charges brought national attention.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell said his department played only a small role in the arrests. But the events, he said, bring to light a changing county, one that is becoming more diverse, more populated. “Nothing surprises me anymore,” Bizzell said.

The arrests were surprising — and devastating — to Norm and Susan Bedwell, who have lived in Shadow Lakes for 10 years. They befriended their neighbors when the Boyds moved next door to them five years ago.

“The more I think about it, the more I think something is not right about this story,” Susan Bedwell said. “The pieces do not fit. That’s not who they were.”

The Bedwells said they don’t believe Daniel Boyd and his sons, Dylan and Zakariya, are terrorists. Norm Bedwell used to talk to Daniel Boyd over the fence about religion. They politely respected each other’s differing faiths, Bedwell said.

The Boyds were always willing to help. When the Bedwells’ air conditioner broke, Daniel Boyd sent a friend to fix it. Sabrina Boyd brought chicken soup when one of the Bedwells was sick.

Tylur Gray, 17, built a tree house in the neighborhood last summer with his friends. When Daniel Boyd spotted what they were up to, Gray thought he and his friends were going to get in trouble. But instead, Boyd offered the kids wood and nails for the tree house. “He seemed really nice, actually,” Gray said. “Like someone who could just get along with people.”

The Boyd family had quite a journey before they ended up in Willow Spring. Daniel Boyd, who went to high school in Virginia, and his brother were accused of robbing a bank in Pakistan in the early 1990s. A higher court overturned the sentence, which was to be amputation of an arm and a leg. They moved back to the United States and settled in Massachusetts.

The Triangle’s growth, and need for contractors, brought Daniel Boyd and his family here. The Boyds liked the neighborhood.

“We couldn’t ask for better neighbors,” Susan Bedwell said.

For another article, see:  www.newsobserver.com/terrorism_investigation

There were people who felt the very same way about Major Nidal Hasan - a misunderstood jihadist. Until he murdered them in cold blood. No, I don't know the Boyd family. However the circumstances of his life and his continuing activities as a jihadist are not in keeping with the best interests of the community. -- CALL ME JADED.

(Left) Sabrina Boyd

RALEIGH, NC—Seven individuals have been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad, David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division; George E.B. Holding, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina; and Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Charlotte Field Division, announced today.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2009, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina returned a sealed seven-count indictment against the following defendants:

Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a native of Kosovo and a U.S. legal permanent resident located in North Carolina
Anes Subasic, 33, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Zakariya Boyd, 20, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Dylan Boyd, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina
Ziyad Yaghi, 21, a U.S. citizen and resident of North Carolina

All the defendants are charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, as well as conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad. In addition, Daniel Boyd, Hysen Sherifi and Zakariya Boyd are each charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Daniel Boyd and Dylan Boyd are also each charged with selling a firearm to a convicted felon. Finally, Daniel Boyd is also charged with receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and two counts of making false statements in a terrorism investigation.

The defendants were arrested at various locations this morning by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. They made their initial appearances today in federal court in Raleigh, N.C. At that time, the indictment was unsealed.

“The indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan who, over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill. Given the weapons allegedly involved in this conspiracy and the seriousness of the charges, the many agents, analysts, and prosecutors who were able to bring about this case and safely remove these defendants from our streets deserve special thanks,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division.

“These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far away land but can grow and fester right here at home. Terrorists and their supporters are relentless and constant in their efforts to hurt and kill innocent people across the globe. We must be equally relentless and constant in our efforts to stop them,” said U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding.

“The threat that extremists and radicals pose to America and our allies has not dulled or gone away. These arrests today show there are people living among us, in our communities in North Carolina and around the U.S., that are honing their skills to carry out acts of murder and mayhem. Their ultimate goal is to wage war on freedom and democracy. The FBI and our law enforcement partners are doing all we can to stop them from thriving and successfully attacking again,” said Owen D. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. “We will remain vigilant, so must the public. If you see or hear something—act—call your local police department or the FBI. September 11th is not a vague memory for us, nor should it be for anyone.”

“The cooperation between federal, state and local authorities throughout this investigation has been outstanding. It is only with our ongoing law enforcement partnership through the Joint Terrorism Task Force in conjunction with North Carolina’s fusion center, ISAAC, that we are able to ensure public safety from these terrorist threats,” said North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Robin P. Pendergraft.

The Conspiracy

According to the indictment, during the period from 1989 through 1992, Daniel Boyd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad. Following this training, he allegedly fought in Afghanistan.

From roughly November 2006 through at least July 2009, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and the other defendants conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists, including currency, training, transportation, and personnel. The defendants also conspired to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad during this period. The object of the conspiracy, according to the indictment, was to advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities abroad and committing acts of murder, kidnapping, or maiming persons abroad.

The indictment alleges that, as part of the conspiracy, the defendants prepared themselves to engage in violent jihad and were willing to die as martyrs. They also allegedly offered training in weapons and financing, and helped arrange overseas travel and contacts so others could wage violent jihadoverseas.

As part of the conspiracy, the indictment further alleges that the defendants raised money to support training efforts, disguised the destination of such monies from the donors, and obtained assault weapons to develop skills with the weapons. Some defendants also allegedly radicalized others to believe that violent jihad was a personal religious obligation.

Recruitment and Travels

Among other acts, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd traveled to Gaza in March 2006 and attempted to enter Palestine in order to introduce his son to individuals who also believed that violentjihad was a personal religious obligation. Later, in October 2006, defendant Ziyad Yaghi allegedly departed the United States for Jordan to engage in violent jihad.

In June 2007, Daniel Boyd and several other defendants departed the United States for Israel in an effort to engage in violent jihad, but ultimately returned to the United States after failing in their efforts. According to the indictment, after his return to the United States, Daniel Boyd made false statements twice to federal officials about who he had planned to meet on his trip to Israel.

In February 2008, Daniel Boyd allegedly solicited money to fund the travel of additional individuals overseas to engage in violent jihad and in March 2008, discussed with Anes Subasic preparations to send two individuals abroad for this purpose. He allegedly accepted $500 in cash from defendant Hysen Sherifi to be used to help fund jihad overseas and later showed Sherifi how to operate an AK-47 assault weapon.

In July 2008, Sharifi allegedly departed the United States for Kosovo to engage in violentjihad. According to the indictment, Sharifi later returned to North Carolina in April 2009, for the purpose of soliciting funds and personnel to support the mujihadeen.

Weapons and Training

The indictment also alleges that Daniel Boyd obtained a variety of weapons in furtherance of the conspiracy to murder persons overseas and provide material support to terrorists. These included a Bushmaster M4A3 rifle that Boyd allegedly received illegally via interstate commerce in 2006, as well as an ETA M16 V System C-MAG that he purchased in 2006. In 2007, he allegedly purchased a Ruger mini 14 long gun.

During 2008, the indictment alleges that Boyd purchased a Mossburg 100 ATR .270 rifle, a Llama Camanche III .357 revolver, a Century Arms AK Sporter 7.62 X 39 rifle and a Ruger mini 30 7.62 X 39 rifle. During 2009, Boyd allegedly purchased a Ishmash SAGA .308 rifle, a Century Arms Polish Tantal 5.45 X 39 rifle, a Century Arms C91 rifle .308, a Century Arms M70B1 7.62 X 34 rifle, a Ruger mini 14 5.56 rifle, and a Smith & Wesson MP15 .223 rifle.

The indictment further alleges that in February 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Dylan Boyd, knowingly sold a Beretta 9 mm handgun and ammunition to a convicted felon. In addition, the indictment alleges that in June 2009, Daniel Boyd and his son, Zakariya Boyd, used firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence, specifically conspiracy to murder.

Finally, the indictment alleges that Daniel Boyd and several of the defendants practiced military tactics and the use of weapons on private property in Caswell County, N.C., in June and July 2009.

Each of the defendants faces potential life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim, and injure persons abroad. In addition, conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists carries a maximum 15-year sentence. The charges of receiving a firearm through interstate commerce and selling a firearm to a convicted felon each carry a maximum 10-year sentence. Making false statements in a terrorism investigation carries a maximum eight-year sentence, while possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence carries a consecutive five-year sentence.

This investigation is being conducted by the Raleigh Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Charlotte Division of the FBI and NCISAAC, the North Carolina Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Barbara D. Kocher and Jason Cowley of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and Trial Attorney Jason Kellhofer, of the Counterterrorism Section in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains mere allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

Obama - Government Investigations

The government has scant capability to investigate itself. There are examples when it has done well, but usually that is because an outside authority, such as Congress, screams for answers. The FBI's cover up at Ruby Ridge, successfully investigated by the US Postal Investigation Service after the first two FBI OPR investigations were 'compromised internally' is one example.

Expecting the Obama Administration to investigate the rampant misconduct of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) scandal is laughable.  ACORN was a conduit for laundered campaign contributions, it was an action arm of the radical left (now in power in Washington) and the "street team" to effect hope and change. That is was populated by a coterie of thugs, pimps, petty narcotics users and traffickers and tax cheats was the absolutely smallest thing. That uncounted millions of dollars vanished or were conveniently redirected is something that Barack Hussein Obama, attorney for ACORN in Chicago does not want to come out. So it's locked as tight as his college transcripts (where he listed his religion as "Muslim").

Since both houses of Congress are led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, respectively, expect no help from that quarter. Federal Law Enforcement, as with the military and the rest of the executive branch of government answers directly to Barack Hussein Obama. He could appoint an investigation czar, but why even bring it up? Better to let it all die down and better to allow the public's attention to be drawn elsewhere. The US voter has a demonstrably short attention span. Most couldn't pick out New York on a US map or Iraq on a map of the world. 

The evidence will conveniently be lost or will fade away. Witnesses will be intimidated or rewarded for their silence. ACORN? What problem? Videos of them aiding and abetting the sexual slavery of children? Entrapment! Stolen housing funds? Racist! 

Its a good case for having some opposition from at least one house of Congress in any administration. An investigation, fact finding, lifting up rocks and shining a light under them is never bad for the country. If Clinton controlled both houses of Congress there would have been no Whitewater Investigation. No problems with a blue dress (what blue dress?). If Nixon controlled both houses of Congress the Watergate matter would have been crushed as thoroughly as Vince Foster's skull (oh, that was Clinton wasn't it?).

Obama - "Capitalism Evil"

I don't pretend to understand Barack Hussein Obama, America's DEAR LEADER. I don't think it's about being black or white. I know plenty of black people who own businesses and prosper under a free market, so that can't be it. Even Obama's best friend, Oprah Winfrey is a raging capitalist, shoveling in the money from Harpo Productions. Skin color is a red herring on this issue (pun intended).

Capitalism and a free market has been what separated us from the rest of the planet. It assured the most wealth for the most people. It offered a ladder up for people born into poverty if they were willing to climb. Today we have a US Administration that is gleefully tearing that down to replace it with an odious witch's brew of utopian socialism.

Are Muslims Hasan's Victims?

The day after the horrible tragedy occurred at Ft. Hood (and I'm not going to recount the grizzly details here), the BBC headline ran, "Shooting Raises Fears For Muslims In US Army". I found that an interesting perspective and didn't read the article because I was concerned for the safety of my computer if I did (window near). 13 innocent non-Muslims and one non-Muslim unborn child were dead. MAJ Hasan, the Muslim who shot them was alive in the hospital. 14-0 ratio.

There is a disconnect between the mass murder of fourteen innocent people and the immediate hypothetical that the murder would somehow create Muslim victims. Or am I the only one who feels this is a way WEIRD way to view this situation?

This skewed way of thinking is manifest in another bizarre theory that is floated in the mainstream media continually.  There are plentiful articles that maintain that Christianity and Judaism are just as violent as Islam. Really? Not from my perspective. If you want to go back to the crusades about a thousand years ago, you might have a point. I'd accept your argument. Today? No.

Barack Hussein Obama, the Black Liberation Theologist with the Islamic name and the Marxist dreams of his father on his mind who is commander-in-chief of the US Military seems to harbor the same concerns, thus apologies that are legion for America's perceived sins to the rest of the world for deeds done wrong.

The United States and much of the world which includes Russia, China, the EU, etc. is in a war with radical Islam and we have been in that war for quite some time. Many soldiers of the United States have been killed by radical Islamists. The photos (left) of Major Nidal Hasan, dressed in Islamic garb, shopping on base illustrate his personal disconnect between the deluded jihadists world he lives/lived in and the insensitivity of his actions. Would this alone be enough for another soldier shopping at the Base Exchange justify somebody ripping off his arm and beating him over the head with it? If I was on the jury, I'd say, "yes".

It's time for American Jews (many of whom are liberal and think Barack Hussein Obama is a fine president) to decide who their enemies are. It's time that we exercise intolerance of jihadists in the ranks of the US Military. If Muslims feel that my sentiments are insensitive, I don't care.

Just My View:

(1) The United States is at war with Islamic elements who practice murder as their stock in trade. Murder becomes their faith.

(2) Muslim people's right to freedom of religion does not extend to military service in the United States  when their core beliefs call for murder of United States soldiers/sailors/airmen.

(3) It is not discrimination to deny that service where evidence exists that individuals key religious beliefs  are jihadist.

ACLU types, take me on.

Barack Obama - The Lion King (Scar)

The Lion King is an animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1994. It was released on Broadway as a play and I saw the play in New York three months ago with my daughter, Emilie, who wanted to see it as part of a high school graduation present.

The play takes place in the Pride Lands where a lion rules over ll other animals as king. But all is not well. The King, Mufasa, has a brother, Scar, who would be king. Scar gains the loyalty of the hyenas by claiming that if he becomes king, they'll "never go hungry again". Scar tells the hyenas to kill Mufasa and Simba (the king's son and heir) thus establishing his plan of regicide. The hyenas carry out the orders of Scar and the plan is fulfilled.

The hyenas, who are parasitic scavengers destroy the land and years later when a now mature Simba returns to the Pride Lands, he finds that everything has been destroyed and eaten. The once lush Pride Lands are now desolate.

Disney picked a recurring theme in history to use as the pattern we see played out in The Lion King.

Barack Hussein Obama promised those who would eat the bread of other men that he would give them the spoils if they voted for his vision of "hope and change". As with the situations we've seen in other countries, retold in written and oral history, that state of affairs can not be sustained. As Margaret Thatcher so aptly put it, "the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." The something-for-nothing crowd took the White House and have been working hard to reapportion everything for the sake of what will one day be nothing (Lion King Scenario). The trillion dollar Pelosi health care bill is the latest in a long list of their efforts to do this.

What if Texas was its own COUNTRY?

This is a purely hypothetical question: If Texas seceded from the Union tomorrow, would you move to Texas? Barack Hussein Obama might welcome the exodus of those who are not onboard with his plan to radically change the United States into a utopian socialist nation.

Through the 9/12 march and through to the present, TEXANS seem to have been at the forefront of the patriotic resistance.  That is not to diminish those of us from California, land of fruits and nuts, but getting liberal California onboard in any meaningful way seems like a long and rocky path. But Texas, the Lone Star State has always had a tradition of personal freedom - so they don't seem to mesh well with the ObamaNation.

If Texas left the United States - would you prefer to live in Texas or in the ObamaNation? I presume that Texas would retain the US Constitution as the basis for all laws. I'm speculating here, but I think this is where Texas might differ from the US if it became its own nation.

IF Texas was a country, would the tax code (USC Title 26) be 16,845 pages* long?

*The US Government Printing Office (www.gpo.gov), has tax codes you can order. A complete set of Title 26 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, all twenty volumes of it, can be had at the bargain price of $974, shipping included. The full text of Title 26 of the United States Code (the part written by Congress--available for an additional $179).

IF Texas was a country, would the right to keep and bear firearms be a foregone conclusion, not a topic for endless debate.

IF Texas was a country, the capital from Wall Street would flow there like water, away from the wasteful, spendthrift, out-of-control US Government.

What else do you think you'd see if Texas was a country?

Major Hasan, a DHS Traitor?

A portion of this blog posting is lifted (with permission) from ATLAS SHRUGS :
Fort Hood shooter was member of Homeland Security Panel advising Obama (Jihadwatch). He served in this capacity at the same time that DHS was writing reports that right wing extremists such as Veterans, tea parties, patriots, and people opposed to abortion and ILLEGAL immigration were the real threat to America. Hasan was a jihadi by any objective analysis and people knew about his anti-American views/Pro-Radical Muslim views long before he murdered 13 people (14 if you include the infant who died within its murdered pregnant mother) at Ft. Hood.

The gunman who killed 12 people today at Ft. Hood appears, based on current media reports, to be Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan who was listed as a participant in a Homeland Security Policy Institute's presidential transition task force last year.

The task force was not officially affiliated with the White House. It was a project of the Homeland Security Policy Institute, an independent thinktank housed at George Washington University, aimed at drafting policy recommendations for the incoming Obama administration.

According to the task force's May 2009 report [pdf], a "Nidal Hasan" from the Uniformed Services University School of Medicine was a task force event participant. Other participants included Senate and House staffers, Department of Homeland Security officials, Defense Department officials, and reporters for Politico, the Washington Post, and the London Times.... (Atlas Shrugs)

When I suggested before his election, that  the current commander-in-chief, Barack Hussein Obama Jr., be investigated for his Islamic relationships, I was shouted down. "Come on, he's a Black Liberation Theologist" (sort of a Christian if you stretch your imagination), people replied. I'm sure if I was in the army and suggested that Major Hasan be relieved from his duties because of his radical Islamic views and actions, that it would have gone to the top and I would have been slapped down by Barack Hussein Obama. (Maybe to have ended up like that police officer in Cambridge, MA, who ended up having a well publicized beer with the President. Maybe cashiered from the army for being a RACIST).

Major Nidal Hasan worked with the Department of Homeland Security as an advisor on Islamic matters. I wonder what sort of advice he gave and who relied on that advice to make a decision?

Is Nancy Pelosi out of touch with Reality?

In a comment on a previous blog, my friend, also known as WoFat, commented on the air some of the Congress must breathe and how it must be different from that which the rest of us suck in and push out. Nowhere is that more extreme than with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi (D-CA). Personally, she's one of if not -the- wealthiest in Congress.

She's used to privilege since her father was a US Congressman too. In an act of supreme hubris, Rep. Pelosi commutes between San Francisco, California and Washington, DC on a VC-32A. That's a Boeing 757-200 aircraft that operates under the call sign, "Air Force Two".

So it's not even the slightest bit ironic that she exempted herself from the same healthcare that she is trying to push down the throat of the American taxpayer. She's an elite woman who would never stand in line for healthcare with the proles. No, Rep. Pelosi feels that what's good for us, isn't necessarily good for her.

Rep. Pelosi is shrill in her pleas for a government-run health insurance scheme to "keep the insurance companies honest." But Blue Cross/Blue Shield warns of dire consequences:

• "Millions of people would lose their current private coverage they are happy with ..."

• The federal government "will underpay providers — even if negotiated rates are initially used — creating major access issues, including long waits for services with some providers closing their doors ..."

• Any "government-run plan will use its built-in advantages — no matter how it is initially structured — to take over the market" via "price-setting based on Medicare" or through the use of "existing government programs as leverage for negotiations."

If it's worth turning the private health care industry upside down like that, this must be a solid gold system Congress is establishing. But Rep. Pelosi doesn't want it for herself? She'd rather keep the "Cadillac" coverage she has enjoyed for years, with its hundreds of private insurance options and heavily taxpayer-subsidized premiums. Pelosi's hypocrisy typifies the arrogance of professional politicians who like to dictate how others live, while shielding themselves from their own laws' consequences.

Nancy Pelosi is a role model for all Democrats. I'm sure they're all so proud of her.

Beyond R.I.N.O.

The Republican Party contains a significant number of "Republicans In Name Only (RINO)" members.  Many Democrats and journalists contend that the Republican Party can only survive if it embraces the RINOs.

I suggest that the Republican Party will become irrelevant and will essentially vanish if it retains the RINO members. The RINOs, as a group should become Democrats because they'll feel more comfortable there. Senator Arlen Specter is the poster child for all RINOs.

The photo right of Barack Hussein Obama, the senile Joe Biden and famous RINO, Senator Arlen Specter (D former R-PA) leads me to call for term limits for the Senate as well as those proposed for the House of Representatives.  I'm not suggesting that it's a bad idea for Specter to fly his true colors. At least he's proudly proclaiming himself to be a utopian socialist who has no problem financially ruining the United States of America for the sake of internationalism. He has no problem at all advocating the joys of having a group like ACORN managing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal loans to people who are likely to default on those loans because they're UNQUALIFIED for them (call me a racist if you must - but it's not about race, it's about financial qualification).

The heart of the matter is the growing number of independent voters who are fed up with both parties and who are increasingly conservative to the extent that "Constitutionalism" is conservative. Some of us would argue that being in favor of the rule of law under the Constitution of the United States is and should be viewed as mainstream and anyone who opposes the rule of law would be considered a 'fringe element'.

Independent voters will decide many if not all of 2010 elections.

Sorry Party faithful (both Parties). Politicians will be held increasingly accountable for their votes. You can not only talk the talk, the town hall meetings are indicative of a populace who wants you to walk the walk. The free ride is coming to an end, thanks to the utopian socialist, Barack Hussein Obama, whose stated goal is destruction of America as presently constituted and "rearranging" the social structure with coercion.

The coercion** of the American people has begun through government ownership of the domestic auto industry, the banking industry, the insurance industry and now the attempt to take over the healthcare industry. Government ownership means government power to compel Americans to do, or to abstain from doing, something by depriving them of the exercise of his their will, particularly by use or threat of financial or moral force.

** In many states of the United States, statutes declare a person guilty of a misdemeanor if he, by violence or injury to another's person, family, or property, or by depriving him of his clothing or any tool or implement, or by intimidating him with threat of force, compels that other to perform some act that the other is not legally bound to perform. Coercion may involve other crimes, such as assault. In the law of contracts, the use of unfair persuasion to procure an agreement is known as duress; such a contract is void unless later ratified. 

Opinions

This post is divided into two parts. The first is a piece by Ed Rollins (CNN) that was titled, "Vote shows Obama team must listen up" November 4, 2009 1:51 p.m. EST. The second is my opinion (mine only).

Ed Rollins, a senior political contributor for CNN, is senior presidential fellow at the Kalikow Center for the Study of the American Presidency at Hofstra University. He was White House political director for President Reagan and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee

(CNN) -- The president didn't watch the election returns Tuesday night, according to his press secretary, Robert Gibbs. He watched his beloved Chicago Bulls instead. At least in the NBA, his hometown basketball team won -- by two points over the Bucks. If he'd watched the election returns, he would have seen that his team got clobbered.

He also would have realized a lot of angry voters are out there who aren't very satisfied with the direction of the country. In a word, Tuesday's election was anti-incumbent. The status quo isn't good enough....The resounding Republican victories in the governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia should send a warning to Democrats everywhere that your job isn't safe just because you're an incumbent.

According to CNN exit polls, 30 percent of Virginia voters identify themselves as independents, and 65 percent of those people voted for the Republican winner, Robert McDonnell. In New Jersey, 28 percent of the voters are independent, and 60 percent of that vote went to the winner, Republican Chris Christie. Many of the voters who enthusiastically voted for the president last November didn't show up. Young voters, as they often do, stayed home in droves. Older voters voted.

Ed Rollins (above) is a Republican but he's not a conservative. Politically, he's more of a mainstream guy and I'd paint him as a quasi-liberal player. He's not a Constitutionalist and not a strident critic of the utopian socialist agenda of the ObamaNation crowd. However, he struck on a cord in regard his treatment of independent voters. Most independents are not happy with either party and you could group me there myself. The conservative movement in America does not want the business-as-usual Republicans in office either.  Dede Scozzafava (NY-23'rd District) dropped out of the race because she was unmasked as a Republican in name but a Democrat in heart. The election went to her Democratic Party opponent, Bill Owens after she dropped out of the race and was replaced last minute by Doug Hoffman.

Independents, many of whom are conservative by nature, don't want the John McCain style Republicans representing us. We don't want the Dede Scozzafava's walking around wearing Ronald Reagan masks. We want ethical, responsible, intelligent, strict Constitutionalists in office who will dig us out of the pit that the Democrats and many Republicans threw us in. We demand fiscal restraint, ethics in office, an intelligent foreign and domestic policy agenda that promotes the interests of America and her loyal allies first.

America doesn't need to apologize to anyone. Not for anything. Americans have been given the gift of freedom to make the most of themselves. American's don't want the Federal Government in every aspect of their lives. In fact, the less, the better. Candidates who follow that agenda faithfully will find themselves surrounded by throngs of thankful Americans. And those who don't will find that the few scabby, screwballs who follow them will not be sufficient to retain them in office.

Nobody Asked me about Obama -- But --

Obama watched basketball tonight because he didn't care about the mid-term elections.

Biden is too senile to know that there were elections but somebody might let him know when they bring his warm milk tonight before he goes to sleep.

-----------

In two mid-term elections for governor of Virginia and New Jersey, statewide electorates selected conservative candidates. Bob McDonnell (VA) and Chris Christie (NJ) won to spite personal appearances by the president and vice president who opposed their election.

In Virginia, the swing between the Obama margin of victory in 2008 and the present voting is about 25% (source: Fox News). Both New Jersey and Virginia are there at the doorstep of Washington DC and the electorate repudiated the Democratic candidates. Virginia has gone Democrat for the past 8 years and New Jersey is a heavily Democratic State - and they've put a Republicans in charge.

In my opinion, they repudiated the Obama Administration - and this is why. Obama, to spite talking a very good game, hasn't done anything positive in his first year in office. Quite the contrary, his utopian socialist policies concern America. The ACORN scandal unmasked his ground game. Americans find the behavior of the Chicago Team and their bullying tactics to be highly unethical. The sweeping generalities of the Candidate Obama's speeches have not translated into anything positive. In fact, what he proposes is a dismantling of the US Constitution a piece at a time. Then there have been the gaffs - the Nobel Peace Prize, unwarranted, unearned and with the timing of the event, it made the president look like a fool. Published allegations of homosexuality and drug dealing by the president's former lover, Larry Sinclair - unanswered by a mute White House, and the $800 billion stimulus bill that was a pay-back to political hacks and socialist front organizations such as ACORN, a racketeer influenced and corrupt organization.

Pelosi - Healthcare Plan

I actually wonder how Nancy Pelosi can sleep at night. Perhaps she is so incredibly deluded that she believes her own press. Has her sociopathic nature advanced to the stage where the difference between right and wrong have blurred to the extent that she can't tell the difference.

This is how her recently unveiled National Healthcare Reform Act will work - really. The bill has a built-in assumption that the government will cut a quarter trillion of Medicare by cutting the fees that doctors and others receive.  The House is going to then consider a separate bill in which it pays the quarter of a trillion — with no offsets — out of borrowed money. So we are borrowing the money to pay for healthcare under the Pelosi - sponsored bill. The National Healthcare Reform Act, therefore eliminates the payment to doctors of that $250 billion because is not going to appear on paper, which is why the net cost of the health-care bill ends up under a trillion dollars — when in fact it is over a trillion dollars.

It's a massive shell-game and the Democrats are proud of it, peddling it like snake oil.

They wish to create an entitlement. They steal the possible revenue sources out of other deficit reduction, and create a massive deficit issue that can't be addressed by taxation without running the economy on the rocks.

All for the sake of a couple of million people who can go into any hospital in America any time of day and receive healthcare without cost.

Tell me how this makes any sense at all?

In one version of Heaven

Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama go to heaven...

Yes it's a stretch that these three misfits would make it, but who can consult the divine mind with any degree of certainty? So roll with it, please.

God addresses Al first..  ''Al, what do you believe in?'' Al replies: "Well, I believe I won that election, but it was your will that I did not serve..  I've come to understand that now.''   God thinks for a second and says:   "Very good. Come and sit at my left.''   God then addresses Bill.  "Bill, what do you believe in?''   Bill replies:  "I believe in forgiveness. I've sinned, but I've never held a grudge against my fellow man, and I hope no grudges are held against me.''    God thinks for a second and says:   "You are forgiven, my son. Come and sit at my right.''   Then God addresses Barack.  "Barack, what do you believe in?''   Barack replies:  "I believe you're in my chair."