The Amboy Times

Democrats Reject Key 9/11 Panel Suggestion

Politicians breaking the promises that got them elected is nothing new, in fact, it's standard fare. But there is no more emotional issue in recent times than 9/11, and the voters have been had. Like Bill Clinton's broken tax pledge in the first few weeks of his first term, it's the Democrat's MO, campaign the middle and govern to the left.

Wapo
Now Democrats are balking, just as Republicans did before them.

The decision will almost certainly anger commission members, as well as families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, many of whom have pressed hard for implementation of the recommendations.

"The Democrats pledged to implement all the remaining 9/11 reforms, not some of them," said former representative Timothy J. Roemer (D-Ind.), who served on the commission.

Carie Lemack, whose mother was in one of the jets that hit the World Trade Center, echoed that sentiment: "It wasn't a Chinese takeout menu, the 41 recommendations. You have to do all of them."

Read it all.  How does the saying go? Politics as usual.

One would think that the Blue Stater's would want to shake the "weak on terror" image as quickly as possible, but it looks like the days of strong on defense Democrats like FDR and JFK are just a distant memory.

33,000 BA passengers alerted over radiation

Hat tip Drudge.

What is it with the Russians and poison?  Just a few days ago former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko died from Polonium-210 poisoning , putting the blame squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin. That story also had a UK connection, Litvinenko was in London when he was poisoned. How did the plutonium get into the UK? Smuggled on Britsh Airways apparently.

Although it looks like the Russians were going after "one of their own" I doubt the potentially radiated airline passengers will see it that way, neither will the British government take this lightly. We may have re-entered the Cold War.

Thousands of British Airways passengers were caught in a radiation scare last night after traces of a substance, thought to be the same that killed the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, were found on two planes.

Around 33,000 passengers are believed to have flown on 221 flights across Europe since the traces were found earlier in the month.

The Government grounded one plane on Tuesday and another yesterday. A third is in Moscow awaiting tests.

Police are focusing on flights from Moscow to Heathrow Airport on Oct 25 and 31 and in the other direction on Oct 28 and Nov 3. Since then, the planes, all Boeing 767s, have flown to Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Athens, Larnaka, Madrid, Vienna, Istanbul, Frankfurt and Stockholm.

BA has set up a helpline for affected passengers and those with symptoms of radiation poisoning, such as vomiting or bleeding gums, were advised to telephone NHS Direct. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said the risk to the public was low....

..."It can only represent a radiation hazard if it is taken into the body — by breathing it in, by taking it into the mouth, or if it gets into a wound. It is not a hazard as long as it remains outside the body."

Of the 16 tests returned thus far, none have detected radiation. Why use plutonium, an easily traceable poison? I think the point of plutonium poisoning is a slow...painful...death that has no antedote. Putin wants his victims to suffer for a long time while contemplating their crime.

Sky News supplies contact info for passengers;

The BA free phone number for passengers is 0845 604 0171.

An international helpline can be reached on 0191 211 3690.

Or Visit: British Airways Website

Decision '08 has an update

Suspicion of Moscow involvement is even on the rise in Russia itself:

It is a catastrophe. I think that it is one of those turning points as regards Russia’s image in the world, which is plummeting as it is. It is very difficult to talk to a country which poisons political opponents with thallium or something else… Russia is becoming a different country. Whereas previously it was a quasi-democratic state, we are now quickly turning into [President] Lukashenko’s Belarus, where people disappear.

Perhaps there is another explanation…Russia had certainly better hope so, because with all the trouble this is causing England, there would be major, major repercussions if the suspisions are borne out…

UPDATE 9:56 a.m.: Hmmm…now comes news that the illness of ex-Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar may be due to poison, as well…

 

Barack Obama Middle Name Change Contest

TPM Cafe reports that the GOP is attacking Barak Obama's middle name, Hussein.

""If you thought Obama's last name was enough of a political pitfall, get this: Last night on Hardball, GOP strategist Ed Rogers ridiculed a potential Obama candidacy by using — possibly for the first time on cable news — Obama's little-known and politically unfortunate middle name. "Count me down as somebody that underestimates Barack Hussein Obama," Rogers said. Expect to hear this sort of thing again and again if Obama runs for President.""

No doubt about that, imagine if a Republican had an equally unfortunate middle name. Certainly the left would be too fair minded to make fun of Firstname "Adolph"  Lastname.

Certainly it's not Obama's fault, his parents gave him his name before Saddam was doing his evil, but I have to wonder why Obama never changed his name? In fairness, Obama is a Muslim apostate, 

Obama’s Dad, a Muslim from Kenya, left home when he was two. His Mom remarried and went with her new husband to Indonesia where Obama lived during his salad years. It is well known that Obama, the teenager lived with his grandparents in Hawaii, where he attended the same school attended by Hawaii royalty. Yet little is known about who Obama’s step father was. But some say that he was an Indonesian national and a Muslim. Still, Obama must have attended school in Indonesia. Is it possible that as a young Muslim boy he went to a Saudi madrassa?

Yes, that’s a possibility. The chapters in the Life and Times of Barak Obama always race ahead. It was during one of those chapters when we found him taking up community organizing in the Altgeld Gardens housing project on the south side of Chicago, when he converted to Christianity, formerly being secular.

As a fledgling Christian, Obama didn’t join just any church.  He joined the United Church of Christ. The United Church of Christ is very anti-Israel and supports divestment. It also sponsors speeches at its many functions by the Arab "Christian" pro-terror religious organization, Sabeel. Sabeel holds some of its biggest meetings in Chicago.

OK, so there is some cause for concern, but we're going to give Obama  the benefit of the doubt here and help him out by polishing up his image a bit.

I recommend changing Obama's middle name to something more Presidential, perhaps  Barak  Washington   Obama, or Barak Roosevelt Obama...you get the idea, post your  middle name idea in the  comment  section  and why you think it could help his political career.
I'll pick the winner  one week  from now.

Prize to be announced.

Samantha Burns has  Open Trackbacks Weekend

NSA Program Has Impressive Safeguards

Bad news for paranoiacs and conspiracy nuts. Captain's Quarters is the messenger.

After all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the last year regarding the NSA's warrantless surveillance program on suspected terrorists abroad and their calls into the United States, the agency has now formally briefed the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board on the program. Members now claim that the government has worked hard to protect the privacy of American citizens:

After a delay of more than a year, a government board appointed to guard Americans' privacy and civil liberties during the war on terror has been told the inner workings of the government's electronic eavesdropping program.

Members say they were impressed by the protections. ...

Board members said that they were impressed by the safeguards the government has built into the NSA's monitoring of phone calls and computer transmissions, and that they wished the administration could tell the public more about them to ease distrust.

"If the American public, especially civil libertarians like myself, could be more informed about how careful the government is to protect our privacy while still protecting us from attacks, we'd be more reassured," said Lanny Davis , a former Clinton White House lawyer who is the board's lone liberal Democrat.

The hysteria surrounding this program might finally start receding, as long as these remarks get some significant play. After all, having a former Clinton aide wish he could reveal more about a secret program to reassure people of the good work done by it rather than to torpedo the Bush administration should raise some eyebrows among the paranoid. Former Reagan counsel Alan Raul went even further, telling John Solomon that he believes that the public underestimates the level of concern and dedication for civil liberties in the federal government.

Once again, the public's support for a tough but necessary program has been reinforced by its careful execution by the NSA. This should not surprise anyone, as even the New York Times acknowledged that they had no information that the agency broke any laws or violated anyone's civil rights when they broke the story. All they had were "concerns" about the program's legality from their anonymous tipsters.

This story won't get much ballyhoo in the MSM, but it may force the left to come up with some actual facts for a change.

Also, read LinknZona's Interior and Exterior Rules .

 

Making the World Safe (for terror)

A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."

Did Mc Carthy ever have to deal with 3,000 dead in one day on US soil? Just wondering.

A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment. At the time of his order creating the list, Bush declared that the "grave acts of terrorism" and the "continuing and immediate threat of future attacks" constituted a national emergency.

This case leaves an important question unanswered, if the Commander in Chief, with the aproval of Congress can't identify the enemy, then who will?

Michelle Malkin ""This same judge ruled parts of the Patriot Act unconstitutional that barred giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated international terrorist organizations in 2004.""

Captain's Quarters ""Nor was that the first time Collins has had a problem with anti-terrorist legislation. During the Clinton administration, she struck down the 1996 anti-terrorism law passed by Congress in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing. Collins seems to have trouble reading the law, finding all counterterrorism legislation too vague to be understood. Perhaps the problem lies with Collins more than the laws themselves.""

Say Anything suppiles us with a list of terror attacks commited by one of the groups in question, the Tamil Tigers, and it's a pretty long list... now add the list of assassinations...  The list of assassinations includes 11 activists, 12 government servants, 5 journalists, 3 writers, 12 rival militants, and 22 politicians.

I'm thinking they might be terrorists. Send a copy to Judge Collins, to help her work out the vagueness of it all.

Stop the ACLU has more.  The Jawa Report has a copy of Judge Collins' order here.

Mohave Cross

Thanks to Stop the ACLU for spreading the word.

Related: Senate Saves Mt Soledad

Jimmy the Dhimmi

Jimmy Carter, who's Presidency was easily the worst in recent history, hamstrung by Muslim thug who captured the US Embassy and held hostage for over a year (444 days), is now a full blown dhimmi. One would think that the one term wonder, who lost 49 of 50 states in the 1980 election, would remember that terrorism  ruined his political career. You'd think the peanut farmer would understand that he is parroting the views of Iranian despot Amadinejad , who was probably one of the hostage takers?

""There volumes of reports and testimonials by many former   American hostages identifying Ahmadinejad as one of their captors and   interrogators. One even described him as more nasty ones.""

No, nothing can be learned from that. Jimmy went on Larry King last night to blame Israel for the problems of the middle east. Hot Air has the video and transcript. Here's a sample;

I think if the United States won’t take that role on, then maybe the entire group of the so-called International Quartet, the United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the United — and the European Union — those four have written a road map which President Bush has endorsed enthusiastically. And if they can implement their terms — by the way, on which the Palestinians have accepted 100 percent and the Israelis have rejected almost entirely — if the road map terms are accepted, then we can have peace in the Middle East.

Yes Jimmy, the Palestinians are known for their firm adherence to treaties with Israel. He sounds more like Ahmadinejad than a former POTUS.

Related post: Carter Wants Transparency

Woman Honor Thyself: Dhimmi Carter
 

MEMRI: Anti-American Iranian Cartoon

The following is an anti-American animated film that aired on Iran's Al-Kawthar TV on November 15, 2006.

From MEMRI TV

Lincoln Memorial Threatened

        This story brings to mind the anthrax attacks that took place shortly after 9/11, killing five people and threatening several media members and two US Senators. This threat comes just one day after the Wal-Mart bombing in Maine. Have the muhajideen given up on the large scale attacks in favor of smaller attacks on easier targets? Recent failures in Toronto , Miami , Italy and  Germany  just within the last year leave me wondering if they're changing their game plan.


Breitbart: Authorities briefly closed the Lincoln Memorial on Monday after finding suspicious bottles in a restroom and a note reading "Do you know what anthrax is?" and "Do you know what a bomb is?"

Authorities found a bottle appearing to contain a liquid in a basement ladies' rest room, along with the note.

None of the objects was found to be a threat, said Wayne Benson, a batallion chief with the District of Columbia fire department.

The memorial was reopened less than three hours later, shortly after 3 p.m.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters, U.S. Park Police and the FBI investigated after authorities found a Gatorade bottle and a travelers' coffee mug in the rest room, Benson said. Several pieces of paper inside a plastic case also were found.

During the closure, hazardous materials crews in protective suits were seen working at the memorial.
   

   

“In God We Trust” Removed From the face of Coins

In God we trust, all others pay cash.

Stop the ACLU tells us the US Mint has moved "In God we trust" from the face of new coins that are being minted to make room for Presidential portraits. Given a choice between God and any politician is an easy one for most people. "In God we trust" has been moved to the edge of the coin. God on the edge, no room for God, kind of symbolic don't you think? I hope this story gets the attention it deserves.

Iowa Voice: ""The American mint has removed the official “In God We Trust” motto from the face of it dollar coin and has relegated it to the gold-colored coin’s thin edge. Mint officials said the reason for the change is to leave more room for portraits of former presidents and the Statue of Liberty.""