Monday, November 09, 2009

The so called warning reported in The Washington Post is inflammatory and "W"rong.

US Army attack 'not terror plot' (click here)
Page last updated at 03:44 GMT, Tuesday, 10 November 2009
The FBI says that a US Army major suspected of killing 13 people was not part of a "broader terrorist plot".
Maj Nidal Hasan was noticed by the FBI in December as part of an unrelated inquiry by the Joint Terrorism Task Force, but did not raise concerns.
Investigators said his communications with another person were in line with his job as an army psychiatrist.
Maj Hasan remains in hospital but has regained consciousness after being shot by police during the attack last week....


My very first impression regarding Nidal Hasan was that he was a CO (Conscientious Objector). It was before anyone else even 'went there.' The article in the Washington Post takes the 'entire' circumstance reported out of context to raise irrational fears among the public.


Maj. Nidal M. Hasan gave a presentation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007.

"...(Muslim American Soldiers are) conflicted about fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, both Muslim countries, according to a copy of the presentation obtained by The Washington Post.
"It's getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims," he said in the presentation.
"It was really strange," said one staff member who attended the presentation and requested anonymity because of the investigation of Hasan. "The senior doctors looked really upset" at the end. These medical presentations occurred each Wednesday afternoon, and other students had lectured on new medications and treatment of specific mental illnesses...."


Nidal Hasan made an inappropriate presentation to his superiors and it was probably why he was under supervision and review. In order for any of his reportings to be 'accurate' about Muslim American Soldiers, it would have to have been researched and published in a report to the USA military of which they would have acted on it.

If Nidal Hasan's superiors were surprised by his presentation it was because they were never appraised of the context. To say they were upset would have been an understatement. They would have to require proof of his reporting in order to go forward with any reason to act on such a report. The USA military, be it mental health staff members or otherwise would not think twice to give their superiors information regarding the integrity of the ranks of the USA military. This entire 'mess' the media has itself in now is simply hideous and prompted by a Senator without a clue.

It is my estimation the presentation by Nidal Hasan was more of a projection of his own fears and reservations in hopes he would prompt his superiors to ever consider sending him into a war zone while maintaining his living and lifestyle as an officer in the Army. The lecture is narcisstic and self directed and was intended to effect his own outcome.

To say Nidal Hasan was conflicted is an understatement, he was more than conflicted he was down right scared to death.

"...Hasan spent six years at Walter Reed as an intern, resident and fellow beginning in 2003. He had been transferred to Fort Hood as a practicing psychiatrist in July and was set to leave soon for Afghanistan. According to a relative, he had asked not to be deployed. It is not known whether he ever sought conscientious-objector status...."

The report before his superiors was not about the ranks of the USA military it was about his own wishes to be removed with a CO status as ordered by some General somewhere of which he would not have to sacrifice any benefits due to actions by his superiors and could go to private practice in the community. He should have never had a gun in his hand and the reason he did and never declared CO status is because he felt trapped in 'the role' he assumed during his educaiton and residency and the promise of a lucrative future.

Give me a break. I guess all the people that ever attended this Mosque and buried a mother is as guilty as the September 11th hijackers.

I don't think so.

It is all sensationalism and nothing more.

Alleged gunman tied to mosque of 9/11 hijackers (click here)
7:56PM Tuesday November 10, 2009
WASHINGTON - The family of the alleged Fort Hood military base shooter held his mother's funeral at the same mosque that two September 11 hijackers attended in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there. Whether the Fort Hood suspect associated with the hijackers is something the Federal…


It is all about POLITICS ! You mean Joe Lieberman and Susan Collins didn't KNOW about this startling report and potential? Are they actually doing their job? The Commission sounds more like CYA to me. Sure we don't need a Commission to study the Commission?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2009
Contact: Sara Lonardo
Committee to Examine Circumstances Surrounding Ft. Hood Attack (click here)
Continuation of Investigation into Terrorism on U.S. Soil
WASHINGTON—Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Me., formally announced on Monday that their Committee will be conducting an investigation into last week's murders at Ft. Hood, beginning with a public hearing next week. The Senators released the following statements today on their inquiry and intention to hold hearings on the attack:...

150 missing in El Salvador while Palm Lake braces for flooding in the USA.


November 10, 2009
01:30:15z
UNISYS Infrared GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)


Homes are flooded along Costa del Sol beach in Zacatecoluca, El Salvador Photo: AP (click here)

Frantic search for survivors begins after El Salvador floods (click title to entry, thank you)
130 dead and 7,000 living in shelters as storm heads towards US coast
By David Usborne

Tuesday, 10 November 2009
...Some 124 people are now confirmed dead, with another 60 missing in the disaster, which struck most severely about 30 miles from the capital of San Salvador. Soldiers and emergency workers swarmed the town of Verapaz yesterday, searching for survivors in areas that were buried by the onslaught of mud and boulders from the slopes of the nearby Chichontepec volcano.
President Mauricio Funes called the storm a "tragedy" that had caused "incalculable" damage. "The images that we have seen today are of a devastated country," President Funes said in a televised address. He declared a state of emergency. Seven thousand people are living in shelters as a result of the disaster....




By Kia Hall Hayes, The Times-Picayune
November 09, 2009, 10:29AM
With extra city personnel and police on hand, Slidell officials have an eye on the Palm Lake subdivision and other low lying areas as
Tropical Storm Ida approaches the Gulf Coast.
Officials said tides in Slidell are expected to be 2 1/2 to three feet above normal, which is predicted to cause localized flooding in low-lying areas. High tide will occur around 11 p.m., with wind gusts of 35 to 40 mph. A total of three to five inches of rain is expected.
Mayor Ben Morris said a sandbag station will be set up at
Lee Street and Pontchartrain Drive and others will be open if necessary.
All water at pumping stations has been pumped down, and all pumping stations are working except for one of three pumps at the Old Barn in Slidell. Parts are being shipped in this morning and all three pumps are expected to be online today.
Extra police units will be on patrol at the Palm Lake subdivision and throughout south Slidell, Morris said.

FORUMS
Since the Katrina disaster, NOLA's neighborhood forums have been crucial in reuniting families and neighbors, and providing vital communications.

Oh, this is going to be at least as good as "Curveball."

Oops, did he start a war? In case anyone needs to 'bone up' on Pre-war Iraqi intelligence, Curveball according to Salon:

The man who sold the war (click here)
"Curveball" author Bob Drogin talks about the Iraqi defector responsible for much of the CIA's bogus prewar intelligence about Iraqi WMD.
By
Alex Koppelman
For some, it can be tempting to lay the blame for the Iraq war at the feet of a small, disingenuous neoconservative cabal. In reality, the debacle was a collective effort, involving legions of people, some dishonest, others well-intentioned. But there is one man, still obscure, whose claim to being the prime mover in the selling of the war is at least as strong as that of any Beltway hawk, and whose agenda was wholly personal, not political.
In his new book, "Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War," Los Angeles Times reporter Bob Drogin gives the most comprehensive account to date of the man who was the source of much of the faulty intelligence about weapons of mass destruction that was used to justify the U.S. invasion. Drogin explains how "Curveball," a still-anonymous Iraqi who defected to Germany in 1999, came to be a principal source for American intelligence, even though the CIA didn't even know who he really was until after the war had begun....


There is nothing like placing honest, good Muslim American soldiers in harms way. Our military relies on interpreters when in combat and otherwise, I would think the people in power, such as Senator Joe Lieberman, would give the Pentagon all the room it needed to run any and all investigations BEFORE compromising the security of our nation. Oh, I forgot, they are Neocons.


Joe Vengeance
Joe Lieberman says he left the Democratic Party and is stumping for John McCain out of principle. Really? (click here, just for amusement)
By Michael Idov
Published Aug 24, 2008

...He’s come here to stump for John McCain, whose presidential endeavor the self-described independent Democrat improbably—make that unbelievably—endorsed last December....

This article about Lieberman and McCann appeared in "The New Yorker." You'll remember that magazine, its cover featured the President and First Lady as Islamic Terrorists. Need I say anything else?

The propaganda in the media right now is all about a supposed connection between the murderer of those at Fort Hood to al Qaeda. It is inflammatory, leaked and from an unverifible source.

I DON'T THINK SO !!!!

Steeeeeriiiikee One !

To realize when a media report about such information is 'real' I would expect the words to be, "The Pentagon is reporting today, a verified source has report that...."

...NOT...

...in an exclusive understanding from the cousin of an uncle of the mother of a second cousin of a friend of the...

Hello?

U.S. had Islamist intelligence on Fort Hood shooter (click here)
Mon Nov 9, 2009 7:22pm EST
...The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said intelligence agencies intercepted electronic communications between the suspect, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and anti-American Islamists starting last year and reported the contacts to federal authorities, including the FBI.
The sources did not identify who Hasan contacted but described them as Islamists associated with and sympathetic toward al Qaeda....


Oh, yeah, I'm buyin' this one. The trial will be interesting. I SINCERELY doubt the military JAG corp would do ANYTHING to compromise the trial of a known murderer. Is everyone convinced yet?

Retired Colonel to Defend Accused Fort Hood Shooter (click here)
Accused Shooter Nidal Hasan Awake and Talking to Hospital Staff
By ELISA ROUPENIANBELTON, Texas, Nov. 9, 2009
John P. Galligan told ABC News today that he has been retained by the family of Major Nidal Malik Hasan and has traveled from his office in Belton, Texas, to San Antonio where Hasan is being treated at the Brooke Army Medical Center.
Galligan said he was aware that Hasan, who was shot several times, was conscious and talking with hospital staff. He said he intends to make sure that Hasan's rights are protected, and to that end has asked federal authorities to stay away from his client. He declined to discuss his client's motives or what his line of defense would be....


...about the much maligned Green Economy. (click title for link to video. thank you.)


More at The Real News


With anniversay of The Fall of the Berlin Wall, is Medvedev seeking to create a new Russian Image?

Under the new document, the Russian president can decide to deploy armed forces abroad subject to approval by the upper house. (click here)



Russia to use military force abroad only as last resort - Medvedev (click title to entry - thank you)
15:34
05/11/2009
..."Such decisions will be made only when absolutely necessary," Medvedev said at a meeting with members of the upper house of Russia's parliament.
"Our citizens must be protected in any part of the world, and they must feel protected by the state."
He stressed that such decisions "must be set in law."
The house will review on Friday amendments to a law on defense which expands the use of the Russian Armed Forces abroad in certain situations.
Medvedev submitted the amendments to parliament in August, just after the first anniversary of Russia's five-day war with Georgia. The lower house of the Russian Parliament, the State Duma, passed the bill on October 23.
The amendments stipulate that Russian troops can be used abroad to repel an attack on Russian troops deployed outside the country, repel or prevent an armed attack on another state asking Russia for military assistance, defend Russian nationals abroad from an armed attack, fight sea piracy and ensure the safety of commercial shipping.
Russia's current 2006 legislation only allows the president to send troops to fight terrorism on foreign soil. Experts have said the law lacks clearly defined terms of "wartime" and a "combat situation," which complicates the deployment of troops outside the country....

Senator Hagan's Office is well informed and very helpful.


Senator Hagan states the Senate is combining both the Harkin Bill and Baucus Bill as their final Senate Bill. She also favors passage and the Public Option. I am more than proud to call her my Senator.

Combat the Fear Factor. There is no reason for anyone in this country that is not in the top one percent of income earners to worry about the Health Care Reform Bill. It will bring better health care to all, hence a healthier nation.

Do you realize there are dearly less than 20% of adults eligible for service in the military that are actually healthy enough to achieve participation? It is a matter of National Security at this point that our health care delivery system is the best in the world and available to everyone.

Once settled on that reality, reflect on the fact childhood obesity is rampant in the next generation. For all those that fear placing Health Care Reform on the national stage will cause their children tax burdens for time unending, imagine if the country they live in is undefendable because of the poor physical condition of the people they are. It isn't acceptable that a human being suffer ill health when there is reasonable steps to improve their quality of life and ability to be employed.

FIRST THOUGHTS: SENATE GETS THE BATON (click title to entry - thank you)
...*** Drawing more battle lines: Indeed, this "thank you" list is a good place to start our 2010 focus to see how the Obama agenda is playing -- not in the 39 districts of the Democrats who voted no. A First Read analysis of the Saturday’s vote finds that about 60 of the Democrats who voted for health care are either in vulnerable or potentially vulnerable districts, including 18 who represent districts that went for McCain. Another 10 are in districts where Obama got less than 55%; six are from districts where Obama got more than 55%, but the member got less than 55%; 14 are in districts which Obama won by less than 55%, but they won by more than 55%; and at least another 12 are in districts where both they and Obama got more than 55%, but either have been competitive in the past or could be competitive. We'll release the full list later today....

There are warnings from the media. Kindly take heed, there were tornadoes in the southeast at the end of October. This is serious business, okay?

Oct. 30, 2009
Tornadoes Sweep Through La., Ark. (click title to entry - thank you)
One Man Killed as Violent Storms Damage Homes, Down Trees and Power Lines; Steeple Blown Off Church Crushes Car, Driver Saved

...Authorities said an unnamed 20-year-old driver died when his car hit a tree felled by the storms near Shreveport.

Another man was luckier, when the steeple of the First United Methodist Church in Shreveport was blown off the building, landing on his car as he was stopped at a red light.

The 57-year-old driver, Michael Williams, was seriously injured but alive in the crushed car.

CBS Affiliate KSLA correspondent Ben Wolf reports firefighters worked feverishly to save Williams.

Eyewitness John Beauregard told Wolf the falling steeple "sounded like a loud explosion." He said some onlookers were praying when they realized there was someone in a car trapped underneath....

With the aid of the winds of the upper troposphere, Ida made a quick trip across the Gulf of Mexico.


November 8, 2009
Ida
It appears there was an issue regarding transportation and commerce that entered the picture.


November 8, 2009
Ida
Being in the river would not have been my first choice to try to get to the other side. Even being on the river or very near the river with eroding 'structures' would not have been my first choice. Nope. Not me.

November 8, 2009
Ida


Ida


November 9, 2009
00:30:16z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES East Satellite

What a difference 12 hours makes.


November 9, 2009
12:30:13z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

Boater's rescue in Gulf brings weather warning (click title to entry - thank you)
TBO.com
Published: November 8, 2009
Updated: 11/08/2009 06:20 pm

CLEARWATER - Hurricane Ida is shaking up the conditions for boaters in the Gulf of Mexico and the Coast Guard is urging the public to monitor the weather before setting out on the water.
A Hudson man and his dog were rescued by helicopter about 12:50 p.m. from his 43-foot fishing boat today as seas reached 7 to 10 feet about 50 miles west of Clearwater in the Gulf of Mexico.
Gregory Lansier, 46, contacted the Coast Guard in St. Petersburg at 9:19 a.m. to report he was unable to return to port due to the weather, when winds reached 35 knots.
A small-craft advisory is expected to remain in effect for much of West Central Florida throughout the week.
Boaters are urged to use caution and monitor forecasts closely. The Coast Guard reminds residents that the adverse effects generated by a depression, storm, or hurricane can cover an area hundreds of miles wide.


While in the Northeast USA...it was something a little more than a snow storm.

Tornado Hits Oregon Coast as Wild Conditions Continue (click here)


Published 11/08/09

Oregon Coast) – The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed Saturday that what Lincoln City witnesses saw destroy property on Friday night was indeed a tornado. Ininitially, the NWS was not willing to classify this as a tornado when reports first came in, no matter how many witnesses talked about seeing a tornado.
About 20 to 30 homes were damaged in the Roads End neighborhood of Lincoln City, along with a few cars, as a water spout quickly developed just offshore and then came onto land, creating havoc.
All this happened as major windstorms, massive waves and even lightning hit various parts of the Oregon coast, starting Wednesday and continuing through Saturday....