Please don't delay in establishing this man on the FBI's most wanted list and elevating it to a national all points bulletin.

My first instinct is to have the police retrace steps, including, whom knows for sure this is the suspect, whom provided false information to his location and why it would be benefit the killer to escape and the leave the area.

Clemmons family and acquintances should be called and asked to participate in his 'safe' capture to stand trial. If there is blood at the scene that a forensics expert could have captured that might be the killers does it match the known blood type AND DNA of Clemmons.

People are carrying a real grudge against the police of this region of the country. Why? Talk to community leaders and ascertain the reasons why these men decided to kill police officers and if they might know of any plans being formulated to carry out more of the same.

The Seattle/Tacoma area of the country may not have the 'manpower' to dedicate a sincere search for the cop killer that is still out and about. It is why the FBI needs to be involved to add support to the police force there. It would be better if all police activity were conducted within the confinds of police headquarters, even it is temporary quarters set up while all this mess continues. No 'single person' patrols either. Buddy up and realize there is not one moment when on duty they can let their guard down. It is going to be an interesting balance to have these officers functional while still on high alert for their own safety.

Any and all eyewitnesses that can contribute to a better picture of the violence, why and what the clues might be that will lead to the cop killer's where abouts and capture should come forward with a promise of rewards if the information proves invaluable to his capture and conviction. Until, Clemmons is captured it would be prudent to continue to build the knowledge base of this crime and entertain other suspects.

Clemmons may be too scared to come in and surrender, realizing he might not survive if confronted by armed police or agents. He should be given every chance to peacefully surrender, even if he is innocent, to protect himself from harm or any possible vigilante with a grudge.

I have a feeling it is easy to be a cop killer in this area of the country which usually enjoys reasonable peace and tranquility. Budget cuts are probably contributing to this as well. Any pending prosecutions that would send a message to speak to the violence should go forward and with public display of same. This has to stop and there needs to be every effort by every method to establish the sanctity of police officers and their benevolence to the community.

If only I could wave a magic wand and this was all over for everyone. Clemmons or any other possible suspect should be considered extremely dangerous as we already know this is some kind of 'methodology' that includes bomb making. I sincerely don't believe this is a mimic event. I believe there is a problem with a systematic methodology. There is no reason to proceed differently.

Citizens can be more helpful than they know if they call and report accurately any suspicions that would lead to the capture of this man or any other potential suspect. To act autonomously without training is not prudent and could disrupt capture if tried.

We'll get him. It is just a matter of time and SAFETY.


Smoke rises after police set off an explosive device at a house police had surrounded where they thought a suspected cop killer may have been hiding in the early morning hours of Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, in Seattle. A suspect in the slaying of four police officers gunned down in a suburban coffee shop was holed up at a Seattle house early Monday, wounded and possibly dead, police said. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Tiger Woods did the same thing most drivers do, he didn't pay attention to his driving, over steered while adjusting his radio or some such thing...

...and plowed into the fire hydrant and then the tree. It happened quick, he probably was injured from the impact and he was lucky it wasn't worse. The neighbor has no recourse for damages except what was done to the mailbox and the tree.

This is that difficult to figure out?

Come now. Last time I checked, Tiger Woods was still classified as a human being. I don't think he owes anyone an explanation except the insurance company if he filed the accident with them and his neighbor. There wasn't any need to get the police involved either. I mean for real here. I suppose no one in the world has ever hit a fire hydrant before, right? There are the laws of physics. Impact happens in only one way.

...The Florida Highway Patrol said the accident was not alcohol-related, that Woods briefly lost consciousness and that his Swedish wife, Elin Nordegren, used a golf club to smash the rear window of her husband’s SUV to get him out....

...He has frequently said that anonymity is one of the things he misses most from his days as a student and it is no coincidence that he named his luxury yacht Privacy....

Head injuries can be funny things. One never knows in the long run how the results will turn out. I believe it was just this past winter when a celebrity lost her life after a skying accident. And there was that run in with a tree with Sonny Bono. I believe he made the right decision to 'sit this tournament out.' I hope his recovery is uncomplicated.

It was prudent to call 911 if he was unconscious. His wife did the right thing and she was scared for her husband. Let's not get celebrities afraid of dialing 911, okay?

We don't need anymore Michael Jacksons or covert behavior because they become worried about their image. The public needs to respect the privacy of celebrities when such events happen, no different than if it happened to them.

Last I checked, medical information was still confidential.

I also believe police can be harassed by the public into investigations that don't lead anywhere simply because it is a celebrity. Police have more responsibility than chasing down the ghost or dog that Tiger might have steered to avoid. If he has sustained a head injury, he might not remember much of the incident at all.

Going back to Afghanistan to fight the War of September 11, 2001. It is one lousy reality inherited from Bush and Cheney.

I don't believe President Obama will ever be considered, "The War President." I am confident that name will only apply to George Walker Bush. It is up to General McCrystal now.

...The president is now briefing the UK, French and Russian leaders on the plan. (click title to entry - thank you)
The moves come as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would send 500 more soldiers to the country.
According to US media reports, Mr Obama is set to formally announce that a further 30,000 troops are to be sent to Afghanistan in a televised address on Tuesday....

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs looks stressed. He stated, "...this is not an open ended commitment...." In order to be sure that is the case I see President Obama leading this country until the troops are finally home. No one else will be sure the war in Afghanistan is limited with the troops returning home after having to return to the war that should have been fought in the first place.

This has got to be the most difficult days for this administration. No one envisioned an Afghanistan corrupt and out of control on January 20, 2009. No one, except the Executive Branch that was leaving that day.

Afghanistan was the best kept secret of the Bush Executive Branch yet. Talk about blindsiding the American people. First it was Wall Street and then it was Afghanistan, what's left to know?

The people that acted 'in majority' for six years were nothing but 'censors' to information and liars to the truth. They were completely untrustworthy and the people had no way of knowing. I never thought I'd see the day the USA would be blinded and controlled by propaganda and rhetoric. Wow.

The 'lack' of an exit strategy is EXACTLY what is "W"rong with the way Republicans USE war for crony policy unending.

Bench marks leading to a successful exit strategy is the ONLY methodology that should be preceived by the American people as 'legitimate.' The most powerful country on Earth has to 'sneak around' mentioning an exit strategy when confronting the Taliban.

You've got to be joking ! This is a Republican methodology to insure a FOREVER war. I am glad Kyl brought it up.

The way to a successful war for any approach by the USA military is to plan, plan and plan some more. Not to simply waltz into a country just because it is politically advantageous to the Republicans to do it.

In his 'speech' on FOX, Kyl stated it would be a mistake to 'talk about' an exit strategy as it would cause the Taliban to lay in wait for our exit to simply return to business as ususal. That is about the most moronic statement I have ever heard anyone make. That is a 'favored' Republican 'line' that Bush resorted to frequently in regard to Iraq and otherwise. The Taliban and al Qaede knows the USA will eventually leave a country and not occupy it. Kyl is a moron.

The war in Afghanistan and Pakistan is as much about poverty as it is religion. It is as much about returning function to the governments of those countries as it is defeating al Qaeda. The favorite way for al Qaeda to establish its presence in a country is to 'convert the people to fear' from within its own infrastructure. Al Qaeda cannot wage a legitimate war, so it seeks to undermine the national security of a country and undermine the government through chants that it can level violence whenever it wants and the government can't stop them.

That strategy by al Qaeda and the Taliban is used 'all the time' to remind the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan whom exactly are the real bosses. It is chronic terror and fear laced with abject poverty that erode the confidence of the people in regard to their governments of these countries and create turmoil within their political framework. It is why Karzai's government was corrupted.

If Kyl were remotely correct, the 'idea' of talking about an exit strategy would then cause the Taliban and al Qaede to 'lay low' for years. That sounds like a very good idea, actually. If the opposition to peace, stability and economic opportunity could be left alone to flourish within these countries we wouldn't have to worry about the Taliban or al Qaeda ever revisiting the power to the government again.

However, that is NOT how it works. If all we had to do was talk exit strategy, we basically wouldn't need a military presence, except, to set out some 'Police/Military Parker Cars' to scare them off while the propaganda was the USA and NATO will be leaving on December 31st of this year. To have the pleasure of simply talking exit strategy to oppress the Taliban and al Qaeda from violence while bring peace and stability to the region would be nice and a real victory for "Psy-Ops," but, that ain't ever going to happen.

Al Qaeda, 'The Base' creates scenarios of violence on a regular basis and with the focus of 'soft targets' including children's schools and functional government offices of top level authority and police stations that seek to patrol the streets to assist citizens IF ONLY THEY HAD A CHANCE. All those targets are chosen to undermine the confidence of the people of the region and for the most part when the USA is preceived as lacking the strength or the knowledge to actually carry out a strategy to establish sovereignty to a country, the violence escalates. The terrorist network claims they are successful as the precense of the USA and NATO is nothing but a 'failing daily grind.'

Having benchmarks and an exit strategy shows confidence and realistic expectations by our military and if they 'leave the path' of benchmarks there then needs to be some serious talks with Pakistan regarding the nuclear capacity of their country and global security from terrorists and THEIR OWN citizens that seek power to kill over benevolence to economy.

Kyl is exactly why the USA was defeated in Afghanistan under Bush. The Republicans 'war all the time' and feel confident they can revisit any war so long as there is enough threat to the national security of the USA and allies. Revisiting Afghanistan was a 'signature' moment to the Republicans when the reality of the region was so grossly out of control and there was more danger to the global community than before September 11, 2001. The Republicans NEVER intend to win wars, simply to exploit the USA's military industrial complex for cronies and political strategy for wars without end.

If President Obama is sending troops to General McCrystal, it will be the FIRST strategy for the region in decades. It will map out a victory that will secure our nation and that of allies while bringing an economy the people of those nations can find a better quality of life. The problem for "Psy Ops" is to bring the feeling of 'fear and turmoil' under control while the military does 'its thing.' Sometimes people become used to violence and when it no longer has a presence or is sounding off rather than birds singing, it becomes somewhat unnatural. Peace, prosperity and a quality of life are so 'distant' ideas to the peoples of these countries it would almost be a threat to their basic instincts if it actually occurred.

Talking about an exit strategy will be good for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the framework of priorities of the governments. Talking about an exit strategy by the peoples of these nations that will result in better lives, economies and actual longevity without debilitating injury SHOULD be a priority of the governments and their people.

Enough of the Republican 'fantasies' of PERHAPS PEACE. It is time the USA and NATO get their best results known to them and if they find out that the citizens of these countries are not capable of enough backbone to bring about a peaceful economy with the rest of the world, then Pakistan HAS TO disarm from nuclear capacity before it will become an inconceivable danger to the globe while it is ALSO trying to stabilize economies and cultures.

Kyl is such a joke. But completely indicative to Republican Horse Hockey. When are Democrats going to be elected in Arizona? It is has the most extremist of Republicans in Kyl and McCain and their replacement is LONG overdue!

Maybe it is all those alien encounters, both terrestrial and space ship that is the problem there.


Kyl in the Senate for the Republicans. Warmonger and crony politician.

...Secondly, talk of an exit strategy is exactly the wrong way to go. And I hear that on the -- in the media. I certainly hope the president doesn't do that, because all that does is signal to the enemies and also to our allies, to the folks in Pakistan as well as the Afghanis, that we're not there to stay until the mission is accomplished....

Can we please have a Global Economic Summit, along with the Climate provisions being planned?

Fortunately, we are all in this 'thing' together. The Climate and the economy. I think there needs to be a 'concensus' to the global economic condition so the nations so willing to be a part of the solution can actually achieve it.


Stand by me ... UAE president Sheikh Khalifa, left, and Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed. Photo: Reuters

...The United Arab Emirates' central bank yesterday announced that it ''stands behind'' Dubai and banks would be able to borrow money for half a per cent above the local benchmark interest rate. The action was designed to prevent a regional credit crunch or a run on the local banks....

Four seasoned but young officers gunned down. The capture of Clemmons is admirable. Thank you.

Nice hideout. Right in the middle of suburbia. And there are children in the house with Swat vehicles in the driveway. What a mess to deal with. Preserve the life of police officers while trying to stop a 'cop killer' with unknown munition capacity. It was a circumstance that was loaded to the extreme. I take no one inside the house died by the control measures of the police.

I think we need an investigation to all these issues, including the fact Clemmons was given clemency. AND. What the heck is going on in the Seattle, Tacoma area of Washington State that has people killing cops on a regular basis. Explosive devices? Something is drastically wrong. This is at least the second 'cop killer' encountered in the last couple of weeks. I hope this is over, but, I wouldn't but stock in it.


Elaine Thompson/Associated Press
Police illuminated the side of a house in which a suspected police shooter (click title to entry - tahnk you) was thought to be holed up on Monday morning.

Maurice Clemmons, man wanted for questioning, has troubling criminal history (click here)
The man sought for questioning in the execution of four Lakewood police officers was granted clemency in 2000 by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and released on bail just six days ago on a child rape charge in Washington state.



Here is a picture of Mike Huckabee’s pardoned Maurice Clemmons (aka Clemens or Clements). The Lakeland Police officers killing prompted questioning of Maurice Clemmons, detained early Monday after an extensive manhunt.


Maurice Clemmons is 37. (click here)
The officers at 8:15 a.m. in a Forza Coffee café were using their laptops. Pierce County Sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said: “Two of them were flat executed, sitting writing reports. A third tried to get up and was shot, and a fourth fought his way to the parking lot and got off some rounds.”

The killed officers s were identified as Sgt. Mark Renninger, 39; Ronald Owens, 37; Tina Griswald, 40; and Greg Richards, 42.

Remember how you inspired the 'Young Vote' when you speak to the nation tomorrow.

Be their President and don't make them cynical of their voting act or of their government. Bring a nuclear free world to their doorstep and make it a lasting legacy to their faith on election day.

First-time voter Tanner Tillotson casts his ballot in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

Under- 30's (click title to entry - thank you)
66% of under-30's showed their support for Obama - far higher than in any previous election - compared to 31% for McCain.
A staggering 54% of young white voters also went for Obama.
Overall, this also helped Obama secure a high number of first time voters; 71% of whom voted Democrat.
McCain only managed to secure 29% of first-time voters, compared to 53% for John Kerry in 2004.
Obama's youth - at 47 he is one of the youngest ever presidents - appealed to and energised many of those who were voting for the first time.

Rewarding loggers that first caused the damage is NOT progress. Prison is progress.

There is far too much that hangs in the balance to leave it to chance.

The Road to Copenhagen (click here)
Tree Harvester Offers to Save Indonesian Forest
...Canals — used legally and illegally — extend from surrounding rivers nearly into the peninsula’s impenetrable core. By slowly draining and drying the peat land, they are releasing carbon dioxide, contributing to making Indonesia the world’s third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States....

The Indonesia government has been at the forefront of species preservation. There are innumerable species protected in that archepeligo. Indonesia has been very supportive of the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (click title to entry - thank you).

The UN program was specifically designed to help countries at the greatest risk of ecosystem damage to protect their countries from degradation, WHILE, supplying their people with jobs and income. The problem is that there isn't enough emphasis to this assessment with the implementation mentored by QUALIFIED botanists and plant ecologists that believe in preservation and restoration of ecosystems rather than exploitation of them. The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment has been abused by CEOs that were allowed access to ecosystems in 'good faith.' There is no such thing as 'good faith' when companies want to make money at any cost.

Basically, whom is helping countries like Indonesia?

Bush or Obama?

The United Nations needs to take the bull by the horns and stop the mismanagement of ecosystems of these countries, including their fisheries. In the Sea of Thialand, the once abundant area now has a majority of squid where diversity used to exist. That is NOT effective management. Where the land degrades the waterways, seas and oceans follow. Gravity makes water run downhill. In case that wasn't obvious to the most novice observer. "Runoff" startes with 'overland flow' from rains on terra firma and add to that raw drainage from storm and sewers.

With the degradation of the peat forests in Indonesia, the sealife surrounding it and its seas that receive the runoff from this land will degrade along with the mismanagement of the land. Native species of flora and fauna need to be re-established where there is damage and the loss of precious habitat to preserve this carbon sink has to begin immediately

The United Nation has Peacekeepers. Yes? Well, now they are going to have to recognize their need in policing the ecosystems of the world, because, so long as governments fluctuate in finicky elections there will be no consistency in the preservation of these lands.

The United Nations has to push for 'enforcement' of environmental laws through an autonomous Ecosystem Peace Force that stops poaching and jails offenders. If necessary, through the World Courts, including, CEOs of companies that have caused such widespread damage and have no inkling to ever stop. Placing these lands in the hands of corporations is the ABSOLUTE WORSE idea I have ever heard. They will mismanage the lands and call it a 'better engineered carbon sink.'

I don't think so.

The meeting in Copenhagen is a chance to 'get it right.' We have at the leadership globally men and women sincerely interested in attaining the goal of reversal of Greenhouse Gases through aggressive measures that insure energy to their nations through renewable sources, alternate transporation in magnetic rail and electric cars and land preservation through laws that uphold the best integrity of ecosystems, especially those as valuable as these.

The UN Secretary General is a vital partner to the outcome of the meetings and it will be he that can make the greatest contribution by demanding vast changes to the way countries protect their lands and contribute to the well being of the home planet of future generations. It is up to the UN to lead the best efforts to bring real change and enforcement of environmental integrity at these summits.

The administration in DC is going to be the world's best opportunity to write treaties and have them ratified before another 'nut case' like Bush shows up in the American elections complaining about the 'price and size of government' and willing to 'melt down the Arctic Ocean' for the sake of oil exploitation. There is nothing SANE or MORAL about that. By all means, the meetings in Copenhagen need to be comprehensive and thorough with plenty of botanists and plant ecologist to insure the best outcome of Earth for future generations.

The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment is worthless without proper enforcement of its intent to uphold the integrity of the countries that participate without intention of corruption. If 'carbon credits' are to be purchased than it can't be with visions of 'engineered' carbon sinks on the dreamscape of the corporate world, that are smaller but pack a bigger punch.

Horsehockey.

We witnessed the 'face' of the corporate world at the end of 2008. We are better off without them. That is why Bush bailed them out with the assistance of Paulson. If it were up to the moral people of the world, the corporations wouldn't exist, but, replaced by companies run by the people that work in them with products that reflect their values.

Support Greenpeace, they understand the planet and the need to increase the quality of life of impoverished nations to bring preservation to ecosystems WITHOUT corporate or government corruption.

November 2008: (click here) Fires in a peatland consession, Kampar Peninsula, Indonesia. The Kampar Peninsula is the last large intact area of peat swamp forest in Riau.

Obama will go to Copenhagen... a week too early (click here)

...President Obama needs to be there at the same time as all the other wold leaders – December 18. This is the last day of the negotiations, when all the heads of state show up, are presented with the agreements achieved so far by their delegates, and do the high-level negotiations that lead to a final agreement.

The Latest Right Wing Conspiracy to raise ratings. They are running their own political party.

I don't think Lou Dobbs will be getting the Hispanic vote. These white guys need to retire and live happily ever after.

Two of the country's worst bigots are going into politics. Lou Dobbs wants to be New Jersey's next Senator and Beck is going to exorcise George Washington the first chance he gets.

And the Right Wing extremists are guaranteed to have the Wall Street Journal behind them. The WSJ is already backing any candidate that isn't Lou Dobbs. No mention of whom Beck is thinking about promoting. Talk about Murdoch having a stake in 'The Big Game.'

It is laughable to believe The Wall Street Journal is actually taking this mess seriously. This is nothing more than a 'ratings grab.' First Beck is going to lead the charge that no Republican seems to be able to muster and then Dobbs is going to ride directly in the USA Senate to 'take control' of the issue.

Now, all the 'real people' of the USA need to ask themselves, "Did a shiver run down one's spine as soon as these jokers said they were going to be 'gaming politics' by active participation?" Go ahead. Admit it. As soon as the words, Beck is promoting his own party and Dobbs is running for the Presidency or the Senate, didn't everyone reach for the remote or the radio or both? Come on, get over it. They are never going to lead anything worthwhile, except, a mob scene maybe. These bozos never bothered to put their own narcissistic interests aside to explore the long existing and well established 'Third Parties' of the USA.

The Populist Party (click here)
The Rise of PopulismThe People's Party (or Populist Party, as it was widely known) was much younger than the Democratic and Republican Parties, which had been founded before the Civil War....

Their website today (click here)

The Libertarian Party website (click here)

The Constitution Party website (click here)

The Green Party website (click here)

Those are the other major Third Paries in the USA. There are others, but, their chance of winning a federal office isn't good. There has to be enough grassroots movement by any party to promote the platform and the candidates. The small third parties are having luck though, but, primarily at the local level, which is a darn good start.


Lou Dobbs Already Backpedaling on His Signature Issue (click here)
11/25/09 at 12:50

...But apparently Dobbs is aware that targeting the nation's only Hispanic senator might not reflect well on someone already burdened with a reputation for hostility toward Hispanic illegal immigrants. Maybe that's why Dobbs has already begun to reverse his outspoken opposition to what he used to call "amnesty," a path to legalization for illegal immigrants. The Wall Street Journal reports that in an overlooked interview with Telemundo last Friday, Dobbs "twice mentioned a possible legalization plan for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., saying at one point that 'we need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions.'" Looks like he's getting the hang of the politician thing already.


Glenn Beck, on Fox News, is planning a series of conventions for his followers. "I'm going to teach you how to be a community organizer next year, oh, because two can play at that game," Beck said on the radio. "It's time to find our teeth and sharpen our teeth, and we're going to do it." (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times / March 2, 2009)

It helps that a community organizer at FOX will have the backing of his media bosses. I mean who needs donors, right?

The voluble Fox News television host says he hopes (click here) to transform his personal celebrity into political action and has begun to assemble a movement to "change America's course." Beck announced his intentions at a weekend rally at a retirement community outside Orlando, Fla., where he was promoting his new book, "Arguing With Idiots." He continued outlining his ideas during his radio and TV shows Monday."America, we cannot wait for a leader anymore," Beck said. "The people must lead, and the leader will follow."

At least when the Democrats promote a media star for Congress, he can draw all the forty-eight mainland USA States on a map, while raising his own funding.

I'd like to see more than $10,000 reward. Seattle has a problem. Cop killers.

The Seattle AREA police need to meet at varying places and not simply 'the usual hangout' when they are preparing to go to work.

It might even be better to meet at the station house before any shift as the police cars don't stick out like sore thumbs as they would at a coffee shop. At least until this mess is nailed down.

I certainly hope the FBI is working this by now.

The coffee shop is near McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, about 35 miles south of Seattle.

Unless there is a sincerely strong reason to 'link' the Air Force Base with the shootings, I would not think there was anything related. I realize military bases might be the source of ideas of violence following the Fort Hood episode, but, at this point I think that is more sensationism than reality. Let's catch these people before the people of the area have their lives turned into nightmares. We don't need a return of Al Capone.

It looks to me the people assassinating police officers at vulnerable moments are freelancers and not organized crime necessarily. They might be getting weapons from someone connected with the Air Force Base, but, I doubt all the weapons come from any place, except, the neighborhood. I would be really surprised if the Base had any connections to this.



Chris Monfort
...Thanks to the hard work of reporters at the Seattle Times and P-I, we now know a lot more about Christopher Monfort, the 41-year-old Tukwila man suspected of killing Officer Timothy Brenton on Halloween night....

...Sunday's shooting comes a month after Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton (click title to entry - thank you) was shot and killed Halloween night as he was sitting in a cruiser with trainee Britt Sweeney. Sweeney was grazed in the neck....
...Christopher Monfort, 41, of suburban Tukwila, was charged in the shooting. Days after the shooting, Seattle detectives attempted to question Monfort at his residence. Police say that Monfort then ran from the detectives and tried to use a gun. The detective shot him.
Authorities also linked Monfort to the October firebombing of four police vehicles, with prosecutors saying Monfort waged a "one-man war" against law enforcement....

4 police officers killed in Wash. coffee shop (click here)
Sheriff's official says at least one gunman walked in and opened fire
..."This was a targeted, selected ambush," Troyer said, adding that customers and baristas were in the Forza Coffee shop at the time but no one else was shot at or injured....

This is what bothers me about the predisposition of news media services and politicians that want to turn a 'jerk' that was a psychiatrist into a martyr of jihad. It is stupid. The man at Fort Hood was a lone gunman that was misguided by his own perverted ideas of his own priorities for his life. It is outrageous to believe this is a mass movement within military bases to annihilate the police of a region of the country.

The fact of the matter is simple. None of these police officers would have died if they didn't have their guard down. Police aren't necessarily 'ready to jump to arms' at any second. They expect citizens to act in a non-violent manner unless the circumstances dictate otherwise. This is more or less a predatory person that seeks out police officers to satisfy his idea of justice or self-righteousness.


Imam's e-mails to Fort Hood suspect Hasan tame compared to online rhetoric (click here)
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, November 29, 2009
By BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News begerton@dallasnews.com
E-mails between a U.S. Army officer and a radical Muslim cleric did not worry anti-terrorism investigators, they said, because nothing in the correspondence presaged violence. But elsewhere on the Internet, the imam was urging people to kill soldiers and others.
After accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan started e-mailing in December, the cleric increased the pace of his fundamentalist rhetoric on the Web, a Dallas Morning News investigation found.
"I pray that Allah destroys America and all its allies," Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric with suspected ties to al-Qaeda, wrote in a February blog entry.
The cleric and the Army major are believed to have met at least eight years ago, when al-Awlaki preached at a northern Virginia mosque attended by Hasan's family. Both were born in the United States to prosperous Middle Eastern parents nearly 40 years ago; both earned advanced degrees at American universities....
...Instead, investigators determined there was no need to probe further because Hasan's questions to al-Awlaki were consistent with his psychiatric research, there was no indication he was planning violence, and he was not "directed to do anything," officials said.
But the Muslim cleric didn't need to give specific direction by e-mail. His exhortations about killing – soldiers, innocent women and children, blasphemers, even oneself – were readily available until his online site went dead a few days after the Fort Hood shootings. The News found al-Awlaki's speeches and blogs by combing through Web archives and reviewing online recordings and transcripts....

I don't believe he was influenced by this cleric either. He could answer that better than anyone and being that he is alive and in confinement, he should be interrogated so long as his lawyer is present. But, the evidence is overwhelming.

The man should just plead guilty rather than put a nation through a trial. I realize his attorney is doing the very best he can given overwhelming evidence to his guilt, but, the military should maintain Nidal Hasan in confinement until they are allowed to understand his state of mind at the time of the killings.

I sincerely believe a lot of the anger has to do with his own priorities and not that of this cleric. I believe he didn't know how to confront violence and fell into familiar patterns of violent Muslims.

I like the idea that this cleric doesn't have access to the 'violence markets' of the USA though.

Good job.

Do more.

Definately. I can't believe Homeland Security hasn't shut this mess down before now. I mean for real. What was the idea? Get the 'Home Boys' of the USA angry as hell so they would pick up a gun and go to a battlefield? That's pretty stupid priorities if that what the thinking was. Shut 'em down. Every government, especially those directly dealing with this mess, should shut them down. Throw 'em in prison for advocating the death of other people.

You know there is such a thing as a 'death threat' that is considered a crime in the USA. Seriously. The websites that advocate 'death threats' to citizens, even unidentified citizens, should be shut down and their contributors charged. Make 'em face a judge. They'll figure it out after that.

There can be a lot more at work here than meets the eye.

La Familia’ drug cartel members indicted (click here)
By Mike Robinson
November 20, 2009
CHICAGO -
Fifteen people with ties to the Mexican drug cartel La Familia Michoacana have been indicted on charges of taking part in a major Chicago-area cocaine conspiracy, prosecutors announced Friday. The people charged in indictments returned Thursday were arrested in August as part of the government’s Operation Coronado, an effort launched in 2007 to break La Familia’s grip on the U.S. cocaine market. The cartel is named for the State of Michoacan in southwestern Mexico and is accused by federal prosecutors of being responsible for hauling vast quantities of cocaine into the United States from south of the border. Drug Enforcement Agency officials have arrested more than 300 people in 19 states as part of the operation, prosecutors said....


Hearing scheduled for meth cartel’s ‘puppet master’ (click here)
By Staff, City News Service
Thursday, November 5, 2009
A preliminary hearing was scheduled Thursday for one of 13 people arrested in San Diego during a nationwide sweep targeting a fast-moving Mexican drug cartel known for its violence and control over the methamphetamine trade.
Angel Quintero Castillo was arrested last month as part of Project Coronado, an ongoing federal government campaign against La Familia. One local prosecutor described Castillo as a “facilitator.”
“Angel was a puppet master who arranged the deals through telephone conversations,” Deputy District Attorney Carlos Campbell alleged....

The most recent 'Cosa Nostra' of Mexico. I wouldn't completely dismiss the possibility of the 're-establishment' of still more drug crime networks. The northwest USA has a lot of ports, and the La Familia Port City of Wilmington, North Carolina has recently been shut down. I think anything is possible here and police 'on the street' should conduct themselves accordingly. Body armor, etc., if they don't already. I don't care who they are. I don't care if they are Park Police.

In some ways this mimics what Mexico is going through. Brazen drug gangs out to kill police and military to have control over their networks. They are no different than any other organized crime network in that they adhere to 'religious dogma' and the 'reign of poverty' to justify their actions. They believe they have better law than the law that exists and are threats to a nation's sovereignty.

The rise of Mexico's La Familia, a narco-evangelist cartel (click here)

By Sara Miller Llana Staff writer
from the November 22, 2009 edition
Mexico and the US are working together bring down Mexico's newest, most violent drug cartel. Last month, 303 alleged La Familia members were arrested in 38 US cities. Fifteen members were indicted Friday in Chicago.

Apatzingan, Mexico - They hand out Bibles to the poor in the rural foothills of the state of Michoacán. They forbid drug use, build schools and drainage systems, and declare themselves the protectors of women and children.
But this is no church group. This is La Familia Michoacána, Mexico's newest drug-trafficking gang, which now reigns over Mexico's methamphetamine trade. What began as a self-declared vigilante group doing "the work of God," now is seen as the nation's most violent criminal group.
Its influence stretches well beyond this patch of Mexico called "La Tierra Caliente" or "Hot Land." Last month, in the largest coordinated action against a Mexican trafficking organization north of the border, the United States arrested 303 alleged La Familia affiliates in 38 US cities. It was the culmination of "Project Coronado," which has nabbed more than 1,100 suspects in 44 months....

..."La Familia doesn't kill for money. It kills only those who deserve to die."...

Who decides among them 'what act' is deserving of death? That is what that statement means. Someone is deciding 'those who deserve to die.' Really? Just on a whim? Or. Are there actual 'Credos' that dictate such judgements? Just curious.

They didn't leave a stone unturned. They do have their own 'credos in print.'

"The Craziest One."

Nazario Moreno González (click here for Wiki), the group's preacher.

Mexico offers $2 million for top drug lords (click here)
Most-wanted list a challenge to cartels' violent grip along the border

updated 6:48 p.m. ET, Mon., March. 23, 2009
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's government on Monday offered $2 million each for information leading to the arrest of 24 top drug lords in a public challenge to the cartels' violent grip on the country.
The list indicated that drug gangs have splintered into six main cartels under pressure from the U.S. and Mexican governments. The two most powerful gangs — the Pacific and Gulf cartels — each suffered fractures that have given rise to new cartels, according to the list published by the Attorney General's Office....

...La Familia’s boss and spiritual leader Nazario Moreno González, (click here) (a.k.a.: El Más Loco or The Craziest One) has published his own 'bible', a copy of this 'bible' seized by Mexican federal agents reveals an ideology that mixes evangelical-style self help with insurgent peasant slogans. Moreno González seems to base most of his doctrine on the work by a Christian writer John Eldredge. The Mexican justice department stated in a report that Gonzalez Moreno has made Eldredge’s book Salvaje de Corazón (Wild at Heart) required reading for La Familia gang members and has paid rural teachers and National Development Education (CONAFE) to circulate Eldredge's writings throughout the Michoacán countryside. An idea central to Eldredge’s message is that every man must have "a battle to fight, a beauty to rescue and an adventure to live." Eldredge quotes from Isaiah 63, which describes God wearing blood-stained clothes, spattered as though he had been treading a wine press. Then he writes: "Talk about Braveheart. This is one fierce, wild, and passionate guy. I have never heard Mister Rogers talk like that. Come to think of it, I never heard anyone in church talk like that, either. But this is the God of heaven and Earth."...

...The La Familia members use murder and torture to quash rivals, while building a social base in the Mexican state of Michoacán. It is the fastest-growing cartel in the country’s drug war and is a religious cult-like group that celebrates family values. In one incident in Uruapan in 2006, the cartel members tossed five decapitated heads onto the dance floor of the Sol y Sombra night club along with a message that read: "The Family doesn’t kill for money. It doesn’t kill women. It doesn’t kill innocent people, only those who deserve to die. Know that this is divine justice."...

These boys have got 'God Complexes' big time. I guess they believe 'God is on their side.' Huh?

"Morning Papers" - Its Origins

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

There were a series of train crashes in the USA that were never reported as to their cause either.

There were at least three incidents of 'runaway' trains under Bush as well that no one ever bothered to report the cause, but, only the sensationism 'of the moment.'

Who is among the dead?


...The Nevsky Express, an upscale line popular with Russian business executives and government officials, was carrying hundreds of passengers from Moscow to the northern city of St. Petersburg when its last three carriages went off the rails Friday night.
Authorities said Saturday they have opened a terrorism criminal inquiry. Police and prosecutors swarmed over the disaster site and restricted access to what was reported to be a possible bomb crater....
...Reports on the death toll varied.
Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said at least 26 people were killed, 18 were missing and nearly 100 were injured and hospitalized in the derailment. The Prosecutor General's office said the death toll had risen to 30, with 60 others in the hospital.
President Dmitry Medvedev called for calm, saying "we need there to be no chaos, because the situation is tense as it is."...
...If terrorism is confirmed, it would not be the first time the Moscow-St. Petersburg rail line has been attacked. A 2007 derailment on the line was caused by an explosion and injured 27 people. Authorities arrested two suspects and are searching for a third -- a former military officer.
Across Russia's North Caucasus region, attacks are relatively frequent, including the August suicide bombing of a police station in Ingushetia's capital that killed 25 people and injured 164. A December 2003 suicide bombing of a train near Chechnya killed 44 people.
But outside the volatile southern region, the last fatal terrorist attacks occurred in August 2004, with the twin bombings of passenger aircraft that killed more than 80 people. Those attacks were blamed on Chechen rebels, as was the February 2004 Moscow subway bombing that killed 40 people.
A 2002 hostage-taking at a Moscow theater ended with the deaths of around 130 people, after Russian special forces sprayed a chemical agent into the building before storming it.
Another train derailment in June 2005 left at least 12 injured. The train had been traveling from Chechnya to Moscow.




CSX Train Derailment Near Painesville, Ohio Causes Explosions and Evacuations (click here)
Date Published: Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
...The train derailment occurred about 300 feet away from the Route 44 and Route 2 interchange near Painesville. Witnesses to the accident reported hearing a large blast and seeing a bright white flash at the time of derailment. Flames were said to be shooting at least 30 feet into the air, and plumes of thick black smoke could be seen for miles....

Hire Blackwater. It was what Bush wanted. I think the Secret Service has been compromised. Obviously.

Yes, assault. That is what 'gate crashing' is. It is assault of the intention of the celebration and the people involved aren't secure in their dignity, intention or person. It doesn't matter that there was NO 'battery.' There is a paparazzi involved and I don't care if the paparazzi is an amateur. Can't be that much of an amateur. Who dressed them? Got them their costumes, etc.

Who was taking the pictures?

Does the GOP know about this?

Was Rove involved? Did the reality TV show make suggestions to this misdirection? I mean for real here. Who besides the gate crasher and their Paparazzi thought this was a good idea and was involved in its planning?

Who told them how to get into the guest line?

Were the magnatometers working correctly?

And has anyone checked with the CIA to know if this wasn't an official act to check the 'readiness' of the Secret Service?

Charges need to be filed, for minimally trespassing and assault. This reality TV stuff is out of control. People are breaking the law to benefit their 'identity' crisis to insure their place in a TV show. This is 'nuts.' Kids are now from broken homes or with parents facing prison and some nut cases from Virginia try to exploit a State Dinner for the sake of promoting their stardom.

image made from Michaele Salahi's Facebook page shows a photo of Tareq Salahi, left, Vice President Joe Biden and Michaele Salahi, right, at the White House state dinner in Washington on Tuesday Nov. 24, 2009 Photo: AP


Secret Service strained as leaders face more threats (click here)
Report questions its role in financial investigations
By Bryan Bender
Globe Staff / October 18, 2009
WASHINGTON - The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency’s overall mission....
...If there were an evaluation of the service’s two missions, it might be determined that it is ineffective . . . to conduct its protection mission and investigate financial crimes,’’ according to a inter nal report issued in August by the Congressional Research Service....

Where else did their photographer go? Were there more than one set of people that got by the entrance to the State Dinner? Did they make it into the White House and Obama's office? Was National Security breached and to what degree? What else did they get pictures of and how compromised was the White House?

What is the website still doing up?

This isn't a game. This was a State Dinner with foreign dignitaries? Where are the pictures with the guest? I am sure they exist. This was a major breach of security at an official government function. This wasn't just about having dinner. This is honoring the guest that came to the USA for purposes of promoting foreign policy.

This is a major insult to the security of the nation that took place at the White House. Every Secret Service agent now seeing to the well being of the President and Vice President has to be replaced. Their careers should be over.

E-mails between scientists are not published works. Deciding whether to include 'statistical outliers' is always a topic in e-mails.

The discussions scientists go through leading up to a published paper are lengthy and carry brevity, but, until the published paper is complete and accepted for a professional journal the data is considered unfinished and unprepared.

What the real crime is regarding the 'hacking' into a scientific university site is; why aren't the hackers being prosecuted ?

The 'Rush to Judgement' by those that would like to revitalize the opposition to the scientific LAWS that are the basis of Human Induced Global Warming that has lead to Climate Change, is expected, isn't it?

I mean for real.

I want the hackers prosecuted. The proper way to any question regarding fraud is to seek a court to ask for wiretaps and surveillance. Hacking into a University website is a crime. Just that simple and the hackers are NOT heroes.

Sorry.

The Barnett and Lewis book noted at the title to this entry, is a $212.00 book in case anyone wants to purchase it to try to tell scientists how to handle outliers in their statistics. No time to waste, you know?

The mountain peak noted above, in case no one recognizes it is Mount Kilimanjaro. Mount Kilimanjaro is a CLASSIC example as to why there are such widespread results in measuring icefields and snowfields in the world.

Glaciers such as those found on Kilimanjaro have eroded quickly due to the loss of the forest that once surrounded the mountain peak. The 'source' of water vapor that provided snows to the glaciers for RECHARGE vanished with the exploitive foresting of the mountain. As a result the glaciers disappeared and it is one of the most rapidly degrading glaciers on the planet for that reason alone.

Areas such as the Southern Sierras in the USA 'seem' to have consistent snow fall, but, those snowfields are snows and not glaciers, and they are supported by consistent water vapor sources. That does not mean they will never be effected by Climate Change. As the Earth continues to erode its GLACIER fields, the 'heat distribution' around the planet will eventually find a home in the Southern Sierras in the USA and those snows will abate.

Every ice field on the planet has suffered damage and degradation due to Human Induced Global Warming. It is known, the mass balance of these glaciers state an alarming reality to the Greenhouse Gas escalations over the past century. The reason there needs to be a comprehensive Climate Change plan that will occur in Copenhagen next month is to attempt to stop the impending tipping points of Climate Change.

There has never been 8 billion people on Earth before. Eight billion people of which a growing majority is practicing a 'consumerism' economy that increases Greenhouse Gases through tailpipe emissions, the burning of fossil fuels for energy, while the forests are hacked down for some 'idea' of providing wood for products and land for agriculture.

There is one definitive 'enemy' in all this, it is the exploitation of the carrying capacity of Earth without its forests and icefields to 'temper' the burgeoning hostility of what once was a reasonably 'climate friendly' planet.

The hackers need to be prosecuted and the scientific community needs to feel safe. But, above all the global scientific community needs to be validated by their governments rather than being treated as outliers themselves. They have dedicated their lives to providing insight to the governments they live under and are loyal to and it is time to move on their findings and protect further generations from a very real 'Sixth Extinction.'

Snow cap disappearing from Mount Kilimanjaro (click here)

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID (AP) – Nov 2, 2009

WASHINGTON — The snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone. The African mountain's white peak — made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway — is rapidly melting, researchers report.

Some 85 percent of the ice that made up the mountaintop glaciers in 1912 was gone by 2007, researchers led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

And more than a quarter of the ice present in 2000 was gone by 2007.

If current conditions continue "the ice fields atop Kilimanjaro will not endure," the researchers said.

The Kilimanjaro glaciers are both shrinking, as the ice at their edges melts, and thinning, the researchers found.

Similar changes are being reported at Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains in Africa and at glaciers in South America and the Himalayas.

"The fact that so many glaciers throughout the tropics and subtropics are showing similar responses suggests an underlying common cause," Thompson said in a statement. "The increase of Earth's near surface temperatures, coupled with even greater increases in the mid- to upper-tropical troposphere, as documented in recent decades, would at least partially explain" the observations.

Changes in cloudiness and snowfall may also be involved, though they appear less important, according to the study.

On Kilimanjaro, the researchers said, the northern ice field thinned by 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) and the southern ice field by 16.7 feet (5.1 meters) between 2000 and 2007.

Researchers compared the current area covered by the glaciers with maps of the glaciers based on photographs taken in 1912 and 1953 and satellite images from 1976 and 1989.

The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On the Net

PNAS: http://www.pnas.org

Mauna Loa has the longest recorded measurement of CO2 and it is eminently clear.

The figure above is from the USA EPA website. Anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases (click here) from the burning of fossil fuels can only explain the unprecedented elevation in these gases since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Any discussion otherwise is misguided, dangerous and delivered for the benefit of exploitive economic strategies.






This simple graph of the Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide Record documents a 0.53 percent or two parts per million per year increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1958. This gas alone is responsible for 63 percent of the warming attributable to all greenhouse gases according to NOAA's Earth System Research Lab.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

Queen Elizabeth II's visit to Trinidad is prelude to global climate talks (click here)

Queen Elizabeth II has arrived in Trinidad and Tobago for a meeting with global leaders on the issue of climate change.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

jcharles@MiamiHerald.com

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday to a wave of enthusiasm but also concern as some world leaders wonder if they can reach an agreement on climate change ahead of an upcoming international summit, and some in the Caribbean question whether they should remain tethered to the British monarch....

EU welcomes commitments of U.S., China on emissions reduction
www.chinaview.cn
2009-11-27 07:33:28
BRUSSELS, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) welcomed on Thursday the commitments made by the United States and China in recent days concerning emissions reduction in the run-up to the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen next month.

In a joint statement, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso welcomed the news that the United States and China "have both indicated what they are prepared to do, in concrete numbers, on mitigation....

... The Chinese government announced on Thursday that China is going to reduce the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 percent to 45 percent compared with the level of 2005.

The White House said in a press release on Wednesday that President Barack Obama will attend the Copenhagen conference and "is prepared to put on the table a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels in 2020." According to experts, this target is about 4 percent emissions cut below 1990 levels.

The European Union has so far committed to cut its emissions by20 percent by 2020 on the basis of 1990....

President Karzai needs to institute a military draft of loyalists from the nation's provinces and stop the infiltration of the Taliban corruption.

The corruption surrounding the war of September 11th doesn't begin and end in Afghanistan. The result of the USA efforts during that time was misdirected and the American people were lied to while sending their soldiers to fight a war they were lead to believe would secure their nation.

When President Obama took office all of a sudden this unbelievable truth emerged. The corruption of that war and the nation of Afghanistan didn't happen on January 19, 2009, but, occurred through years of neglect and corruption right here in the USA. It is time this is answered for by the prior administration. If we are to demand prosecution of the corrupt in Afghanistan it has to accompany the prosecution of the corrupt right here in the USA.

Afghanistan investigating 5 current and former cabinet members (click title to entry - thank you)

By Joshua Partlow

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
KABUL -- Afghanistan's attorney general said Monday that his office is investigating five current and former cabinet ministers on allegations including embezzlement and fraud, a sign of growing momentum within the Afghan government to address the widespread corruption that has hobbled President Hamid Karzai's administration....

...The investigations center on two current and three former cabinet ministers, Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko said in an interview. Although he declined to name them, other Afghan officials said one of the probes is looking at the minister in charge of organizing the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, a trip known as the hajj, which is made by tens of thousands of Afghans each year.

Within the past two months, two employees of the Hajj and Islamic Affairs Ministry have been arrested on accusations of trying to carry about $360,000, some of it hidden in biscuit boxes, through Kabul International Airport, Deputy Attorney General Fazil Ahmad Faqiryar said in an interview. The arrested employees, including the ministry's treasurer, allegedly extorted money from landlords around Mecca in return for directing pilgrims to their apartments, he said....

Hillary never called herself a 'Pitbull with Lipstick.'

In some ways I feel sorry for her. Palin simply can't seem to get out of the public eye long enough to have a life.

Palin is a phony. There isn't any other way to look at it. She has tried to mimic Hillary Clinton since she was announced to be the Vice Presidential candidate with McCann. She is no Hillary Clinton.

Hillary wrote about a village, not being a rouge. There is something really strange about being idealized as a 'Rouge Pitbull' that somehow doesn't sound Presidential.



I won't buy the book, I have no interest in reading it. Why read something written by someone to help pay the bills of lawyers because she is a pitbull? She should have exited politics on a positive note after she sold the plane. She really hasn't done much else, except, 'histrionically' keep remaking 'the poor me syndrome.' She is pathetic.

She wears clothes well. I think that does something for her. You know, the woman, has made some really bad choices in life. I quit having babies after my second child. Two was enough. Truly.

The only thing she learned to do well for any of the constituencies she represented in Alaska, as mayor or otherwise, was to write 'Earmarks.' It is the only thing she learned to do well. It was easy for her to learn that, it was like going shopping.

The elections in Wasilla had something like 900 votes cast. 900. She had to keep 900 people happy. That's all. She did it from a church podium.

She is an 'opportunist' candidate. When she ran for Governor, the people of the state were coming off a huge corruption scandal with Veco and most of the elected government. She promised to sell the Governor's plane. That was her campaign promise. She won the election because of it. I am sorry, but, using iconography for an election promise is not really a legitimate reason to be elected.

When Palin ran for Governor she beat the incumbant in the PRIMARIES. Murkowski came in THIRD in the primaries. She beat the opposition by 48% to 40% in the actual race. Do you know how many people live in Alaska? Hm? About 700, 000. Less than that, but, that is an estimate to keep it simple.

700,000 is about 0.2% of the population of the USA. That means about 336,000 voted for Palin when she ran for Governor. It was probably much less than that because all the people of Alaska don't vote or are even registered. So, 336,000 votes is a very generous number to assign to her success.

The reason McCain picked Palin is because he wanted her to portray a 'Hillary Clinton' profile to try to steal Democratic votes from President Obama. That is why McCain picked her. She had 'politically saleable' qualities. She marketed her Governor's election on 'anti-corruption' and McCain had to rid the Republican nominee of the scandals of Bush and Cheney. So, he chose a woman that would be a Hillary only better.

336,000 votes won Sarah Palin the Governorship. What in the heck was the GOP doing?

Now she is stuck with this mess. A woman that made some very poor choices in life, ran successfully as the young and first woman to win the Governship in Alaska; agreed to participate in the 2008 run for the Executive Branch. What was she thinking? I mean for real here. A complete novice, with very young children and a family profile that needed some polish and she consented to it.

More poor choices, I guess. If she had any real ambition for public office beyond Alaska she would have groomed her political career differently. She isn't qualified for anything. She isn't qualified to be the Vice President, certainly not the President of this country and that is true not only today, but, for years to come. She has no meaningful experience. It is too bad, too. Because there are many, many Governors that have gone on to be President of the USA.

She did it all "W"rong. She still is.

Nope, I won't be reading the book.

Just to point to what I mean. Hillary Clinton has been living and breathing politics and service in government all her life. Palin can't hold a candle to Hillary.

This is the kind of book I read. It is on my book shelf 'at the house.' You ever see Al Gore's picture. The Nobel Prize winner. Yeah. No comparison. None. Visceral? I don't think so.

End of discussion.

President Obama approval rating is hovering around 51%.

A total of 51% of Americans (click title to entry - thank you) say they approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president, which is down from 57% in October, and 44% say they disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, which is up from 41% in October. When it comes to Obama's handling of the economy, 47% of Americans approve and 47% disapprove.

Real Clear Politics shows averages of the polls on a weekly basis and has President Obama's Approval Rating at 50.3. So the American Research Group cited above is very much in the ballpark.

As President Obama takes ownership of the September 11th War, his approval ratings will probably drop.

No matter what he does at this point, no one will be happy. He needs to address the security of the nation the best he can. He inherited a huge and impossible mess in that region of the world. We simply need to regularly assess what it transpiring with Afghanistan and bring the troops home as soon as possible.

It is reported as much as 15% of the Afghanistan military force has issues with drug addiction.

Surprise, surprise.

The entire circumstance President Obama took over is completely bizarre. How Bush and Cheney could simply hide their dirty secrets in a closet away from the American people is astounding to me. It is not only immoral, considering who is dying there and who is paying for it, but, to realize the September 11th criminals were allowed to turn Afghanistan into a pool of corruption without any knowledge by the public until this White House took over, is criminal. It is simply criminal what Bush and Cheney left behind when they exited their residence.

And Cheney has the nerve to even criticize this President when he didn't even run an honorable effort to secure the USA and allies from al Qaeda, but, allowed an unnecessary war for oil to be played in the media as if it were something the country needed to win. All this time, the American people have been lied to. About so much. Like ah, what's next?


U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Leslie Harbin from East Over, S.C., left, and Stf. Sgt. Joseph Timms from Williamston, S.C. foreground, belonging to the South Carolina National Guard patrol near the town of Baraki Barak, Logar province, Afghanistan Monday Nov. 23, 2009. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills)

Bomb kills 6 family members in eastern Afghanistan (click here)
November 24, 2009
...The victims were caught in the blast as they traveled in a car on a shopping trip ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid this weekend, relative Qimat Khan told Associated Press Television at the scene in the eastern province of Khost.
Taher Khan Sabari, deputy provincial governor, said the dead included a 1-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl. The other children were older, he said....

I am really concerned that the Afghan people don't know whom the enemy is. In many instances, THE WAR is the enemy when it comes to the civilians of the country. That dynamic is what causes citizens to 'choose' sides and try to resolve the conflict themselves. It is why warlords are so popular and even perferred. It is why the Poppy Culture persists and it is why al Qaeda and the Taliban have been successful.