PipeLineNews Archives: April 2010
Brit Teen Convicted in Terror Plot Motivated by Anti-Semitism
April 30, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A nineteen year old man, Nicky Davison, was quickly convicted in Newcastle Crown Court today on three counts of a terror related nature.
Calling Jews, "the scum of the earth," Davison had sworn to overthrow the government. [source, http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/breaking-news/2010/04/30/north-teen-guilty-of-terrorism-72703-26351629/]
In a raid conducted on the home of Davison's mother, with whom he lived, material was found which provided instructions on how to assemble explosive devices.
Davison's father, Ian, was convicted earlier this year on similar charges.
In furtherance of his plans, the younger Davison had set up a web site called the Aryan Strike Force with the intention of carrying out operations against what he described as the Zionist occupied government.
Parish Nurse or Government Welfare Worker?
"What some have even called a 'preferential option" for the poor, does not free us from the needto prudently and wisely consider the most appropriate ways in which this obligation is to becarried out. we do well to reject the confusion that equates a preferential option for the poor witha preferential option for the state." - Rev. Robt, Sirico, Detroit News, 12-20-1992. The Church: Lobbyist for the welfare State.
"For the first time churches have become aware that they actually have the potential to be communities of health," says Granger Westberg of the International Parish Nurse Resource Center - Last Acts Campaign to Improve End-of-Life Care, 1998.
April 30, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The Parish Nurse Program was the brain-child of Chicago based Lutheran Minister, GrangerWestberg. Early in his ministry which began in the mid 1950's, he accepted assignment as ahospital chaplain and began to perceive a need for both hospitals and church ministries to form asort of wholistic healing partnership ministering to the whole person - mind, body and spirit.During his hospital chaplaincy and later while on fact-finding tours in third world countries, heobserved that patient/doctor relationships were missing an important element of communication.This brought him to the conclusion that churches, along with ministering to the soul shoulddevelop an expanded ministry to the physical and mental needs of parishioners. In other words,creating health clinics within the parish context which would act as a type of preventive healthcare service.
In his observations he saw that:
1. Patients often had social and emotional problems underlying the physical ills which theyneeded to share with an understanding and compassionate person. The doctors were too busyfor this.
2. Parishioners were not comfortable speaking with their ministers about their daily concerns,aches and pains.
3. Patients felt more at ease speaking with women, especially nurses.
4. What if Nurses could be established within parishes thereby creating physical and emotionalhealing centers right along with the Pastor's spiritual healing?And, so, began a life long mission for Pastor Westberg creating parish nurse training programswithin the college setting.
This concept was well received within many Christian church circles but received its greatestpromotion during the 1990's when President Clinton and his wife, Hillary, became involved withthe promotion of universal health care.
By the late 1990's the concept of establishing health clinics within the church setting was furtherexpanded by the passage of legislation authored by then U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, known as theFaith Based Initiative. This initiative authorized non-profits, which included churches, to receivefederal tax funding for partnering with the government to provide health clinic services to thegeneral community.
Parish nursing, funded mainly with private Foundation grants, became eligible for tax fundedgrants. California, however, resisted what its legislators saw as mixing church and state until aSouthern California Republican legislator succeeded in obtaining passage of a bill that mandatedCalifornia's participation in funding non-profit and church based government welfareprograms.
In 1998, while still a state Senator, Diane Watson,(later a U.S. Congresswoman) Chairman of theHealth and Human Services Committee, penned a memo sent out to all interested state and localschool and community groups informing them of their opportunity to form partnerships with thestate in delivering health services through establishment of health clinics which could be used togain new applicants for the newly formed Healthy Families Program.
An interesting sidelight to creation of the Healthy Families Program was the involvement ofHellan Roth Dowden, state employee and former Director of California's Planned Parenthood, aswell as numerous other Feminist organizations and unions such as the SEIU. On Watson's memoDowden is listed as the contact person for Healthy Families. Her current associations andactivities can be found by googling her name.
The memo explained just how community organization volunteers could qualify to becomeApplicant Assisters and be eligible to receive the $50.00 fee (increased from the previous $25.00fee) for successfully completed applications for Healthy Families.Volunteers working in a church setting assisting parishioners to complete Healthy Familyapplications also qualified to receive this fee. The Assister could either receive the fee ordesignate her church to receive the fee.
What began as perhaps a very well meaning and compassionate idea of ministering to the wholeperson, with the Good Samaritan as the prototype, has now assumed the mantle of the biggovernment promotion to burrow into the churches accessing the unsuspecting faithful in thepews for a new source of welfare applicants. And, a nurse shall lead them.
Literature on the Parish Nurse Program indicates that this Parish Nurse person need not be anactual registered nurse although she often times is. If the Parish Nurse is not an actual nurse shemust develop a corp of volunteer registered nurses for programs such as blood pressurescreenings, vaccinations and other actual medical type services the parish nurse might want toprovide that, by law, require a nurse or a doctor.
The foremost qualification for this position is a compassionate disposition, an ability to gain theconfidence of parishioners, the time to spend listening to people recite their litanies of mental,emotional, financial and physical woes and, most importantly the ability to reach out and partnerwith a wide variety of community service provider organizations to which the parish nurse candirect the parishioner for assistance.
The position of Parish Nurse is considered so vital to the well being of the individual within thechurch that she is given a position of prominence within the parish equating her position withthat of the Pastor.
Funding to carry out this program is often provided initially by an outside, non parish, nongovernmental funding source from which the parish nurse may take a remittance. Often shechooses not to. At some point the outside funding source expires and it becomes necessary forthe parish to come up with the funding even to the point of applying for government assistance tocontinue what has now become a permanent entity within that parish. The parish has nowbecome a partner with the state for the delivery of non religious, humanistic social services.In 1992, this move toward encouraging church leaders to advocate for government fundedwelfare and health care programs within churches caused the Reverend Robert A Sirico, Directorof the Acton Institute, to write an editorial entitled The Church: Lobbyist for the Welfare State,published in the Detroit News for December 20.
The editorial stated, in part:
"Polls indicate that there is a preference among Americans for social programs to promote selfsufficiency,not dependency. Yet, when Michigan Gov. John Engler last year acted to fulfill hiscampaign promise to reduce the size of government and proceeded to eliminate 80,000 ablebodiedgeneral assistance recipients from the roll, his most vocal critics were welfare advocacygroups headed by prominent mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic religious leaders.
It would be another matter altogether if these governmental transfer payments were actuallyeffective in ameliorating poverty and minimizing crime. Yet, just about everyone, regardless ofpolitical stripe, seems to agree there is a crisis in the welfare system and that the massive welfarestate doesn't work - just about everyone, that is, except perhaps a few ill-tutored theologians.With all the use of that terribly obscure and unnecessarily narrow phrase 'family values' in thispast election season, perhaps the real issue we are attempting to get at is functional values or howwe go about fostering a society whose members learn how to function well and productively.
There is a growing body of literature indicating that governmental programs, owing to theirpolitical nature, instill a sense of dependency in those they are designed to help. They create thevery situations they profess to cure. With the failure of socialism in central Europe and theintellectual and moral bankruptcy this represents for Marxism, the current debate shifts to themoral legitimacy and practical effectiveness of the welfare state. The welfare state fails in itsobjectives for the same reason that socialism failed in its - a rejection of sound economicthinking. The key practical problem with the welfare state is the presupposition that it canobserve all social problems and needs, and is able to regulate the necessary sectors of society insuch a way as to best meet those needs. But no one group of planners, no matter how wise andsensitive to human needs they may be, can see the deepest needs of the human soul, whichfrequently are at the root of economic problems.
The specific problem this confusion presents to the church is that it disintegrates charity into anentitlement and collapses love into justice. If all relations are based merely on state-enforcedjustice, what becomes of the virtue of love? Especially when viewed from a religiousperspective, the disadvantages of an expansive welfare state are sadly apparent. Promoting thegovernment as the resource of first resort lessens the incentive of people in the pews to becomepersonally involved in needed projects and relegates the church to the role of lobbyist.To the extent that the church functions as a lobbyist, rather than itself clothing the naked, feedingthe hungry and performing the other traditional acts of charity, the church loses a rich source ofits own spiritual nourishment. This has, in turn, led to a secularizing of the social assistancesystems (schools, hospitals, orphanages, health clinics). This development minimizes the moralinfluence of religious mediating institutions which are so critical in helping to stabilize troubledfamilies."
I recently interviewed a parish nurse who had been featured in the Oakland Diocese Newspaper.She had attended a parish nurse training program in her former state of Wisconsin but could notfind a position there. She later moved to her current location and recently found acceptance as aParish Nurse in her own parish in Antioch, California.
She shared her enthusiasm for her work in a community consisting in large part of recentimmigrant parishioners of low income and somewhat poor health and nutrition. Her parish andPastor are well recognized for partnership activities with a community organizing group entitledContra Costa Interfaith supporting Community Organization - CCISCO which is itself a partnerwith a statewide community organizing lobby group called PICO - Pacific Institute forCommunity Organizing. These groups along with SEIU and the California Nurses as well asPlanned Parenthood, have spearheaded lobby days in Sacramento to advance the cause ofuniversal health care.
I asked this Parish Nurse if she refers parishioners to the Healthy Families program? She saidyes. She, further, affirmed that referrals to Planned Parenthood were also included in thosereferences. I then asked her why a Catholic Church would be referring its parishioners to anorganization that promoted abortion and family planning which are in opposition to the CatholicFaith teaching? At that point her whole demeanor changed. She stated that she merely madereferrals to those agencies most appropriate for type of service needed by the parishioner. It wasnot her responsibility as to what services the parishioner actually accepted.
Several years ago a parish in Concord, California, also within the Oakland Diocese providedassistance to the county health department in the refurbishing of an old van to be used as amobile medical services van for residents of the Monument Corridor. This area is heavilypopulated with legal and illegal residents. Members of the Concord Parish saw this van as a wayto obtain needed health services unobtainable any other way. This Van parked at a localshopping center and at various neighborhood grade schools to deliver health care and referrals.People volunteered to drive patients to referral sites if necessary. Planned Parenthood was one ofthe referral organizations.
When I inquired about the morality of a Catholic Parish facilitating its parishioners attendance atabortion and family planning programs I was told that providing services to needy people wasthe first and foremost concern. Abortion was not their problem.
Genesis chapter 3 contains the story of how the devil seduced Eve into eating the fruit of theforbidden tree. He didn't suggest that Jesus was lying about the fruit. He didn't suggest sheshould ignore Jesus warning. He merely pointed out the advantages to her of consuming thisfruit. The opportunities it would present to her to gain knowledge which God didn't want her tohave. You know the rest of the story. Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge assuming toherself the right to make her own decisions without outside guidance. Chapter 3 is entitled: TheFall of Man.
So, too, the seducer of the mind has approached the churches to suggest that there is nothingwrong with taking the money from the government. The work of the government is good. Itprovides social justice to the worker, the poor, the underserved. The church should be able toparticipate in this work of human mercy and reap the rewards of recognition and acclaim.Does your church have a Parish Nurse?
CA Senate Bill 810, More Health Related Socialism
April 30, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Senator Mark Leno ,(D-San Francisco), has draped himself in the health care mantleworn previously by LGBT caucus member Sheila Kuehl. For years Kuehl authored a single payer version of health care coverage. She took it over from former state legislator now Congressman Pete Stark,(D-Fremont).
The current Leno bill is SB 810 Single Payer Health Care. This 61 page bill, according to the state legislative analyst's office carries a $200 millionprice tag and is filled with approximately 12 layers of state and regional advisoryoversight committees along with an appointed Health Czar and all the stakeholder special interest groups it can think of.
The bill has passed the California Senate and is awaiting assignment to an Assembly Committee for hearing. Democrats support it, Republicans do not. One Democrat aide, in an attempt to deflect concern stated that, "Oh, it?ll pass both houses, but the governor will veto it."
Don?t bet the farm on it. This year has shown just how anxiousthe Governor is to cater to the Democrat Administration in order to get more money for our financially crippled state.
All the aforementioned layers of governance created by SB 810 are filled by nonelected business, bureaucrat and special interest appointees creating a protective firewall between the elected officials to whom they report and the citizens whose lives they are charged to regulate.
This bill, further, creates a clear understanding of the meaning of partnership as expressed in political terms. The government plus groups like Kaiser Health Foundation would have you believe that there is a union, a partnership, a contract between the deliverers of health care and you, the consumer of health care. You and your health care provider are strolling down a pathway to good health and productivity through preventive medicine.
Just how loving and caring can it get?
Have you noticed that you are no longer referred to as a patient? You are now buying health care as you would buy a house. You sign a contract with a mortgage company to do such and such. You will soon be signing a contract of some sort agreeing to abide by the health care requirements set up for you by the health care industry.
In reality the partnership is between various branches of government joining together to coordinate their pre-planned delivery of services to you the consumer. In this case the partnership is between the departments of Health, Education and Workforce Development.
They are training their sights on your child.
President Obama, to paraphrase several talk show hosts, has been having fun countering all the health care opponents who claim that his health care plan is socialized medicine.
Well, in one way he may be right. The socialized part of the medicine is contained in the state legislation. The Public Option, pulled from the original Obama Care bill and labeled as "possibly deserving a socialist" label is in SB 810.
Here?s what the bill mandates:
1. Establishes a new California Healthcare System - Single Payer type." "This bill prohibits the existence of a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy, except for the CHS, that will be sold in the state that provided for the same services as the system. This will reduce the California health plan and insurance industry to either third-party administrators for the system or entities that would provide coverage for benefits not covered bythe system.
2. Creates a statewide Agency under the direction of an appointed Health Care Commissioner as well as local and regional agencies groups by two or more counties.
"It will be administered by the California Healthcare Agency under the control of a Healthcare Commissioner appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate."
3.Makes eligible all California residents regardless of legal residency status."To provide affordable and comprehensive health care coverage with a single standard ofcare for all California residents."
4. Creates the Office of Patient Advocacy - Sec. 140102.[the Health Care Commissioner]Oversee[s] the establishment of locally based integrated service networks, including those that provide services through medical technologies such as telemedicine.....This shall be accomplished in collaboration with the chief medical officer, the Director of the Office of Health Planning, the regional medical officers, the regional planning boards, and the patient advocate.
5. Creates school/health partnerships for the purpose of establishing educational programs designating "qualified community agencies to serve as health provider centers." This section is very vague. This will authorize placement of school centered health clinics on every campus and provide groups like La Raza and Planned Parenthood direct access to your child as deliverers of health care, health care education and/or instruction of teachers to teach their brand of "medically accurate" facts (forget about morally principled) on sexual habits.
Here's the exact wording of the bill:
"Health care provider" means any professional person, medical group, independent practice association, organization, health facility, or other person or institution licensed or authorized by the state to deliver or furnish health care services."
It further describes this facility as:"[Is] fully integrated operationally and clinically to provide a broad range of health care services, including preventative care, prenatal and well-baby care, immunizations, screening diagnostics, emergency services, hospital and medical services, surgical services, and ancillaryservices."
Further on it also refers to mental health services. Most school centered mental health services bills are carried by San Francisco Democrat Senator Leland Yee whose occupation, prior to being elected, was as a child Psychologist.
What kind of education and for what purpose? Here's one possibility. The website for the National partnership for Women and Families (formerly the Women's legal Defense Fund) www.nationalpatnership.org , under its section on Reproductive Health: adolescent health, describes an educational program that they have completed for the state of North Carolina, created by the School of Government University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, entitled: LegalGuide for Minors and Families. This educational program has five component parts: Legal guide for Adolescents, for pregnant and parenting adolescents, for schools and pregnant and parenting adolescents and a health care guide for pregnant adolescents, aIl of it is intended for the classroom. The NPWF further states that it is also nearing completion of a similar educationalprogram for California and Florida.
This Guide goes into great detail about the legal rights of minors to obtaincomprehensive - all inclusive - health care coverage as their right without parental involvement or influence. It instructs the student in his/her obligation as a minor to comply with parental authority and sets down the rules for parental obligation to their minor children. It further coaches the students in how to obtain legal court bypasses for abortions along with treatments forsexual diseases. There is also a section in SB 810 authorizing schools to deliver vaccinations as deemed appropriate by the FDA and other third party so-called medical experts. There is no parental notification or opt-out opportunities. This will mean that your daughter and son will be subject to vaccinations against sexual diseases. We citizens thought we had defeated the bills authorizing Gardasil for 11 year olds and up, but they merely moved it into a little noticedsegment of SB 810.
This treats the parent/child relationship as a mere contract enforced by government officials. It would also have the effect of encouraging children to turn in their parents to authorities if they, the child, feels that the parent is not fulfilling their government mandated duty.
This is the whole intent of other bills submitted periodically creating parent/teacher compacts or partnerships. Parents, especially those who are low-income, welfare, immigrant, shaky legalstatus, are especially sought by schools in an effort to gain these parents confidence and enable the teachers to conduct behavior modification programs on the parents, with the objective being to overcome their lack of trust in authority and allowing the schools to influence the home activities, nutrition, work efforts. etc.
6. Creates regionalized health delivery centers and attaches them to the already created Work Force Development regionalized centers - Sec. 140205.The budget for the system shall include...:
Workforce training and development budget pursuant to Section 140222.140222. (a) The commissioner shall establish a budget to support the training,development, and continuing education of health care providers and the healthcare workforce needed to meet the health care needs of the population and thegoals and standards of the system. On Tuesday, April 20, I visited the office of Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, (D-Antioch) and spoke with his Chief of Staff, Richard Zeiger. The subject was Torlakson's Resolution ACR 82 on supporting what is called S.T.E.M. legislation - Science, technology, engineering and math.
This is what is becoming known as the new pathway to a better education resulting in participation in global leadership, and is being funded and promoted by the federal Race To The Top legislation - RTTT. RTTT has taken over the formerly named No Child Left Behind legislation promoted by Bill Clinton and advanced by George Bush. It is federal education stimulus funding designed to merge the education, health and workforce preparation branches of government into one super bureaucracy. As a part of that discussion we began talking about the benefits to be derived to students of a school system that enables a child to enter the work force better prepared to function in the business and industry world.Mr. Zeiger, speaking on behalf of his boss, Tom Torlakson, spoke glowingly of the advantages of a school system that would have the authority to supervise and guide a child's career goals even beginning at the early stages of education. He spoke of the need for schools to be better funded so that they would be better able to bring the world's choices to the student enabling that student to decide upon a career, especially in the areas of science (health), technology (computers), engineering (construction) and math.
He even included the advantages of a health care system that would be the enabling source for a minor to decide for herself her reproductive future.Tom Torlakson wants to be your next State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Who are the co-sponsors of this legislation?
The California Nurses Assn, Ca. Health professional Students Assn, Ca. Teachers Assn, Health Care for All - California, Ca. School Employees Assn, League of Women Voters. It further includes an entire page, tightly worded, of groups such as the ACLU, SEIU, Ca. Maternal and Child Health Dept., multiple local Democrat clubs, The AFL-CIO, the Union for Reform Judaism, several mainline Protestant denominations, local and specialized civil rightsorganizations and a host of community non-profit groups who will attempt to cash in on this lucrative source of funding.
The subject I have tried to describe for you is huge and all encompassing. There is much more involved than I felt could be absorbed in one report. What I have tried to convey is a sense of what will be the true intent behind the nice slogans of educational reform, jobs formations, the so-called right of everyone to be provided with health care and a peek at what that health care really entails.
If it could be summed up in a few words it means that the government is taking over what was formerly the role of private enterprise in the areas of health, education and employment. It is a merger creating one entity directing the lives of every citizen, staffed by non-elected bureaucrats who will have the power to determine what your health outcome will be, what your nutrition willbe, your exercise and your lifestyle choices; education will be directed more toward preparing children to enter into pre-planned workforce training designed by partnerships between businessand education and, of course, the employment itself. There is much contained in education and workforce legislation that talks about students who attend the proper classes and are cooperative being able to obtain Certificates of Mastery enabling them to be assured of placement following graduation.
The sad thing is that while the Democrats favor the health care issues and the Republicans vote against it; the Republicans and the Democrats favor the workforce legislation. This results in
both sides appearing to placate the desires of their Party constituents while, in reality, bringing
about the change so urgently desired by the Obama Administration. SB 810 needs to be defeated. The Democrat legislators need to hear from the voting and legalcitizens who will be the ones funding all this socialized government. Attending Tea Parties is fine, but while they've kept you are out there on the street corner the legislators are in their chambers passing all this stuff and feeling pretty smug about it.
Attempted NY Subway Bomber Zarin Ahmedzay Pleads Guilty
April 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Zarin Ahmedzay today pleaded guilty in a 2009 plot to bomb New York subway trains.
According to federal prosecutors Ahmedzay, an American citizen, entered into a conspiracy with Najibullah Zazi and another accomplice to attack the transit systems two busiest stations, Times Square and Grand Central Station.
Much of the evidence used against Ahmedzay was obtained from Zazi, who is awaiting sentencing early this summer. Zazi was apprehended in Colorado last September in Colorado.
CAIR's Attempted Censorship of Florida Bus Advertisements Defeated
April 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a victory for freedom of expression as well as a push-back against expanding efforts to impose Shari'a compliance in the United States, the Miami Dade Transit Authority has reversed a previous decision, thus clearing the way for the return of a series of ads on Florida busses which offer advice to those who might be considering leaving Islam but are fearful of Muslim proscriptions against apostasy, the penalty for which some noted Muslim scholars say is death.
The original ad campaign - part of a larger effort by Stop the Islamization of America [SIOA] and the Freedom Defense Initiative - was sponsored by Robert Spencer, Director of Jihad Watch and activist Pam Geller but had been pulled under pressure from Islamist groups including CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in America's largest and most successful prosecution of Hamas terror funding, U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation.
Giving CAIR's position was Muhammed Malik, the organization's Florida director who stated, "The advertisement's use of the hot-button issue of apostasy is merely a smoke-screen to promote anti-Islam bigotry and attempt to marginalize American Muslims." [source, CAIR Florida website, cached by Google at, http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:y7EHlaRJ968J:www.cair-florida.org/sfl/Articles.aspx%3Fcid%3D3387%26aid%3D3387+CAIR+promote+anti-Islam+bigotry+and+attempt+to+marginalize+American+Muslims&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us]
When notified by the transit authority that the ads had been pulled, Mr. Spencer and Ms. Geller retained attorney David Yerushalmi and the Thomas More Law Center.
A teleconference was arranged first with the Miami-Dade County Attorney's office, which took place Monday afternoon. After listening to Mr. Yerushalmi's brief, the county attorneys conceded the ads should not have been pulled. By Tuesday, Mr. Yerushalmi had negotiated a full and complete retraction of the contract termination with a NY-based attorney for CBS Outdoor. Not only would the original 10 king-sized ads go back up on the Transit Authority buses, but CBS would run an additional 20 king-sized bus ads for no additional charge.
The new agreement was inked and signed by Wednesday, April 21. The ads are expected to go back up by early next week.
Contacted by PipeLineNews for comments, Mr. Yerushalmi stated, "First, this is a victory for the First Amendment, a no brainer...it's a teaching moment to the media...they just have to recognize that when they are bombarded by CAIR...they have to understand what these people are really after which is the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda...to destroy Israel and to achieve Islamic power pursuant to Shari'a in every country where Muslims put their feet."
South Park Controversy - New York Islamist Group "Revolution Muslim" Incites Murder of Cartoon's Creators
April 21, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Leading an effort it calls "The Defense of the Prophet Campaign," an extremist New York Muslim group, Revolution Muslim, has created a YouTube video decrying the popular and cheeky cartoon series, South Park.
At issue here is an episode aired last week in which the world's religions were parodied including a representation of Mohammed as a bear. That depiction is perceived by some to be anti-Muslim, the motivation behind the video's thinly veiled incitement to murder Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the series creators.
Revolution Muslim's 7 minute video is titled, "Help us Remove this Filth," uses a retelling of an alleged historical incident involving Mohammed in Medina which demonstrates how Islam's prophet proclaimed that religious dissent should be dealt with as apparent justification for taking action against the cartoonists.
The following from the video:
"...he spoke against us, he spoke against me [Mohammed] and he defamed me with his poetry...if any one of you try to defame me through your words this will be the way we deal with you there is nothing between us and you except the sword ...there will be no dialogue...no forgiveness...no building of bridges...there will only be the sword between me and you..."
Ominously, the video shows pictures of the lifeless body of Dutch film maker, Theo van Gogh, prostrate on the pavement, knife sticking out of his chest after having been murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri, an Islamist fanatic, in November 2004.
Over van Gogh's body is the caption "Theo van Gogh, after he was sent to Hell."
Also highlighted are author Salmon Rushdie, victim of numerous death threats over his book, "The Satanic Verses," Geert Wilders a Dutch politician highly critical of radical Islam and Kurt Westergaard, a cartoonist who has also come under fire over his depiction of Mohammed.
As the New York Times views the matter:
"The post, written by Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, said that the episode "outright insulted" the Prophet, adding:
'We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.'"
Below the controversial video.
Kurt Westergaard, Subjected to Death Threats by Islamists, Put on "Indefinite Leave"
April 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In what appears to be a capitulation to Islamic extremists, the Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who received numerous death threats by outraged Muslims for depicting Mohammad with a bomb in his turban, was placed on "indefinite leave" by his newspaper "for security reasons."
In January Westergaard was attacked in his Aarhus home by an ax-wielding Somali Muslim. He only escaped harm by hiding in a panic room.
About his forced retirement Westergaard commented, "It's a pity. I have become a too heavy burden and a very big security risk," he said, adding that he had not actually worked for the paper since last November. [source, AFP, Danish cartoonist at centre of Muhammad controversy on leave 'for security reasons', http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=2938023]
According to the Dutch newspaper, Volkskrant, Westergaard plans to continue drawing:
"I know that there are colleagues who are worried about security. I understand their concerns too but I don't want to give way to threats.I was sent on vacation but I cannot stay on vacation forever. Above all, I want to determine the moment when I stop working myself. The chief editors from the Jyllands-Posten have also said that the decision should be mine" [source, translated from the Dutch by Beila Rabinowitz, http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article1372101.ece/Bedreigde_cartoonist_Westergaard_tekent_gewoon_door]
The decision that Jylland-Posten faced in this matter was whether or not to give in to the tremendous pressure put upon it by Islamists bent on forcing compliance with Shari'a, especially as it regards depiction of its prophet.
If Westergaard's wish to continue drawing for the Jyllands-Posten is respected it will be an indication that the paper will continue its policy of promoting freedom of expression. However if Mr. Westergaard's leave translates to having been fired, then the publication will have caved to Muslim extremism an unacceptable option to a member of the Fourth Estate.
Pentagon Study Sounds Alarm - Iranian Al-Quds Force Presence in Venezuela Increasing
April 21, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to a just released DOD report made available to Congress, the al-Quds force, the elite core of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has markedly strengthened its position in the Venezuelan stronghold of dictator Hugo Chavez.
Al-Quds has been deeply involved in Islamic terrorism for decades including the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 bombing of Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, which was home to many American defense workers in the region.
The declassified report is available through the Washington Times [see, http://media.washingtontimes.com/media/docs/2010/Apr/20/Iran_Military_Report.pdf] which details that, "it [al-Quds] is well established in the Middle East and North Africa, and recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela."
It is believed that as American involvement in the region increases, so will "contact" with al-Quds.
Unbelievably, despite ample public record of the increasing threat posed by Venezuela [see for example, PipeLineNews, GAO Study Suggests Obama Buddy Hugo Chavez is the King of Cocaine, https://www.pipelinenews.org/2009/GAO-Study-Suggests-Obama-Buddy-Hugo-Chavez-Is-The-King.html, New York Times, Venezuela Buys Missiles With Russian Loan, http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/14/world/international-uk-venzuela-chavez.html and PipeLineNews, Hugo Chavez: Friend of Holocaust Deniers and Drug Dealers, https://www.pipelinenews.org/2007/Hugo-Chavez-Fascist-Friend-Of-Holocaust-Deniers-Drug.html] especially as aided by Iran, Secty. Defense Gates downplayed its importance, saying that the information in the report regarding the rogue South American dictatorship was not a threat, "I certainly don't see Venezuela at this point as a military challenge or threat." [source, Washington Times, Iran Boosts Shock Troops in Venezuela, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/21/iran-boosts-qods-shock-troops-in-venezuela/]
Cooperation with America Cited as Motivation in Recent Pakistani Suicide Attacks
April 20, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Yesterday a suicide bomb attack in the city of Peshawar claimed at least 23 lives. That attack was preceded by a similar one directed against a school which had ties to local law enforcement. Several injuries and one death are attributed to that action.
A Taliban propaganda video was aired on area television stations just prior to the Peshawar bombing which displayed a number of hostages, featuring Taliban demands for release of some of its fighters in return for the hostages.
Today, in continuing violence, another bombing was carried out, this time against a military convoy believed to have been involved with the country's anti-Taliban push.
A local political leader, Sirajul Haq, blamed the anti-terror partnership between Pakistan and the United States as the cause for the latest violence, saying "It is because we have brought America's war to our own country." [source, AP, Pakistan: Islamist blames US for suicide bombing, http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9F6R4AO0]
DOJ Spin Regarding FBI Counter Terror Efforts Not Justified its Own Report
April 20, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a much touted report [see, Washington Post, FBI had Doubled Counter Terrorism Forces, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/04/report_fbi_has_doubled_counter.html release] today, the Department of Justice claimed that it had doubled the number of assigned agents to counter terrorism related investigations since 2001.
The accompanying full report [see, http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a1024.pdf] prepared by the DOJ Inspector General's office, however demonstrates that while that claim might well be accurate, it's hard to substantiate using the declassified report's data given the large number of redactions it contains, for example refer to exhibits I-3, 1-2 and 1-3 dealing with resource allocations, all of which are entirely blacked-out. Similarly 1-5,6, 8 and others have been redacted.
Assuming the data does exist in the classified study, today's press release still fails to present the matter fairly, in that if hides the fact that while significant caseload continues to be weighted in the direction of counter terror, it has systematically been decreasing since 2005, with 2009 featuring nearly 20% fewer active cases than 2005, not at all impressive given the large increase in domestic terror events during the last 18 months.
Below from the report, exhibit 1-7, pg. 39.
2005 - 3,339
Similar figures, exhibit 2-9 pg. 68., showing a slightly different presentation of the data, but still showing a near 20% drop in active cases over the last five years.
Analysis: It seems clear that the DOJ is spinning in this matter, that the department has met an increased threat with an inadequate assignment of manpower. While we do have the IG's statement that 26% of current manpower assignment is now devoted to counter terrorism [IG Glenn A. Fine reported that in fiscal 2009 "the FBI used 26 percent of its field agents to address counterterrorism matters, while using 51 percent to address criminal matters...a significant change from FY 2001 when the FBI used 13 percent of its field agents on counterterrorism matters and 72 percent on criminal matters." [see, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/04/report_fbi_has_doubled_counter.html] in the face of an obviously increasing threat - in our judgment partially brought on by this administration's weak posture internationally regarding terrorism - this is clearly a formula which isn't working and one would hope that eight plus years after 9/11 the FBI should have been able to adequately apportion sufficient resources necessary to combat the national security threat posed by domestic terrorism.
Indonesian High Court Lets Blasphemy Law Stand
April 20, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a lopsided 8-1 vote, Indonesia's constitutional court upheld the legality of a disputed 1965 statute [refusing to accept the case for review] making it a crime to malign any one of six officially protected religions [Islam, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Protestantism and Confucianism].
The law additionally allows prosecution for interpreting any of these belief systems in any but "standard" manner, a measure intended primarily to preserve religious orthodoxy primarily among the country's 200 million plus Sunni Muslims. The law involved, Article 156(a) specifically prohibits not only blasphemy, but heresy and "deviance" and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
Indonesia is home to the world's largest concentration of Muslims.
Explaining the government's position, Suryadharma Ali, Indonesia's religious affairs minister stated, "The law should be upheld because if it is annulled ... Islam and the Quran could be interpreted at will and people and figures could declare new prophets and establish new religions." [source, Al-Jazeera, Indonesia upholds blasphemy law, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/04/20104208101575962.html]
The decision not to review the case concluded a tumultuous period in Indonesian politics which featured clashes between defenders of the blasphemy law and attorneys for the plaintiffs that are thought to have influenced the high court's jurists concerned about social stability. [see, Jakarta Post, Court Upholds Blasphemy Law. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2010/04/20/court-upholds-blasphemy-law.html]
Attempting to Delineate "Homespun" from Foreign Islamic Terror Counterproductive in Long Run
April 19, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a preachy Reuters article published today [see, Special Report: U.S. shifts gears to tackle homespun terrorism, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63F2HZ20100416] the point is repeatedly made that segregating terror threats as being either of domestic or foreign origin would be helpful from a national security perspective.
Aside from the obvious, that threats must be dealt with in whatever setting they are found, this effort to categorize then bifurcate the various manifestations of religiously motivated warfare, as if they were in any way dissimilar, is not only pointless but counterproductive.
The root cause of the terror phenomenon we face lies in the ideology of Islamism, something this administration adamantly assures us does not exist.
Islamism is a political creed that mandates the immediate imposition of Shari'a [through a process of destabilization] in compliant societies and for more assured societies such as our own, posits a slow, stealth jihadist process of cultural subversion and eventual, incremental but forced, Shari'a compliance.
The motive force behind modern Islamism is of course the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian terrorist organization [the intellectual mother of all contemporary Islamic terror organizations] which this administration seems to feel can be reasoned and even partnered with in an effort to "understand" and assign the perceived causes of Islamic terrorism outside the purview of religion.
To be fair, in previous years some in the Bush administration's State Department, also counseled sidling up to the Brotherhood, though that was an idea adhered to by a very limited number of players.
Now with the Obama presidency, however, that vague sentiment has been put into policy, most recently and concretely demonstrated by Secretary of State Clinton overriding a long standing Bush administration policy of barring Tariq Ramadan - the grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood - from entering the country.
The result of this poorly thought out move is that last week Mr. Ramadan completed a short speaking tour of the United States, acting the part of conscientious moderate.
The shift has also been seen with increasing inclusion of Muslim Brotherhood linked organizations such as ISNA and CAIR in WH outreach plans.
This tilt within the administration started almost immediately, with the president's much criticized Cairo speech [see, Obama's Muslim World Address In Cairo Examined, https://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=obamaid=6.4.09%2Ehtm] about which even "progressive" sources [the Atlantic in this case] were reporting that members of the Muslim Brotherhood had been quietly invited:
"A sign that the Obama administration is willing to publicly challenge Egypt's commitment to parliamentary democracy: various Middle Eastern news sources report that the administration insisted that at least 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's chief opposition party, be allowed to attend his speech in Cairo on Thursday. The brotherhood is a Salafist/ Islamist party with branches in many countries, and it does not have a reputation for liberalism and has supported violent campaigns against Israel (and Egypt's own government). It has deep roots in the region and traces its intellectual lineage to Sayyid Qutb, a top American-educated Islamic intellectual who was executed -- or martyred -- by the Egyptian government in 1966. The Brotherhood has direct links with Sunni groups like Hamas in the Palestinian territories..." [source, "Brotherhood" Invited To Obama Speech By U.S., http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/06/-brotherhood-invited-to-obama-speech-by-us/18693]
That the Brotherhood presents a clear and present danger is beyond question, as anyone familiar with MB history is well aware.
Consider the following short passage from the Muslim Brotherhood's plan for "cultural jihad" in the West which was discovered in a Virginia terror raid during the 1990s, said document having served as a key piece of evidence in the U.S. most far-reaching Hamas terror funding prosecution, U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation.
"...we must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah's religion is made victorious over all other religions." [source, https://www.pipelinenews.org/images/GX3-85.pdf]
Of note, this template for internal subversion was devised with the expressed intent of "sabotaging their miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious..." [source, ibid]
In previous large scale conflicts, the United States had little trouble in identifying the enemy, often to the point of not only clearly stating who it might be - the Hun for instance during World War I - but in demonizing the opponent as a technique of further motivation.
Today, that demonstrably effective strategy has been totally abandoned with the official language even having been stripped of the descriptors, jihadist, Islamist, Islamo-fascist, radical Muslim etc., necessary to intelligently discuss the issue.
What has happened here is that though the other side has and continues to pursue a multi-front war against the West and liberal democracy, the threatened societies have inexplicably donned blinders, convincing themselves that al-Qaeda is not only the greatest but only terror threat.
Within this destined to fail paradigm, there is no taking into account the ideology which imbues al-Qaeda and its sister organizations.
Unless and until it is realized that we are engaged in a civilization war kindled by a particular and radical interpretation of Islam, the simple categorization of threats as being either domestic or foreign is most foolish because it attempts to shape the threat into a form which is in the current political environment adequately nuanced and sensitive rather than look at as it actually is in its most stark form, a virulent ideology of religious based domination intent upon creating a global Caliphate.
Just as Italian fascism and Nazism were based upon a political theory developed largely by Benito Mussolini, today's jihad [both violent and stealth or cultural] is likewise defined by a specific set of precepts and unless we can bring ourselves to utter the name of our enemy, our ability to defeat him is not promising.
Not taking such elemental considerations into account has and will continue to cause the United States to be less than rigorous in its defense of democracy, itself a curious and quaint concept in this administration. Furthermore compartmentalizing the response and approach to Islamic terrorism upon the simplistic surface determination of it being either foreign or domestic is to reduce a genuinely complex and multi-faceted opponent into something out of Cliff's Notes, useless if we are to actively engage against it, rather than as an increasing number fear, engage in simply whistling past the graveyard.
ICNA Materials Promote Jihad at Philly Library Festival
April 19, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a previous article entitled "Will ICNA be Allowed to Practice Stealth Jihad at Philadelphia Free Library Festival?" this author wrote, "...the Islamic Circle of North America has no place at the Philadelphia Free Library Festival and the organizers should prevent representatives of the group from plying their trade at the event.[source, https://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=icna4.16.10.htm].
The organizers of the festival which took place on April 17th and 18th had been given information on ICNA's questionable associations and were urged not to allow the Islamic Circle of North America to set up a "Da'wah Booth" at the event. Unfortunately, ICNA was permitted to proceed with its plans and one of the publications which was highlighted, printed in English and Spanish, called for jihad.
The book "Towards Understanding Islam" was by Abul A'la Mawdudi a radical Muslim theorist and the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami a radical Islamist group which is believed to have ties to al-Qaeda.
Under the heading "Jihad" Mawdudi wrote the following:
"Jihad is a part of this overall defense of Islam...in the language of the Divine Law, this word is used specifically for the war that is waged solely in the name of God against those who perpetrate oppression as enemies of Islam. This supreme sacrifice is the responsibility of all Muslims...jihad is as much a primary duty as are daily prayers or fasting. One who avoids it is a sinner. His every claim to being a Muslim is doubtful. He is plainly a hypocrite who fails in the tests of sincerity and his acts of worship are a sham, a worthless hollow show of devotion..." [source, Abul A'la Mawdudi, "Towards Understanding Islam," pg. 124-125]
ICNA was also giving away copies of the Qur'an in which the entry for "Christians and Jews" appeared in the index with references to "accursed" and "enmity to the believers."
Among the many pamphlets which ICNA offered was one entitled "Common Concerns About Islam." For example, next to the the heading "Hijab" was written "A Liberation" and the entry entitled "Polygamy" stated that, "For unmarried women who cannot find husbands and widows who aspire to a respectable family life, polygamy is often an acceptable alternative." Similarly, another entry on Jihad [pgs.4 and 8] contains the the following - "Physical Jihad, which involves collective armed self -defense as well as retribution against tyranny, exploitation and oppression" - then concludes, "It is clear from the foregoing discussion that Jihad is a vast concept that encompasses various spheres of activity all directed at the betterment of self and society."
By allowing ICNA to participate in the Philadelphia Free Library Festival the organizers have betrayed their own mission statement which says that "The Free Library will create a welcoming and inspiring environment for learning and will promote individual enlightenment, community enrichment, and economic vitality throughout the region." [source, http://www.library.phila.gov/about/role.htm#flp]
Instead of aiding community enrichment library officials who made this ill-advised decision have inadvertently contributed to spreading of a virulent doctrine at odds with American national security concerns.
2010 Beila Rabinowitz, PipeLineNews.org LLC. All rights reserved.
Congressmen Wolf and Myrick Demand Halt to GITMO Detainee Releases to Afghanistan
March 30, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Once again taking the lead against the Obama administration's harmful disregard of the effect its GITMO release policy is having, today Frank Wolf [R-VA] and Rep. Sue Myrick [R-NC] asked team Obama to stop its policy of releasing GITMO detainees to Afghanistan.
The action follows credible reports that a detainee released in December already has returned to the jihad. As a consequence to similar demands by GOP Congressmen, the administration in January halted sending detainees back to Yemen after it became clear that the failed Christmas Day bomber developed links to al-Qaeda there.
Myrick and Wolf also asked to be provided with an updated, unclassified version of the recidivism rate of Guantanamo Bay detainees - it's been reported that is it now over 20 percent.
As part of Congressman Wolf and Myrick's statement they said, "we must learn from our past mistakes and prevent additional detainees from rejoining the fight against our armed forces and aid workers in Afghanistan,"
Timing on Hutaree Raid Troubling
Is this the long anticipated beginning of Obama stifling "right wing" dissent?
March 29, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In this administration nothing happens by accident, at least at the public relations level and DOJ's widely reported raid this last weekend on a group with extremely limited previous public visibility [the Hutaree, a tiny Michigan based group] might well be similarly tainted.
The defendants, David Brian Stone, David Brian Stone Jr., Joshua Matthew Stone, Tina Mae Stone, Joshua John Clough, Michael David Meeks, Thomas William Piatek, Kristopher T. Sickes and Jacob J. Ward, were variously named in a previously sealed indictment go here, Federal indictment Hutaree on 5 counts, including seditious conspiracy [USC 2384], attempt to use weapons of mass destruction [USC 2332], teaching and/or demonstrating the use of explosive devices [USC 842(p)(2)] and two counts of carrying or possessing a weapon during commission of a crime of violence [USC 924 (c)(1)].
Though the charges against this group might well turn out to be sustainable and the threat they posed great and imminent, the mere fact of the timing of this raid is troubling, coming in the immediate wake of a sustained attempt by Democrat politicians to characterize opponents of the Obama agenda as violent right-wing Christian racists, to the extent of having Democrat politicians charge - absent any proof - that they have been victimized - spat upon, subjected to the "n" word and other indignities - by the Tea Partiers [it goes without saying that Dem stunts such as Nancy Pelosi's grand march, gavel in hand, past protesters last week at the Capital were intended to provoke responses which could then be amplified by the MSM].
Helping set the scene, unofficial WH spokes-tard Frank Rich [a former drama critic] chimed in conspiratorially on March 27, and in hushed tones, slithered in a NY Times Op Ed, "...to find a prototype for the overheated reaction to the health care bill, you have to look a year before Medicare, to the Civil Rights Act of 1964...If Obama's first legislative priority had been immigration or financial reform or climate change, we would have seen the same trajectory. The conjunction of a black president and a female speaker of the House - topped off by a wise Latina on the Supreme Court and a powerful gay Congressional committee chairman - would sow fears of disenfranchisement among a dwindling and threatened minority in the country no matter what policies were in play. It's not happenstance that Frank, Lewis and Cleaver - none of them major Democratic players in the health care push - received a major share of last weekend's abuse. When you hear demonstrators chant the slogan 'Take our country back!,' these are the people they want to take the country back from." [source, The Rage Is Not About Health Care, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28rich.html
Turkey on the Brink
Country plagued with resurgent Islamism, Mafia-style organized crime, import-brides, arranged marriages, inbreeding, polygamy, prostitution and honor-killings
March 29, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The current Turkish government led by prime minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan seeks to expand its influence through Turks living abroad. An important conference was recently held in Istanbul where 15,00 people from Turkish descent from several European countries listened to Erdogan and other speakers. All expenses were paid by the Turkish government. Erdogan repeated his controversial 2008 statement: 'Assimilation is a crime against humanity.' Another speaker went even further saying: 'We need to innoculate European culture with Turkish culture.'
The language in the invitations already suggested the attitude of the Turkish government towards Turkish-German politicians. Ankara perceives them as being its own. Invitations sent in the name of Turkish Labor Minister Farak Celik to German Bundestag members were addressed as 'my esteemed members of parliament' and Erdogan was referred to as 'our prime minister.'
Are we going to return to the times of the Islamic Ottoman Empire which sought to conquer the whole of Europe in the 16th and 17th century but was eventually stopped at the gates of Vienna? It was early November 2008 that Erdogan addressed a large crowd of enthousiastic followers in the German city of Cologne. His message to them could be summarized as follows: 'You may live in Germany, but you are Turks ? and I am your prime minister.'
Legislative Update - Healthcare Advertising - Information or Manipulation?
March 29, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In the last few days I have critiqued two ads, one on TV and one on the internet,promoting elements of the universal health care plan.
AD 1: [I am paraphrasing] DEMOCRATS, VICTIMIZED FOR DEFENDING THE POOR AND NEEDY. This could well be the title of this ad.
This spot positions the Democrats in Congress as victims of those opposing the recently passed health care plan. The ad claims that Democrats have received threats, nasty phone calls, etc. It urges the reader to please, quickly send a $5.00 donation to the following address to help overcome this unpleasantness and help inform the people of the good work to be done by The Plan, yadda...yadda...
In truth the phone calls, if any, are probably from constituents who have a right to oppose a vote cast by their legislator and the so-called threats are, mostlikely, vows to defeat the legislator at the next election.
Forgotten Document Outlines Deep Hezbollah Involvement in South America
March 26, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Paraguay, of all South American countries is in the news, with Fox News carrying a story detailing the substantial ties between Iran's proxy army Hezbollah and Paraguay.
Wedged between the twin giants Brazil and Argentina the country would seem an unlikely candidate for international intrigue, but its very anonymity is apparently exactly what Hezbollah sought when it first established a beachhead there.
In a 2004 study by the ADL - Anti-Defamation League [see, http://www.adl.org/terror/hezbollah_print.asp Hezbollah's International Reach] the organization documents the deep ties Hezbollah has established throughout South America.
"Hezbollah is widely considered to have an established presence in the lawless, corrupt, drug-ridden triple border region of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Hezbollah uses the area as a key locale for raising and laundering money, drug trafficking, weapons and people smuggling and document and currency fraud. It has been alleged that Hezbollah, Hamas and AI Qaeda also maintain terrorist training camps in the triborder region but the evidence to date is inconclusive.
Terror Alert - South Korean Guided Missile Frigate Sunk By North Korea?
March 26, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - South Korean news agency Yonhap is reporting details of a major naval clash between North and South Korea. [see, http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/South-Korean-Ship-Sinks-North-Suspected-89273647.html]
The incident took place at approximately 9:30 am local time, the 1,500 ton South Korean vessel [possible a guided missile frigate] was sunk, possibly due to a torpedo strike, the assumed origin being a North Korean naval warship.
Tensions in the Yellow Sea area where the suspected attack took place have been heightened recently due to North Korean anger over joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises.
Cardinal Roger Mahony's Baloney
March 25, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A visit to LA Cardinal Roger Mahony's blog [see, http://cardinalrogermahonyblogsla.blogspot.com] should be a startling revelation for a traditional Catholic, or American for that matter. Unfortunately what should be surprising isn't - not by a long shot. Given the rapid and downward turn of events since Obama's bait-and-switch electoral victory 16 months ago, nothing in the way of iconoclastic change should startle thoughtful observers. Yet despite this fact, the dawn of every day brings with it such unprecedented breaks with the past that one might feel in need of a road map to determine at what juncture the wrong turn was made.
That point being beyond the intent of this writing, allow us to consider Cardinal Mahony's political blogging which contains this post from March 21:
"Health care reform passed on Sunday night, and brought millions of people out of the shadows of living without health care coverage. We have reached out to them precisely to include them fully into American life and protections. Now we need to do the same thing with our millions of immigrants who are living in the shadows of our society but without protections and guarantees--because they do not yet possess legal status. We need to devote ourselves to bring about a comprehensive bill which will bring them into full participation in the life of our country."
In the space of less than 100 words the Cardinal tosses overboard in a mind-bendingly cavalier manner, the single most important tenet underlying Judaism, Christianity and Western Civilization, that being the idea of free choice.
Allow me to explain...briefly...
Saint Thomas Aquinas, perhaps the Church's most brilliant intellectual - and other theologians, have written extensively on the subject, often referring to Deuteronomy 30:19 or similar texts, "...I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed..." [American Standard translation]
"It is written (Sirach 15:14) God made man from the beginning, and left him in the hand of his own counsel...That is of his free-will. I answer that, Man has free-will: otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards, and punishments would be in vain. In order to make this evident, we must observe that some things act without judgment; as a stone moves downwards; and in like manner all things which lack knowledge. And some act from judgment, but not a free judgment; as brute animals. For the sheep, seeing the wolf, judges it a thing to be shunned, from a natural and not a free judgment, because it judges, not from reason, but from natural instinct. And the same thing is to be said of any judgment of brute animals. But man acts from judgment, because by his apprehensive power he judges that something should be avoided or sought. But because this judgment, in the case of some particular act, is not from a natural instinct, but from some act of comparison in the reason, therefore he acts from free judgment and retains the power of being inclined to various things. For reason in contingent matters may follow opposite courses, as we see in dialectic syllogisms and rhetorical arguments. Now particular operations are contingent, and therefore in such matters the judgment of reason may follow opposite courses, and is not determinate to one. And forasmuch as man is rational is it necessary that man have a free-will... " 1. [source, The Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas Second and Revised Edition, 1920]
The power of this line of thought is revelatory and undeniable; unless man is created free to choose both rightly and wrongly, he can't be held morally responsible for his actions.
This is the kernel upon which the Western experience has been built, reflective of a continuous striving to maximize conditions so that the exercise of this freedom is unfettered, set against the similarly Biblically derived admonition that one must choose rightly.
Holder/Obama Release Two More Uighur Terror Suspects
March 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - With Switzerland apparently having lost the coin toss, DOJ today announced that it is sending two GITMO Uighur detainees to the idylic, traditionally neutral country.
The Uighurs - Chinese nationals, apprehended on the Afghan battlefield - will apparently be residing in the Swiss Canton of Jura thanks to team Obama.
The history of terror recidivism among released GITMO detainees does not bode well for this latest effort at repatriation. As Bill Rogio notes in Long War Journal, "a former Guantanamo detainee transferred from the detention facility to Afghanistan on Dec. 19, 2009, has already returned to the Taliban's ranks, according to multiple intelligence officials contacted by the Long War Journal. The former detainee was identified in documents produced at Guantanamo as Abdul Hafiz (as well as an alternative name, Abdul Qawi) and given an internment serial number of 1030. During the more than six years he was held at Guantanamo, Hafiz was repeatedly identified as "a suspect in the murder of an International Red Cross worker in Afghanistan." Memos produced at Guantanamo also alleged that Hafiz participated in the jihad against the Soviets, ran madrassas and recruited young men to fight for the Taliban, was "responsible for maintaining contacts with Mullah Mohammed Omar," and fought in a 40-man militia comprised of fighters from the Taliban and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's insurgency group..." [source, Former Gitmo detainee targeting Afghan charities]
In a recent statement John Brennan, Obama's chief counterterrorism advisor, said that about 20% of released GITMO detainees return to active jihad, noting parenthetically that figure "wasn't that bad," compared to the recidivism rate among domestic U.S. prisoners - none of whom - we must highlight - were engaged in Islamic jihad against America.
Saudis Launch Major Counter Terrorism Effort - Over 100 Al-Qaeda Suspects Arrested
March 24, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Reports that the Saudi Kingdom has just initiated a major anti-terror effort in the country have been streaming out of the Middle East for hours now.
The target appears to be AQP [al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a subsidiary of bin-Laden's organization led by one of his former commanders, but not necessarily controlled by him or his command structure] which was thought to be plotting a series of attacks against the Saudi oil infrastructure - "Saudi Arabia said Wednesday its security forces had arrested 113 militants with ties to Al Qaeda who had been planning attacks against oil operations and security facilities in the eastern part of the kingdom." [source, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/world/middleeast/25saudi.html]
The terror threat within the kingdom has been increasing recently, marked by events such as the attempted assassination by a suicide bomber of national security official Prince Mohammed bin-Naif in his home last summer.
According to the Saudi Defense Agency, nearly half of those being detained are Yemenis, a reminder of the danger posed by Saudi's porous southern border.
Clinton Judge - James Robertson - Set to Free Top Al-Qaeda Terrorist
March 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a GITMO detainee, is believed to have been integral to the 9/11 terror attacks, working closely with Mohammed Atta in Germany.
On Monday a Clinton judge, James Robertson - DC District - granted Slahi a petition for habeas corpus, clearing the way for freeing him.
Slahi has been described as being the detainee of most value at GITMO, deeply knowledgeable in the details of al-Qaeda terror methods.
The ruling was classified and is not available to the public.
Slahi was known to European intelligence for years before the events of September 11 to be a significant player in the Islamic terror network:
"When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a significant al Qaeda operative who, even then, was well known to U.S. and German intelligence, though neither government apparently knew he was operating in Germany in late 1999.When telephoned by Binalshibh and Shehhi, Slahi reportedly invited these promising recruits to come see him in Duisburg...Slahi instructed them to obtain Pakistani visas and then return to him for further directions on how to reach Afghanistan.Although Atta did not attend the meeting, he joined in the plan with the other three. After obtaining the necessary visas, they received Slahi's final instructions on how to travel to Karachi and then Quetta, where they were to contact someone named Umar al Masri at the Taliban office..." [source, 911 Report, pg 183-184, http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/fullreport.pdf]
Obamacare Tea Party Pushback - Dem Congressman McNerney, Pleasanton, CA
By JOHN GUERRERO
March 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Last week's rally of patriots outside of the 11th district office of Jerry McNerney [D-CA] was impressive...the counter rally was quite small by comparison. At first, it seemed to be the other way around, with supporters of the embattled Congressman showing up early, but as time went on more and more Tea Party people showed up, finally demonstrating an at least 3-1 advantage.
Right on schedule at 5pm the protesters marched to the nearby highway 580 overpass leaving the Obama/McNerney supporters behind and a bit bewildered as to what was happening, finding themselves alone in front of the Congressman's office.
The protest crowd stretched out for hundreds of yards, dwarfing the opposition. Local law enforcement and the California Highway Patrol blocked off some freeway exits, allowing the march to proceed in a safer manner - kudos to our Thin Blue Line
The crowd then split into two groups on opposite sides of the freeway, with the Obama supporters trailing behind, seemingly confused as to what to do, lending a comical aside to the event. In short order the fair weather supporters marched off to home with theTea Partiers waving them farewell.
Local media including KTVU and the CBS affiliate moved among the crowd shooting video and conducting interviews.
The Tea Party protesters carried numerous American flags along with large banners that could be read from the freeway below. Judging by the responsive honking by passing autos, there seemed to be a lot of affinity with the protest among the commute traffic.
With the onset of the Obamacare sleight-of-hand healthcare "debate" Jerry McNerney has refused to confront critical constituents face to face. His office's response today was more of the same.
Images from the march below, more available by taking the above headline link to the complete story.
The State of Things - CA & Fed Health and Education Legislation
CAMILLE GIGLIO, Legislative Analyst
March 23, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - There is a 30 day waiting period between the end date for filing new bills and having those bills show up in committees. That waiting period is about to expire. Also, very likely little activity has been occurring on legislation, especially health and education bills, until the Obama Care bill is signed. So, beginning this week or next bills may be starting to move.
In the meantime here are two bills to carefully watch.
AB 1542, Medical Records: Homes - This bill is authored by the Assembly Health Committee. It establishes the Patient-Centered Medical Home Act pilot project. This creates the authority to assign every health care client's medical records to a specific location. It further assigns the patient to that location, or medical home, creating a patient/doctor partnership. A team of medical personnel form a contract with each patient to oversee and guide that patient's health care, mostly preventive care.
This home is sort of the gatekeeper approach to health care somewhat like the procedure for Kaiser patients, it would seem.
UK Muslim News "Awards for Excellence" Lauded by PM and Other Politicians
March 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to the Muslim News, about 800 people recently gathered together for "The Muslim News Awards for Excellence" supposedly to recognize Muslim contributions to British society. Unbelievably a special award was presented to Dr. Gill Hicks who founded,"Making a Difference for Peace" an organization she created after losing both of her legs as a result of the 2005 London terror bombings. [source,http://www.iina.me/english/news.php?go=fullnews&newsid=148]
Apparently the perverse act of bestowing a Muslim News Award for Excellence on the double amputee victim of a Muslim terror attack was lost on the politicians present.
Other politicians such as liberal democratic leader Nick Clegg and Opposition leader David Cameron sent laudatory messages. Among those attending were Communities Secretary John Denham and Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling.
Team Obama Continues Myth of Pakistan's Commitment to War on Terror
March 22, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Despite much evidence pointing to the fallacy underlying the administration's conclusion, Secty of State Clinton has congratulated the Pakistanis on the eve of their "National Day," March 23 for their alleged diligence in the war on terror, "Today, your country is suffering from terrorism and your security forces and civilians are making great sacrifices to fight extremists. The people of the United States will stand by and support Pakistani efforts to build a peaceful and prosperous future. We wish you a happy Pakistan Day." [source, http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/03/138530.htm]
This administration has not been alone in perpetuating the myth that Pakistan and the West share similar goals in battling the Islamic jihad , with the Bush team continually praising Pakistan for its anti-terror actions even while under Musharraf the country was busily signing peace treaties with the Taliban and by extension their al-Qaeda allies:
"President Pervez Musharraf has failed to prevent Pakistan from handing over territory to the Taliban, this time to a group called the Movement for the Enforcement of Islamic Laws. On March 17, a Pakistani "peace" committee struck a verbal agreement with the Mohmand tribe, under which the government promised to cease military activity in Bajaur in exchange for the tribe's promise not to shelter "foreigners" or allow cross-border attacks into Afghanistan." [source, http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/457rzpvh.asp]
David Coleman Headley Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy in Mumbai and Denmark Terror Plots
March 18, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - - Headley, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, pleaded guilty today to a dozen federal terrorism charges today including participation in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, and an attack on a Danish newspaper that had published allegedly anti-Islamic cartoons.
Headley had been trained by the terrorist group Lashkar e Tayyib in Pakistan, where he learned the skills necessary to gather intelligence on the Mumbai target, which he admitted to doing on five extended reconnaissance trips.
Headley's guilty plea was part of a plea bargain which in addition to other cooperation given to federal investigators, allowed him to escape the death penalty for his actions.
The terrorist's sentencing has been delayed until authorities have been assured that he has fully revealed the full extent of his knowledge of the terror network.
The Mumbai attacks started on Nov. 26, 2008, continuing through Nov. 28 and involved 10 terrorists armed with firearms, grenades and IEDs which were directed against premiere tourist spots including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Café, the Chabad House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station.
Moroccan Thugs Terrorize Dutch City
March 18, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Almost a million of Holland's 16 million population are Muslims - the majority coming from Africa [primarily Morocco and Somalia] and Turkey. Over 50% of the residents of Amsterdam are non-native Dutch and some areas of the city are 70% foreign born.
In the 1960s when the "special relationship" with Morocco was forged [primarily a glorified guest-worker concept] Holland's free thinkers supported a system of reparations in-kind, offered as partial atonement for the supposed sins of Dutch colonialism. The prevailing belief being that Dutch expansion/exploration had impacted North Africa negatively and it was far past time to address that perceived injustice.
Since then, often aided by bellicose foreign-born radical imams, young Moroccan men have been involved in criminal activity at a rate exponentially above their numbers in the general population.
In the latest incident, a case of vicious street crime, a youth from Veenendaal [located in central Holland near Utrecht] was beaten, robbed, partially stripped and laid across a set of railroad tracks by members of a Moroccan gang. The event was part of a crime wave in the city that has seen the mayor advising city residents to stay off the streets at night because the police couldn't protect them.
Other Dutch towns have suffered a similar fate with the mayor of Zaltbommel having received death threats after speaking out against the violence. Similar incidents have happened in the neighboring towns of Gouda and Utrecht, again perpetrated by young Moroccan hoods.
Netanyahu's Brother-in-Law: Obama's an Anti-Semite
March 17, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Speaking where few dare go, yesterday in a series of interviews Dr. Hagai Ben-Artz, Binyamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law, charged president Obama with being an anti-Semite.
Ben-Artz, quoted in Arutz Sheva, stated, "the time has come to tell the truth - we are talking about an anti-Semite...We Jews are a people from nearly 4,000 years ago. In another year, you [Obama] will disappear. Who will remember you?" [source, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136571]
Netanyahu's brother-in-law was also highly critical of the president's long-time pastor, Reverend Wright claiming in an interview with IDF Radio that the controversial church leader was, "anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic." [source, ibid]
Tensions between the United States and Israel have seldom been this strained. The most recent provocation took place last week with vice-president Biden's meddling in the politics of Jerusalem ["I condemn the decision" to build additional housing in East Jerusalem] followed by Secty of State Clinton's "blistering" [John Bolton's words, see - http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Clinton-Vents-Frustration-Over-Israeli-Jerusalem-Move-in-Call-to-Netanyahu-87493047.html] telephone conversation on the same matter with the Israeli PM.
AP Discovers Civilizational Conflict Between the West and Islam
March 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - When even the pedantically leftist AP takes note of the "growing unease," with which Europeans view their burgeoning Muslim populations, there must be considerable fire behind the smoke. [see, Culture clash: European art provokes Muslims, http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_16029/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Ndcy9Xih]
At issue here is the central question in the culture clash between the West and Islam - at what point does our tradition of laissez faire liberalism - especially when it comes to accommodating alien and often antagonistic cultures - become a suicide pact?
Such questions are faced on a daily basis in both Europe and North America where similar migrations of primarily Third World individuals have often chosen not to become acculturated to their new surroundings.
On the Continent, France seems to have the most pressing problem with nearly 10% of its population being Muslim. Crammed - by choice and design - into segregated neighborhoods, these communities have been the scene of numerous violent Intifada type riots involving hundreds of participants.
"Six North Paris municipalities are burning, victim of an increasingly violent Intifada style uprising in Muslim immigrant communities that had its start two years ago and has been simmering ever since, this time flaring up over a traffic accident in which two immigrant youths on a speeding motorcycle were killed in a collision with a police car." [see, Muslims Riot In France - Shades Of The Intifada - What The MSM Doesn't Want You To Know, https://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=france11.28.07%2Ehtm]
American Jewish Committee Teams up with Hispanic Racialist Group, La Raza
By BINYAMIN AXELROD
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - According to an Israeli news report, a number of Hispanic activists are visiting Israel on a trip sponsored by the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange.
Some of these guests of the AJC are members of the controversial group La Raza.
The National Council of La Raza [National Council of The Race] is primarily a left-wing organization which advocates Hispanic racial supremacy, undermining counter terrorism efforts in the United States through its advocacy of illegal immigration. The NCLR also has reportedly funded MEChA in the past, a virulently anti-Semitic group which is working towards making the American Southwest into a Hispanic nation - under foreign control.
In Bipartisan Move House Adopts GOP Call to Investigate Eric Massa
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Responding to an increasing sense of urgency spawned by the rapidly escalating public disapproval with the Obama administration and Democrat Congressional leadership, the House has just overwhelmingly and in a bipartisan manner adopted Minority Leader Boehner's resolution to institute a full ethics probe of disgraced congressman Eric Massa.
Speaking for the GOP, Mr. Boehner stated, "The resolution that passed the House with a strong bipartisan majority today is a clear signal that an investigation to examine and answer the very serious questions arising from Democratic Leaders' response to their former colleague's conduct is necessary. These questions must be answered to begin repairing the broken bonds of trust between the Congress and the American people. We all have a responsibility to rise above politics and do what's right for the institution of the House...
Pelosi in Crosshairs - GOP Demands Ethics Investigation for Disgraced Democrat Eric Massa, When did Pelosi Know?
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Today, GOP Minority Leader Boehner introduced a resolution calling for a complete ethics investigation of Eric Massa [D, NY].
Key in this investigation is when did House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi become aware of Massa's alleged sexual harassment of House staff, including possibly young male pages.
The resolution reads:
"Raising a question of the privileges of the House.
Whereas, on March 8, 2010, Representative Eric Massa resigned from the House;
Whereas, numerous newspapers and other media organizations reported in the days before and after Mr. Massa's resignation that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct was investigating allegations that Mr. Massa sexually harassed Members of his congressional staff;
Whereas, on March 3, 2010, Majority Leader Hoyer's office issued a statement saying, "The week of February 8th, a member of Rep. Massa's staff brought to the attention of Mr. Hoyer's staff allegations of misconduct that had been made against Mr. Massa. Mr. Hoyer's staff immediately informed him of what they had been told...
Obama Admin Sides With Terrorist Abbas in Jerusalem Building Row
March 11, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Visiting Israel apparently with the sole intention of further damaging relations between the Jewish state and team Obama, Joe Biden yesterday sided with Pale Authority terrorist in chief Mahmoud Abbas in a concocted dispute with Israel over the building of housing units in Ramat Shlomo an Orthodox religious community in northeast Jerusalem.
Clearly demonstrating the administrations tilt towards the radical Palestinian position, Biden charged Israel with inflaming tensions, "As we move forward, the United States will hold both sides accountable for any statements or actions that inflame tensions or prejudice the outcome of talks, as this decision did," directly after meeting with Abbas.
Taking their cue from the vice president's actions, the Palestinians immediately broke off the current round of peace talks with Israel.
Pennsylvania Female Jihadist Arrested: Sought to Mount Attacks Which Would Terrorize the "Whole Kuffar World"
March 10, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a federal indictment unsealed today, Pennsylvania resident Colleen Renee LaRose [aka Fatima LaRose] has been arrested upon suspicion that she was attempting to provide material aid to Islamic terrorists and that she allegedly traveled to Sweden to carry out an attack against a perceived anti-Muslim cartoonist.
It is believed that LaRose's target was Lars Vilks, a controversial Swedish cartoonist who had already been threatened with death by al-Qaeda.
From the LaRose Indictment:
"The indictment charges that American citizen LaRose and five unindicted co-conspirators (located in South Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and the United States) recruited men on the Internet to wage violent jihad in South Asia and Europe, and recruited women on the Internet who had passports and the ability to travel to and around Europe in support of violent jihad...further charges that LaRose and her unindicted co-conspirators used the Internet...in order to wage violent jihad....In addition, according to the indictment, LaRose received a direct order to kill a citizen and resident of Sweden, and to do so in a way that would frighten 'the whole Kufar [nonbeliever] world.'..LaRose agreed to carry out her murder assignment, and that she and her co-conspirators discussed that her appearance and American citizenship would help her blend in while carrying out her plans. According to the indictment, LaRose traveled to Europe and tracked the intended target online in an effort to complete her task..."
Tom Campbell Outed Again As Phony Conservative
March 9, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Tom Campbell, the Democrat's idea of a wet dream phony conservative candidate for CA Senator, has been outed by Steven Emerson's Investigative Project on Terrorism [IPT] as having continued to actively support fundraiser Sami Al-Arian even after the now confessed terrorist - having admitted providing "services" for Palestinian Islamic Jihad - was under investigation.
Sending a very strong signal at the time that Al-Arian might have been a tainted personality, his close associate [and brother-in-law] Mazen al-Najjar had been revealed in court proceedings as being a ""threat to national security."
"...He [al-Najjar] was a founding member - along with Sami Al-Arian, Khalil Shikaki, and Ramadan Abdullah Shallah - of the World Islam Study Enterprise (WISE), which was shut down in 1995 for its suspected ties to terrorism... On June 6, 1997, Immigration Judge R. Kevin McHugh denied al Najjar's bail request after reviewing classified evidence furnished by the government. In a one-sentence summary, McHugh stated that al Najjar was "associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and a threat to national security." [source, Discover the Networks]
During this period of time numerous media sources had done exposes on Al-Arian's radicalism, including NBC's Dateline which featured a clip of Al-Arian calling Jews "monkeys" and "pigs" and advocating the "death of Israel."
Gates Cautious In Afghan Meetings
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On a day which featured a suicide bombing attempt and gun battle in the Eastern Afghan town of Khost, U.S. Secty of Defense Gates made his first post-surge visit to the troubled country.
Appearing at a joint media event with president Karzai, Gates warned of tough times and "dark days" as the struggle to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban escalates saying, "There is still much fighting ahead, and there will assuredly be some dark days. But looking forward there are grounds for optimism..." [source, Al Jazeera, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/03/201038181835654228.html]
Gates also met with the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, who refused to apply a timetable to the pushback operation, saying that forces should be ready to go sometime in early summer and that there will be no identifiable D-Day as the operation ramps up.
Pakistan Spy Agency Bombed
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A Pakistani state security spy agency was targeted by a suicide bomber today. Casualties are believed to be heavy, with dead so far numbering over a dozen.
The Special Investigation Agency [SIA] building located in Lahore was demolished in the blast.
It has been conjectured [see, http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018036124] that the SIA was chosen because of its counter terror activities in Punjab as well as due to fallout over the arrest of Abu Yahya Mujahdeen al-Adam believed to be an American al-Qaeda operative who was originally misidentified as Adam Gadahn, the American al-Qaeda spokesman.
Heathrow Airport Terror Probe Expands
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A second series of arrests were made last night in an expanding terror probe centering on the British Airways facility at London's Heathrow airport.
The three suspects have not yet been identified but news reports [see for example, http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2877333/British-Airways-staff-in-second-terror-arrest.html] state that they allegedly were engaged in a fundraising plot to possibly bring down a airliner.
The UK has been on severely heightened terror alert since the Christmas day attempted U.S. bombing by London resident Umar Abdulmutallab.
Arrest Mix-up: Pakistani Suspect Not American Al-Qaeda Spokesman Adam Gadahn
March 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Adam Gadahn [aka Adam Pearlman, Azzam the American, Adam Yahiye Gadahn] the U.S. born, high-level al-Qaeda spokesman was apparently not the suspect arrested in Karachi Pakistan a few days ago.
Though initial reports so identified him, Pakistani officials now claim that the man they apprehended is Yahya Mujahideen Adam who is also thought to be an American al-Qaeda sympathizer, but from Pennsylvania rather than Gadahn's home state of California.
Gadahn, a Muslim convert, was indicted in 2006 for treason - aiding al-Qaeda - and is on the FBI's most wanted list.
California Legislative Update - Health and Education
March 4, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Since the beginning of the second half of the 2009-2010 term we have been following over 100 bills dealing in various aspects of education and health for their effects on the right to life and family privacy rights as well as other public policy issues.
As of today many of those bills have failed or been held in committee. Two have been signed by the Governor. Today I present you with 17 bills affecting education and family. Please pass this information on to others; your pastors, educator friends, clubs. Above all please notify your elected representatives of your position on these bills.
Everyone has a right to submit their position on a bill, even non-profit, tax deductible organizations. This is public policy not campaigning.
We take a moment to recap our concerns over education bills and family primacy and privacy.
The following is a very brief and simple explanation of developments in education.
The US Department of Education was formed in 1965 out of the bowels of the then Health and Human Services Administration. The current Obama appointed Director is Arne Duncan who stated, upon his appointment that: :Education is the Civil Rights issue of our generation," and, further that: "education is an economic imperative."
Terror Soft Eric Holder Busted - Identity of Al-Qaeda 7 Revealed by Fox News
March 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Team Obama was hit hard this afternoon by a major revelation by Fox News [see, http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/03/exclusive-unknown-doj-lawyers-identified] which has determined the identity of 7 of the attorneys currently working for DOJ who either represented accused terrorists, filed amicus briefs on their behalf or worked for firms who represented these clients, usually pro-bono.
Two DOJ attorneys had already been identified.
The seven are:
Jonathan Cedarbaum - Office of Legal Counsel
Karl Thompson - Office of Legal Counsel
Joseph Guerra - Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department
Tali Farhadian - Office of the Attorney General
Beth Brinkmann - Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Civil Division
Tony West - Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division
Eric Columbus - Sr. Counsel, Office of the Deputy Attorney General.
Previously outed include:
Neal Katyal - Principal Deputy Solicitor General
Jennifer Daskal - National Security Division Attorney
Can Tahir ul-Qadri Help Reform Islam?
March 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In what might possibly be seen as a hopeful sign of incipient Islamic moderation, Tahir ul-Qadri a Pakistani born Sufi scholar today announced in London, a 600 page fatwa [religious finding] that terrorism in any form is inconsistent with the Muslim religion.
Specifically ul-Qadri condemned the practice of suicide bombing, saying its practitioners "are going to hell."
"I feel that the youth living in the Western world...since they don't go through the original Islamic sources they are being victimized and are being misguided on the concepts of Islam...you go on the Internet and you will find the extremist people and the terrorist people are running uncountable websites giving the wrong concepts of jihad wrong concepts of suicide bombing giving the fatwas in favor of suicide bombing, creating some exemptions for them and this is how they are being brainwashed..." [source, BBC interview, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/news/2010/03/100302_suicide_bombing_fatwa_nh_sl.shtml]
Such condemnations have taken place in the past, most conspicuously in the wake of the 9.11.01 attack in the U.S. and the 7.11.05 attack in London, unfortunately to little effect.
Some observers of these efforts have labeled them as having been crafted more for public consumption than anything else. Tahir ul-Qadri's declaration does appear to be a bit different however, if for no other reason than the sheer length of his exegesis.
First Muslim College Might Well Become Hotbed of Radical Islam
March 1, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California was founded by Hamza Yusuf, Zaid Shakir and Hatem Bazian. The freshman class will consist of 25 students.
According to a report in Islam On Line [see, http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2010-02/24/02.shtml#ixzz0gTft8Pj9]
"Zaytuna College is in the rigorous process of seeking accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a process that will take a number of years and one that Imam Shakir hopes will be completed by the time the freshman class graduates...they have been able to achieve the goal of raising nearly $4 million needed for its temporary location at Berkeley. Now they face the challenge of raising upwards of $65 million for an endowment fund that will ensure a consistent monetary support and alleviate the need for constant fundraising."
All three founders have made extremist statements supportive of radical Islam.
At a 2004 rally in California Bazian, "ungrammatically declared to a crowd of protestors, "we're sitting here and watching the world pass by, people being bombed, and it's about time that we have an intifada in this country that change fundamentally the political dynamics in here. They're gonna say, 'some Palestinian being too radical' well, you haven't seen radicalism yet!" [source, http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=13384]
In a 2004 blog entry entitled Hamza Yusuf Fails My Test, Dr. Daniel Pipes wrote:
"I have offered a number of questions to ask of Muslims to determine whether they are radical or moderate. Hamza Yusuf Hanson, called by the Guardian "arguably the west's most influential Islamic scholar," announced at the just-ended convention of the Islamic Society of North America, "I took that test and I failed. And I want to say to all of you, I hope you fail that test too." There is no "test" involved but if Yusuf informs me that he failed it anyway, that's useful information because it identifies him as an extremist." [source, http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2004/09/hamza-yusuf-fails-my-test]
California Legislative Alert - Analysis
April 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - This report details two especially problematic pieces of California legislation.
AB 2478, Anthony Mendoza, (D-Norwalk) School Safety: Disruption: Pupil's Safety.
POSITION: OPPOSE.
Bill's intent: Amends existing law which provides that a person who comes into any school building or school ground, or adjacent street, sidewalk, or public way, whose presence or acts interfere with or disrupt a school activity, without lawful business, or who remains after having been asked to leave, is guilty of a public offense. Applies to any person [who] willingly creates a disruption with the intent to threaten the immediate physical safety of any pupil arriving at, attending, or leaving any preschool or school.
The author seeks to amend this law to include sending "threatening messages" so-called, to students, k-8, that might result in physical harm to these students.
There are severe penalties of $500.00 for a first offense and possibly jail time and a fine for subsequent offenses
In 2008 the Center for Bio-Ethical Reforms, Directed by Gregg Cunningham, drove its highly identifiable truck, upon which is posted vivid photos of aborted babies, around the perimeter of a southern California middle school between 7:15 AM and 7:45 AM when the students were coming to school.
The author declared that students were so traumatized that they were placed in harm's way by stopping in the street to stare at the truck, crying and getting angry. The school called the local Sheriff's office to the campus with the request to remove this group from the vicinity of the school.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform countered with a lawsuit that went all the way to the Ninth Circuit Court which found in the defendant's favor based on the freedom of speech issue. However, the court made one loophole concession.
The Court declared that if the legislature were to pass a bill making it unlawful to distribute unsettling material on the sidewalk, campus, driveway of the school, etc. they would abide by that legislative action.
This bill was introduced on Feb 19, 2010. It passed the Public Safety Committee on a 6 to O vote including two Republicans, Danny Gilmore of Hanford and Curt Hagman of Chino Hills.
It awaits a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, chaired by Felipe Fuentes, (D) Connie Conway, (R-Visalia) V. Chair. Letterhead letters should be directed to Ms Conway, C/o Assembly Appropriations Committee, State Capitol, Sacramento. 95814.
OBJECTION: This is a deliberate attempt to silence the free speech rights of one segment of the community - pro life citizens - while the opponents - pro-abortion groups - receive full first amendment rights on and off campuses to distribute literature and products to students.
This bill would have the effect of making criminals out of anyone who, attempting to exercise his/her freedom of speech, should approach a student on the city street near a campus or hold up a pro life sign near a campus.
The Appropriations Committee only looks at bills for the costs to the state. So, this bill would increase the costs to local law enforcement groups and to the courts. The costs consisting of a misuse of the law enforcement people as they are called out to restrain the first amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, the costs of court and judge time not to mention citizens jury duty time when there are important and violent crimes to be dealt with.
Both Assembly members Hagman and Gilmore should receive calls and letters protesting their YES vote on this bill in the Public Safety Committee.
SB 438, Leland Yee, (D-SF) Charter Schools: Freedom of Speech and of the Press: Makes provisions of existing law regarding free speech and expressive activities of public school pupils applicable to charter school.
The subject is an attempt to protect the homosexual speech rights of students on Charter school campuses. This bill is related, in a way, to the previous bill. It attempts, in this instance, to silence Christian students in Charter Schools who would wish to respond to those students expressing support for what the Christian students would find offensive and immoral. At the same time this bill would allow and even encourage those students with homosexual interests to freely express their position in school newspapers and bulletin boards. It would also protect the teachers who allowed material offensive to one segment of the school - pro life students - from being called to account for lack of direction and counsel in this matter.
There are two problems here. Charter schools have been presented to the public as schools where parents have the authority to set standards for conduct as well as academics. While supported by tax dollars, the schools were to be considered independent of state education controls.
There are Charter schools developed by Christian families and there are Charter schools created by ACORN and PICO associated parental groups. Each group might well have a different standard for what constitutes acceptable and appropriate speech on the campus bulletin boards and newspapers. This bill is sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association and by the American Civil Liberties Union.
This is a definite attempt to intervene in one type of Charter School to control the speech rights of students and to interfere with parental authority mandating that parents submit to the state on this issue while protecting speech rights in other Charter Schools
Senator Yee should receive letterhead letters as well as personal letters, opposing his bill for his attempts at denying freedom of speech. The Hon. Leland Yee, C/0 State Capitol, Sacramento, Ca 95814.
Note: We urge the use of letterhead stationery in these letters to legislators expressing dissent because only letters from organizations get printed along with the bill analysis. Letters from individuals are listed as merely, for example, 5 letters.
Legislators are required to send all correspondence received to the committee next in line to hear the bill.
2010 Camille Giglio. All rights reserved.
Will ICNA be Allowed to Practice Stealth Jihad at Philadelphia Free Library Festival?
April 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The Islamic Circle of North America [ICNA] has announced that it will have a "Dawah Booth" at the Philadelphia Free Library Festival scheduled to take place on April 17th and 18th.
This is troubling news, considering that ICNA is an major American Islamist organization with reported ties to at least one of the most extreme jihadist groups in the world. According to, "Yehudit Barsky, a terrorism expert at the American Jewish Committee...ICNA "is composed of members of Jamaat e-Islami, a Pakistani Islamic radical organization similar to the Muslim Brotherhood that helped to establish the Taliban." [source, Discover the Networks, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6380]
ICNA aggressively seeks converts via its "Why Islam" da'wah [Muslim conversion] project as part of the stealth jihad.
The ICNA website plainly states the groups intention to promote Shari'a in the U.S.
"About ICNA - Islamic Circle of North America is a leading grass roots organization which seeks to obtain the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through working for the establishment of Islam in all spheres of life. ICNA has many projects, programs, and activities which are designed to help in the process of molding the individual and reforming society at large. Goal The goal of ICNA shall be to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)." [source, http://www.icna.org/about-icna]
With this kind of record, the Islamic Circle of North America has no place at the Philadelphia Free Library Festival and the organizers should prevent representatives of the group from plying their trade at the event.
Philly Mayor Nutter Enthusiastically Shills for CAIR, Unindicted Co-Conspirator in Largest U.S. Hamas Terror Funding Prosecution
April 14, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - On April 3, 2010 the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] held their 4th annual banquet in Philadelphia. CAIR is a discredited organization, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation et al., the nation's most important and successful Hamas funding prosecution. On November 24, 2008, all defendants were found guilty on a total of 108 charges which included conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to a foreign terrorist, and conspiring to commit money laundering. Further complicating the picture for CAIR, one of those convicted in the trial was Ghassan Elashi, the founder of the Texas chapter of CAIR, who was already serving a long prison sentence on another terror conviction. Of additional note, apparently based upon evidence presented at this trial, the FBI made the determination that CAIR was so problematic, that it halted all contact with the group [see, http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/30/fbi-cuts-ties-cair-following-terror-financing-trial/].
Despite the above being public knowledge, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter nonetheless addressed the gathering. One of the other speakers at the event was Johari Abdul-Malik the director of community outreach for the radical Dar Al Hijrah mosque. Dar Al Hijrah was in the news recently, as one of its former imams - the al-Qaeda linked cleric Anwar Al- Awlaki - praised Ft. Hood shooter Malik Hasan's murderous jihad. [see, http://www.investigativeproject.org/1521/dar-al-hijrah-officials-deception-on-awlaki]
Al-Awlaki is also thought to have ministered to two of the 9/11 hijackers.
Nutter began his speech with the Arabic greeting "Asalam Alaikum," praising CAIR as "a great organization that is doing fantastic work." He also lambasted the media over its coverage of Muslims saying that "I have seen...where the description of someone who may have done something wrong or did do something wrong was preceded by 'Muslim whatever'…and that the one thing I know about the Muslim community is that you have a respect for the law and are peaceful…I want our media to be very very sensitive."
Nutter also spoke about ways in which he and the city of Philadelphia would be working together with CAIR in the future. He mentioned that through the Mayor's office of Faith Based Initiatives he "had the opportunity of working with any number of (sic) Islam leaders and learn more and more not only about Islam the religion but about the Muslim community." The Mayor talked about CAIR's collaboration with the Islamic Social Services Association of Philadelphia and of conversations the city government has had with Muslim community leaders.
According to Mayor Nutter, "We are expecting to put together a training and education program for the top officials in our city government and additionally with our Philadelphia police department. We want to make sure that everyone at the highest levels has a much better understanding of who our American Muslim community is and what they're about… We want to make sure that in our city government people are not harboring thoughts that may come from being ill informed or lack of information and working with this organization and a number of others we want to make sure that top officials in government are paying attention to these kind of issues."
The Mayor ended his speech by lauding CAIR's efforts and saying he "looked forward to working with CAIR and many other organizations that support and represent the interests of American Muslims in communicating information about Islam all throughout Philadelphia, our region across our state and across the United States of America. May Allah bring you blessings. God bless you."
It would behoove Mayor Nutter to in the future, fully vet the organizations before he and the city provide what is in essence, the Good Housekeeping seal of approval. CAIR's record is clear, having engaged in a stealth jihad campaign of compelling Shari'a compliance at every opportunity.
As such the organization is doing exactly the opposite of what Mr. Nutter stated, "fantastic work," and the sooner he realizes it, the sooner he will cease being seen as a buffoon, expertly played by a group of Islamists.
The only thing fantastic about this event is that CAIR managed to convince another apparently well-meaning public servant to shill for it.
St. Mary's College Moraga - Catholic in Name Only?
February 15, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Nestled in the verdant surrounding hills of Moraga, California, in soft focus, St. Mary's College seems to be the embodiment of what Catholic higher education should be about.
Established in 1863 by the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the institution's administration quickly passed to the De La Salle Christian Brothers who have run it ever since.
Though nominally providing a Catholic educational environment, like most American college campuses, St. Mary's has become in many way secularized to the point where whatever link to "Catholic" it has is more synonymous with the word's alternative definition of "universal" rather than being reflective of a substantive relationship with the world's largest and oldest, Christian sect.
The school's literature [a marketing study in this case] bears testament to the validity of such a conclusion:
"Catholic: Saint Mary's Catholic identity is evident in both the name and the appearance of the college. There's a chapel. There's a "mission" feel to campus architecture. But is Catholicism experienced as something deeper? Is it an integral part of a Saint Mary's education? Our research yielded mixed responses to these questions. Among alumni, we found a stronger connection to Saint Mary's Catholic nature among older (and Catholic) alumni; they told us Catholic traditions were an important part of their Saint Mary's experience. (In fact, any perceived move away from Catholic self-definition could be seen as a betrayal by those who identify with Saint Mary's Catholic traditions.) Non-Catholic and more recent alumni tend to see Saint Mary's as a liberal arts college that just happens to be Catholic." [source, 2008 study - Seeking the Highest Point - Inspiring a Stronger Brandfor Saint Mary's College, http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/about-smc/vice-provost-of-enrollment-vp-college-communications/documents/institutional-marketing-plan/pentagram-report-07-08.pdf]
In other areas, the college's drift away from providing a traditional Catholic educational experience is also evident.
For example, on January 28, 2009 St. Mary's hosted a speech by domestic terrorist William Ayers, a former leader of the Marxist Weather Underground, which carried out a series of murderous bombings across the United States as a protest against America's presence in South East Asia. [see, Domestic Terrorist Bill Ayers To Speak At St. Mary's College Campus In California - College Characterizes Him As Advocate Of "Social Justice", https://www.pipelinenews.org/2009/Domestic-Terrorist-Bill-Ayers-To-Speak-At-St-Marys-College.html]
The college attempted to pass off this support of Ayer's radical agenda as "social justice," apparently upon the spurious contention that Ayer's revolutionary violence was somehow countenanced by Catholic doctrine.
Most recently however, as the California Catholic Daily first noted, the school has allied itself with Planned Parenthood, "St. Mary's College of California in Moraga has named a $2500 poetry scholarship in honor of a former Planned Parenthood director and another woman who served as a volunteer for the abortion provider. The Vanessa Bedient and Molly Reidelberger Scholarship for Excellence in Poetry was named after Bedient, former director of Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara, and Reidelberger, who worked as a volunteer for Planned Parenthood for 15 years." [see, The Soul of Goodness, http://calcatholic.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?id=bb77b988-b12c-42ff-bca8-833ed7b6f2b3]
"Vanessa Bedient (née Stribling) grew up in Piedmont, California and attended Scripps College, the University of Washington, and UCLA. She served as the director of Planned Parenthood in Santa Barbara, where her two children were raised, and later in San Francisco. She loved literature and the arts, and was the soul of goodness. Molly Reidelberger lived in Singapore for a number of years, and volunteered at the Melrose Home for orphaned or abandoned children. She received her paralegal certificate from Saint Mary's and worked as a legal assistant in the San Francisco Bay area for a number of years. In addition, she volunteered at Planned Parenthood for 15 years. This scholarship is for $2,500." [source, from St. Mary's website, http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/academics/schools/school-of-liberal-arts/departments-programs/mfa-creative-writing/fellowships-and-internships.html]
The Catholic Daily piece also made clear that this was not a one-off, but rather part of a pattern of questionable associations between the largest provider of abortions in America and the college, including its listing of Planned Parenthood as a potential place of employment [see, http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/academics/schools/school-of-education/admissions/docs/JobWebsitesupdateShareeverytime_000.pdf], providing a link which takes one to Planned Parenthood Action [see, http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org] whose main activity seems to be in activism assuring that the organization's considerable abortion provided cash-flow will continue unabated. [see, Abortion Rights, http://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/positions/protecting-abortion-access-69.htm].
Wanting to give St. Mary's a chance to explain the disjunct between the school's actions in naming a scholarship after two long-time associates of Planned Parenthood and what is one of the most steadfast aspects of Catholic theology, the right to life from conception to natural death, we contacted the college's spokesman Michael McAlpin.He provided us with the following statement:
"The Vanessa Bedient and Molly Reidelberger Scholarship for Excellence in Poetry was independently established in 2004 by the loved ones of Mrs. Bedient and Mrs. Reidelberger. Since 2005 the award has been given to talented students in the MFA in Creative Writing Program with limited financial means. The award description provided by the family members of Mrs. Bedient and Mrs. Reidelberger was intended to acknowledge and memorialize them. The award in no way suggests Saint Mary's College supports the politics and practices of Planned Parenthood."
The school's president Brother Gallagher's office was also contacted for comment. As we go to press the call and message have not been returned.
A defense of the college's actions based upon its assertion that acceptance does not imply approval, in large part offers a distinction without a difference. While the college must, for public relation's sake, maintain that it in no way endorses the "politics and practices of Planned Parenthood," a perhaps over-delicate reference to PP's abortion mill, no one forced the hand of St. Mary's to accept a funding offer based upon such questionable terms.
Indeed, that very acceptance will most likely be read by most as an endorsement - an imprimatur if you will - providing undeserved legitimacy for an odious practice which always results in the loss of human life and which is completely at odds with Catholic theology.
Largely having retreated from any meaningful link to Catholicism, aside from the now quaint presence of a chapel on campus, one wonders at what point St. Mary's might simply jettison the notion that it is anything but another private and thoroughly secular, left-leaning college, albeit one in a beautiful setting, and be done with it - if not only from the aspects of fairness in advertising, at least to put an end to the sleight-of-hand with which parents are deluded into believing that their sons and daughters will be matriculating in a faith affirming environment.
Certainly the school's few remaining Christian Brothers [approximately two dozen in number] could be more suitably employed in enterprises not visibly at war with the Church.
The Obama Administration Declares War on Toyota
February 17, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Toyota Motor Corporation has been by most accounts the world's most successful automobile manufacturer for many years, a lofty domain secured officially in 2008 when the company dethroned the pretender, General Motors.
The omnipresence of Toyota's marquee was based upon a deserved reputation for quality which far surpassed that of its domestic competitors.
Of note, a JD Power quality study published in the summer of 2009 once again declared Toyota the leader in automobile quality, a position it has had a lock on for ages. An AP article published at the time literally screamed, "Toyota Still King, Toyota, which overtook GM last year as the world's biggest automaker, dominated the J.D. Power honors. It swept awards in 10 vehicle categories, and its plant in Japan that builds the Lexus SC 430 and Toyota Corolla took the award for top plant. For GM, only two brands performed above average..." [source, Toyota Still King, June 22, 2009, http://www.mlive.com/auto/index.ssf/2009/06/jd_power_and_associates_detroi.html]
The brand was so popular that a particular model the Prius, a hybrid vehicle, became a cult classic among the enviro-crowd, a symbol bespeaking [rightly or wrongly] the owner's devotion to the small carbon footprint lifestyle so in vogue among today's progressives.
Recently however, all that has changed. Almost overnight Toyota has been made the subject of an unholy crusade over alleged problems with sticky accelerator pedals causing massive product recalls and a resultant loss in public confidence.
Note, sticky accelerators and other, often imagined or conjured up "safety" issues have been the mainstay bane of the auto industry since Ralph Nader created that class of lawsuit in 1963, much to the delight of sleazy trial attorneys.
Most ominous however, and it's a very bad sign, is the degree to which the Obama administration [official nanny of Government Motors] and Congressional Democrat leaders, have entered this fray in an aggressive and transparent move calculated to scuttle Toyota's success with the obvious intention of aiding the much [and deservedly so] maligned GM, which remains on life support.
This line of attack though little commented upon [especially regarding the administration's motives] has not totally escaped media scrutiny...it's just that you have to actively search it out in order to find it.
For example, the Financial/National Post, an Ontario, Canada based publication, stated in a scathing February 3 piece, "There can be little doubt that Toyota, the world's greatest auto maker in recent years, has become the victim of much more than another typical out-of-control All-American media frenzy. When top-line political gamesman such as U.S. Transport Secretary Ray LaHood, Congressional pit bull Henry Waxman, and conniving United Auto Workers executives start piling on, this is clearly much bigger sport that the usual ritual public lynching of auto executives, a routine occurrence in Washington. The attack on Toyota, at this time of U.S. economic weakness and populist excess, is fast turning into a great American nationalist assault on a foreign corporation, an economic war. The White House has denied any such motivation on the part of the United States. But that denial lacks credibility." [source, National Post, The War on Toyota, http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2519112#ixzz0flKUAJTc]
GM's desperate condition has not stopped the UAW's boss [Obama's new partner] from also piling on, "Toyota, UAW Vice President Bob King said...What we have known for a while, the global public is waking up to...Toyota Corporation has lost its way. Toyota Corporation has forgotten what built its success." [source Reuters, UAW's King says Toyota management has lost its way, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61C0KK20100213]
Likewise one of Congress' most detestable Democrat bullies, Henry Waxman plans a full show trial disguised as a hearing, in the coming weeks.
" Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) said that although Toyota was reassuring the public in the last two weeks that it had identified the cause, it was telling House investigators that getting to the bottom of the issue was very difficult...Waxman has previously pointed out Toyota's contradictory statements..."They told our staff that the causes are very hard to identify and refused to state that the two recalls had totally resolved the problem"...Waxman, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has asked Toyota to explain the contradiction. The committee has scheduled a hearing Feb. 25... a third committee scheduled a hearing. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee will hold a hearing March 2 and has requested briefings by Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration." [source, LA Times, Rep. Henry Waxman casts further doubt on Toyota,http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/10/business/la-fi-toyota10-2010feb10]
As part of this effort, Transportation Secty LaHood [Hood, my isn't that an appropriate name for this brand of thuggery] told Toyota owners to stop driving their vehicles, has increasingly been critical of the company in media statements and just a few days ago requested information from the Japanese manufacturer in a 23 page demand.
The administration's motivation here is obvious and of course the MSM has chimed in as they always do in such cases with - their antics following the exploits of Balloon Boy a not too distant memory. What is a bit different here is that the lefty press is in bed ideologically with this president, so the motivation to beat Toyota up must be nearly irresistible.
In any political analysis of the left, attempting to sort through the various isms associated with totalitarian statism, some observers point out that one of the essential differences between State Socialism [fascism, Nazism] and Marxism-Leninism [Soviet style communism or its kin, Maosim - though many would argue that Maoism is more properly Trotskyism] is that the former allows for a limited degree of private ownership of the means of production.
For example, in Nazi Germany while the ownership of the Krupp weapons empire was allowed to remain [nominally] in the hands of its founding family, the company's direction, products and output was mandated by Berlin.
As many of us watch the steady progress of hard leftism at the hands of Mr. Obama and his progressive cohorts, this lesson must be kept in mind as we ponder ultimate questions such as how free peoples become enslaved under the guise of democracy.
Formerly Banned Islamic Radical Tariq Ramadan Tours US, Speaks at CAIR Event and Congress
April 12, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Tariq Ramadan, the grandson of the founder of Egypt's terrorist Muslim Brotherhood [which created the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas] is now near the end of a speaking tour of American cities.
Ramadan who had previously been banned from U.S. entry by the Bush administration because of terror concerns, was quietly cleared for entry in a little discussed State Department action signed off on by Secty State Hillary Clinton in January. [see, Once barred from U.S., Muslim scholar speaks in Chicago area, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-met-muslim-scholar-ramadan-20100409,0,4511759.story]
See also Dr. Daniel Pipes' running commentary [Tariq Ramadan Give Up then Tries Again, http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2004/12/tariq-ramadan-gives-up-then-tries-again] which quotes the State Department's thinking on the subject [excerpted below from the original Washington Post article, no longer archived at the newspaper's website.
"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has signed orders enabling the re-entry of professors Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University in England and Adam Habib of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa once they obtain required admittance documents, department spokesman Darby Holladay said. Clinton "has chosen to exercise her exemption authority for the benefit of Tariq Ramadan and Adam Habib," Holladay said. "We'll let that action speak for itself." In a prepared statement, Holladay noted the change in U.S. posture since both professors, who are frequently invited to the United States to lecture, were denied admittance after making statements counter to U.S. foreign policy. Both the president and the secretary of state have made it clear that the U.S. government is pursuing a new relationship with Muslim communities based on mutual interest and mutual respect."
Seemingly adding substance to claims that Ramadan is a radical, a blurb carried in the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] newsletter, notes that he addressed an assembly organized by it over the weekend in Chicago.
No mention in the msm's coverage of Ramadan's address to CAIR was any mention of the fact that the group was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the United States' largest Hamas terror fundraising prosecution - U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation et al.
A piece in the San Francisco Examiner however carried the following about Ramadan, "...In 2009, a university in The Netherlands terminated Ramadan as a result of his extremism and for his work for the Islamic Republic of Iran, currently pursuing nuclear weapons and financing terrorism worldwide...According to The Investigative Project, Judicial Watch and other U.S. organizations, Professor Ramadan told his students that the London subway bombers were justified in acting out against their oppressors because the "British government is helping Iraqi people to be killed." [source, http://www.examiner.com/x-2684-Law-Enforcement-Examiner~y2010m4d9-Clinton-helps-Islamic-terror-supporter-enter-US.]
Given this administration's twisted notion of outreach to the Muslim world, Ramadan's scheduled lecture to members of Congress today is altogether fitting.
Investigative Journalist Cliff Kincaid - "FBI Destroyed File on Obama's Grandfather"
April 12, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - "The FBI destroyed a file on Barack Obama's grandfather, the man who selected Communist Frank Marshall Davis to be the future president's mentor during his growing-up years in Hawaii," discloses long-time reporter Cliff Kincaid, president of USA Survival and editor of the AIM report.
Continuing, Kincaid states, "The FBI confirms that a file was maintained on Obama's grandfather, Stanley Armour Dunham...This is a troubling development in the effort to understand the Marxism that drives Obama's policies as president today."
In correspondence FBI communication archived at USA Survival, the FBI says the file was destroyed in 1997. The FBI made the admission after Kincaid complied with a request to verify the identity of Dunham and the fact that he was deceased.
Dubbed "Gramps" by Obama, Dunham has been depicted in news reports as a patriot who served in the U.S. Army in World War II, however the facts paint a far more sinister picture in that "Gramps" had a close relationship with Communist Party USA (CPUSA) member Frank Marshall Davis in Hawaii, who reportedly drank and smoke pot with Dunham.
Davis was not only a communist but a pornographer who wrote a semi-biographical novel about having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He mentored Obama for as many as nine years of his young life in Hawaii.
Dunham, who was white, had picked Davis as a mentor for Obama because he thought the youngster, whose father had abandoned the family, needed a black role model. Davis, who was black, fit the bill. "It was a terrible decision," Kincaid commented, adding, "he turned over the young Obama to a communist sex pervert for moral guidance."
While the exact nature of the Dunham file will be a topic for speculation, Kincaid said that is likely that some of the information was related to Dunham's relationship with Davis. Kincaid's ASI had previously obtained the 600-page FBI file on Davis and posted at USA Survival [go here, http://www.usasurvival.org/marshall.fbi.files.html]. It shows that Davis was a key high-level operative in a Soviet-sponsored network in Hawaii.
Obama had referred to Davis in his memoir as merely "Frank," a poet filled with knowledge and advice. The real identity as that of Frank Marshall Davis was disclosed by a writer for a CPUSA publication, who said it would prove to be historically significant, and then publicized by anti-communist New Zealand blogger Trevor Loudon. Kincaid confirmed the identity of "Frank" with a source in Hawaii and then obtained and posted the Davis FBI file.
The traditional media, anxious to see Obama elected president, identified Davis as a "civil rights activist," ignoring his communist affiliations and scandalous lifestyle.
Holder Stonewall Continues - Effort to Shield Lefty Al-Qaeda Defense Bar
Administration's anti-American Streak Runs Deep
April 12, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Front and center in this simmering controversy is the disingenuously named John Adams Project, an arm of the leftist ACLU.
Through the efforts of attorneys from this group, CIA personnel have been outed with, unbelievably, their identities having been revealed to GITMO terrorists. In response to this effort we find the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, doing everything in his official capacity to prevent additional disclosure of this serious breach of national security protocols - a classic stonewall.
As terror authority Andy McCarthy [the former federal prosecutor who busted the "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman, implicated in a plot connected with the first bombing of the World Trade Center] characterizes it:
"...we now know a good deal about several of these volunteer lawyers. To take just a few examples, they provided al Qaeda detainees with a brochure that instructed them on how to claim falsely that they had been tortured; fomented a detainee hunger strike that disrupted security and precipitated fabricated reports that prisoners had been tortured and force-fed; provided the detainees with other virulently anti-American propaganda (for example, informing them about the Abu Ghraib scandal, comparing U.S. military physicians to Josef Mengele, and labeling DOJ lawyers "desk torturers"); gave the enemy-combatant terrorists a hand-drawn map of Gitmo's layout, including guard towers; helped the enemy combatants communicate messages to the outside world; informed the detainees of the identities of other detainees in U.S. custody; and posted photos of Guantanamo security badges on the Internet in a transparent effort to identify U.S. security personnel." [source, Representing al-Qaeda, http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5858/pub_detail.asp]
Why would Holder apparently countenance such reprehensible actions?
Easy, he is in full ideological agreement with these attorneys who have as a group become known as the "al-Qaeda defense bar." Witness a speech he made during the summer of 2008 when he was a top advisor to then candidate Obama:
"Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution." [source, Nadler Again Calls on Holder to Appoint a Special Counsel to Probe Torture, http://pubrecord.org/torture/3247/nadler-again-calls-holder-appoint/]
It is no longer a secret that members of the al-Qaeda bar are now working in top positions at the Obama/Holder DOJ. Mr. Holder is their boss, consider the following March 3 piece:
"Team Obama was hit hard this afternoon by a major revelation by Fox News [see, http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/03/exclusive-unknown-doj-lawyers-identified] which has determined the identity of 7 of the attorneys currently working for DOJ who either represented accused terrorists, filed amicus briefs on their behalf or worked for firms who represented these clients, usually pro-bono.
Two DOJ attorneys had already been identified. The seven are: Jonathan Cedarbaum - Office of Legal Counsel, Karl Thompson - Office of Legal Counsel, Joseph Guerra - Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department, Tali Farhadian - Office of the Attorney General, Beth Brinkmann - Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department's Civil Division, Tony West - Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division, Eric Columbus - Sr. Counsel, Office of the Deputy Attorney General.
Previously outed include: Neal Katyal - Principal Deputy Solicitor General and Jennifer Daskal - National Security Division Attorney The stonewalling DOJ has admitted the information is correct, but refuses to identify anyone else in the department who is linked to terrorist defense and refuses to say whether or not any of the above individuals are currently working on matters which might be a conflict of interest.." [source, Terror Soft Eric Holder Busted - Identity of Al-Qaeda 7 Revealed by Fox News ]
As investigative journalists at National Review have disclosed,
"Gertz [Bill Gertz, Washington Times national security writer] attributes the Justice Department's reticence to particular lawyers within the department who are "sympathetic to the John Adams Project." One Justice Department lawyer who is clearly sympathetic is Jennifer Daskal, who previously worked for Human Rights Watch and was appointed by Holder to the Justice Department's Detainee Policy Task Force last year. Prior to joining the government, Daskal was an outspoken critic of the CIA and the interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration.
President Bush "will go down in history as the torture president," Daskal told the Associated Press in March 2008. "The Bush administration continues to insist that CIA and other nonmilitary interrogators are not bound by the military rules and has reportedly given CIA interrogators the green light to use a range of so-called 'enhanced' interrogation techniques, including prolonged sleep deprivation, painful stress positions, and exposure to extreme cold," Daskal added. [source, Stalking the CIA, http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/stalking-cia]
Extending public knowledge of this matter, in today's edition of the Washington Times, Gertz writes:
"The Pentagon will conduct a briefing this week for two senior House Armed Services Committee members on the investigation into whether defense attorneys for al Qaeda members endangered the lives of CIA interrogators.
However, the Defense Department is holding off on a full committee briefing on the CIA-Justice Department probe into lawyers who provided photographs of CIA interrogators to terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, congressional aides said." [source, Pentagon to brief 2 lawmakers on risk to CIA by Al Qaeda defense counsel, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/12/pentagon-to-brief-2-lawmakers-on-cia-risk/print/]
As we have maintained, this administration has substantially and to a certain degree irreparably damaged the national security of the United States [see, https://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=nukereview4.8.10%2Ehtm Modification of U.S. Nuke Retaliation Policy - Perhaps the Worst National Security Decision in American History] where we wrote, "Bringing this full circle to the matter at hand we assert that the most effective way to prevent and defend against such an almost unimaginable threat is through deterrence. Since the closing days of World War II the United States' nuclear arsenal has served as the supreme guarantor that this country [and the West by extension] can counter almost any imaginable external threat. Despite this reality, the amateurs in this administration have apparently now just precluded that possibility. Team Obama, by taking the option of a nuclear response against non-nuclear states entirely off the table, has placed this country at a level of risk that is historically unprecedented. "
Unfortunately with each passing day additional and similar transgressions come to the surface, ferreted out by a select few writers who still represent what is left of the free press. When this administration is finally called to account, the true depth of damage to American security will be revealed and the transgressions of team Obama will face the kind of scrutiny that is largely missing now.
Until then all we can do is chronicle these developments and wait until this regime is removed from office.
Modification of U.S. Nuke Retaliation Policy - Perhaps the Worst National Security Decision in American History
April 8, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Attendant to the release this week of the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review [http://www.defense.gov/npr/docs/NPR%20FACT%20SHEET%20April%202010.pdf Declassified fact sheet available here] the president's breathless announcement that he is seeking "a world without nuclear weapons," is just the latest indication that his administration is the least competent manager of U.S. national security in this country's long history.
Of supreme concern however is the intentionally leaked disclosure that the president has severely limited the circumstances under which the United States will mount a nuclear response to an attack.
Regarding that aspect of the policy the New York Times states, "Mr. Obama's new strategy makes just about every nonnuclear state immune from any threat of nuclear retaliation by the United States..." [source, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/07arms.html]
We see no evidence that would allow us to conclude otherwise.
What do outside experts with an intimate knowledge of national security matters think about this? Few commentators are more well versed to speak to this issue than John Bolton, who writes:
"The Nuclear Posture Review is deeply troubling in many respects, starting at the conceptual level with its unfounded assertion that the need for American nuclear deterrence has declined. By further unilaterally limiting the circumstances in which the U.S. would use nuclear weapons to protect itself and its allies, the Obama administration is in fact increasing international instability and the risks of future conflicts. By abandoning the reliable replacement warhead project, and drastically limiting programs to ensure the safety and reliability of our existing nuclear stockpile, the president is risking our security and obtaining nothing in return. Nuclear proliferators, as well as countries with chemical and biological weapons programs, can only welcome these further unforced American errors on the road to nuclear impotence." [source, Nuclear Posture Review]
FCC Genachowski Bombshell - DC Court Crushes Dem Attempt to Control Internet
April 6, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - In a unanimous ruling, FCC Chair Julius Genachoswki's plan to control the Internet - Democrats absurdly calling it "'Net neutrality" - was stopped cold by a three judge DC panel.
In the unanimous decision the court ruled that the FCC has no statuary authority to regulate network management decisions made by Internet provider's.
The immediate effect of the ruling is to remove an FCC admonishment, a "cease and desist" order, against Comcast which had taken steps to limit bandwidth use for certain types of downloads.
Undeterred it seems, supporters of the FCC's move are now suggesting that the agency instead move to regulate 'Net providers under regulatory authority which heretofore had been reserved for common carriers such as land based telephone systems.
Whether this will fly in light of today's court ruling is problematic, however we have observed that this administration has not easily been deterred in its efforts to further control American commerce and we would be surprised if an end-run around this decision had not already been planned.
Of course the lefties were up in arms over the decision, having lost this high stakes gambit, but they will certainly not abandon this field of battle, it's elemental in the overall Obama regime game plan to control the dissemination of information.
As quoted in Business Week, "The D.C. Circuit's dropped a bomb on us," Ben Scott, policy director of the advocacy group Free Press that challenged Comcast and sided with the FCC, said in an interview. "Comcast is now permitted to block Web sites with impunity." [source, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-06/comcast-wins-in-case-on-fcc-net-neutrality-powers-update6-.html]
For those not familiar with the cuddly sounding group Free Press, it was founded by Robert McChesney, a socialist and typical of the demographic which is pushing the Obama regime's agenda.
TM: Why do you think it is important for progressives to understand the media and participate in media democracy struggles?
We rest our case...
Muslim Public Service Internships and the Stealth Jihad
April 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - A group calling itself the Muslim Public Service Network [the website is registered to Shahed Amanullah in Oakland, CA. Amanullah is also the registrant behind altmuslim.org and HalalFire.com] is part of an effort by Muslims to influence the policies of the U.S. government via selective placement of agendized personnel in positions of power.
Though on its face this effort might seem as American as apple pie, closer scrutiny indicates otherwise.
Since we have written extensively about the phenomenon variously described as lawful Islamism or stealth jihad [for example [UK Defeated By Muslim Stealth Jihad, Capitulates To Shari'a] we find no need to recapitulate the theme here again in extended form.
In outline however, the stealth jihad has a number of aspects, but there is one key fundamental:
The strategy stems from a realization by the Islamists [which include, in addition to the violent jihadis, Muslims who advocate for incremental Islamization of their societies, and incorporation of Shari'a derived components within them, through the exercise of political power] that direct confrontation can only succeed in a time and place where there is at least rough parity between Muslims and non-Muslims. From this logic stems a counter strategy in which instead of adopting a policy of head-on confrontation, those who seek to at some point in the future bring about a Caliphate, opt for gradual change as a precursor of that future utopian Islamic state.
A seminal document - a concrete embodiment of this idea - was discovered during a Virginia terror raid made 15 years ago - written by the Muslim Brotherhood [and approved by the Shura Council] the Egyptian terrorist organization which serves as the intellectual ancestor for all modern day Islamic terrorism, including Hamas and al-Qaeda.
This rare find outlined an audacious plan Islamize America. Being of such importance, it was tagged government document number GX3-85 and submitted into the court record in the largest successful Hamas terror funding prosecution U.S. history - U.S. vs. Holy Land Foundation, et. al.
Obama Regime Well on Way to Losing Iraq and Afghanistan
April 5, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - As the Center for Security Policy's director, Frank Gaffney points out in his most recent piece [see, Who Lost Iraq?] that Iraq, which only 18 months ago seemed a very bright spot in a Middle East were the specter of Islamic violence is omnipresent, is, through the misguided policies of the Obama regime, quickly descending into anarchy.
"Sadly...There is an unmistakable vacuum of power being created by President Obama's determination to withdraw U.S. "combat" forces no matter what, starting with the cities a few months ago and in short order from the rest of the country.
Increasingly, that vacuum is being filled by Iran and its proxies on the one hand and, on the other, insurgent Sunni forces, both those aligned with al Qaeda and those that have, at least until recently, been suppressing the AQI. On what might be called the third hand, Iraqi Kurds are experiencing their own internal problems as well as an increasingly ill-concealed inclination to assert their independence from the rest of the country.
The signal of American abandonment was made the more palpable by Team Obama's decision to dispatch Christopher Hill as its ambassador to Iraq. Hill is the diplomat best known for his determination during the Bush 43 years to appease, rather than thwart, the despot most closely enabling the realization of Iran's nuclear ambitions: North Korea's Kim Jong Il. The unreliability of the United States as an ally - a hallmark of the Obama presidency more generally - is reinforcing the sense that it is every man for himself in Iraq."
Gaffney's point is one held by many serious observers of national security matters, at least those not aligned with the current administration, that Obama's stated goal of complete and rapid withdrawal from Iraq and a consequent redeployment of these forces into Afghanistan is corroding the few weak binds which hold Iraq together.
Additionally the author makes clear that this wholesale change from the policy which had been extraordinarily successful - due largely to the surge which Mr. Obama and his vice president vehemently opposed - is akin to the "worst of all possible worlds scenario," in that the forces which are needed in the more strategically located Iraq are being sent to Afghanistan, where - their hands tied by absurd rules of engagement promulgated by Obama - they will be forced to preside over defeat.
Increasing Obama National Security Malfeasance - Plans to Drop Profiling of Middle East Air Travelers
April 3, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Despite the fact that all significant terrorism since at least 9/11 has occurred at the hands of Muslims hailing from a limited number of countries, the administration has apparently dropped its hastily employed, recent policy of providing additional security screening to this targeted demographic at American airports.
According to a report carried in the Washington Post [see, U.S. Changing the Way Air Travelers are Screened, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/02/AR2010040204131_pf.html] the decision was made ostensibly by DHS chief Napolitano [a clueless amateur, who also feels that conservative American Christians pose a significant domestic terror threat] to drop the newly established heightened screening rules.
"The Obama administration is abandoning its policy of using nationality alone to determine which U.S.-bound international air travelers should be subject to additional screening..."
The new policy is of such a sensitive nature that officials were unwilling to go on the record - always a telltale sign.
A curious aspect attending the breaking of this story is its publication on Friday, the day traditionally thought of as "black hole day" in which even important items simply fall off the radar in the blur of weekend developments and decreased reader attention.
One might ask the question why would a major news organization broach such a major piece on a day when it was guaranteed to receive the least attention unless the information was placed - an official leak - designed to get the news out there in the least damaging way, courtesy of fellow travelers.
Given the unenviable track record of cheerleading by the Obama adoring MSM, answering that question is even easier than it appears.
Chicago Taxi Driver - Raja Lahrasib Khan - Indicted on Federal Terrorism Charges
April 2, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Fox News is reporting an AP story [see, http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/04/01/chicago-cab-driver-indicted-terror-charges/] that a Chicago taxi driver - Raja Lahrasib Khan - has been indicted on terror charges.
Khan, a Pakistani-American, is alleged to have transferred funds to a radical Pakistani leader whom he believed had ties to al-Qaeda.
A similar criminal complaint had been filed against Khan last week and the defendant's counsel had apparently made the decision to challenge it in court. Today's action by the government precludes that possibility.