Free Republic

I see that Maher Arar, the huckster who lied his way into $10.5 million of our tax dollars, has had less luck with the U.S. legal system than he had with ours. A U.S. appeals court threw out his nuisance claim against the U.S. government. Now, that's not quite fair of me, is it? I mean, it's not fair to Canada's legal system because, had Arar actually gone to trial here, his case would have been thrown out, too. Arar's testimony would have been torn to shreds; he would have wilted under cross-examination. He would have been proved the liar...

LUCKNOW: An Obama diplomat is wanted by police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Presently enjoying the status of an ambassador by virtue of representing the US in the United Nations Management and Reforms Committee (UNMRC), Jide Zeitlin was slapped with criminal charges connected with cheating and dishonestly, including delivery of property and criminal breach of trust, in case crime number 743/08 lodged with the Aliganj police station here in 2008 end. The criminal case has been lodged under Section 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by a group of 16 telecom sector contractors based in...

William Jefferson sentencing of 27-33 years recommendedBy Jonathan Tilove November 06, 2009, 9:04PM Prosecutors on Friday night issued a memorandum recommending that former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson be sentenced to between 27 and 33 years in prison. Jefferson, 62, will be sentenced by federal Judge T.S. Ellis III on Nov. 13. The prosecution's sentencing memorandum suggests that Jefferson, who served 18 years in Congress, may have hidden resources and "poses a significant risk of flight,'' and ought to be immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after sentencing at the Alexandria, Va., courthouse. If Ellis follows the...

The London Telegraph has the bombshell report on Ft. Hood jihadist Nidal Hassan’s ties to the September 11 terrorists. Question: Why is it that we have to read British papers to get the unvarnished truths about the Ft. Hood Muslim mass murderer?

The NYPD has gone on the reservation -- sending its drug czar upstate to try to help cut off a massive pipeline of pot and ecstasy to the city run by Mohawk Indian smugglers on the Canadian border. "I was astounded at how lenient the border is," said Chief Joseph Resnick, head of the NYPD's narcotics division. He spoke after a trip six weeks ago to the Akwesasne reservation, which straddles the US-Canadian border and which he said supplies most of the high-potency marijuana and ecstasy sold on city streets. "Once you cross into the US, you're on the Indian...

'Chuck' bucks have run dryJust 3G in donations for 'Rangel' school By MELISSA KLEIN and ISABEL VINCENT Last Updated: 6:42 AM, November 8, 2009 Donors have contributed just $3,315 to the Rangel Center at City College since the Harlem congressman became enmeshed in scandal last fall. The center -- which critics have derided as a "monument to me" -- needs $30 million to renovate a derelict building in Harlem and fulfill its mission to prepare minority students for public-service careers. But data provided by the college shows Rangel's pet project has amassed just $6.6 million in pledges, and only $650,000...

Newsweek's Evan Thomas regretted the Fort Hood mass murderer, Major Nidal Hasan, is a Muslim because of how that reality will be abused by conservatives. On this weekend's Inside Washington, Thomas, now Editor at Large with Newsweek after stints as Assistant Managing Editor and Washington bureau chief, rued: I cringe that he's a Muslim. I mean, because it inflames all the fears. I think he's probably just a nut case. But with that label attached to him, it will get the right wing going and it just -- I mean these things are tragic, but that makes it much worse.

Click on the link to view the video.

Details here. So this is what it has come to -- this is the fruit of the long-term efforts by groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations and others, to stigmatize and demonize everyone who speaks honestly about the threat of jihad and Islamic supremacism. People are afraid to speak up about what they see, when they know it is wrong. And all it cost this week was 13 dead and 38 wounded.

"Muslims at Fort Hood voice outrage," by Michael Moss for the New York Times via MSNBC, November 7: KILLEEN, Texas - Leaders of the vibrant Muslim community here expressed outrage on Friday at the shooting rampage being laid to one of their members, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who had become a regular attendee of prayers at the local mosque. But some of the men who had befriended Major Hasan at the mosque said the military should examine the policies that might have caused him to snap. "When a white guy shoots up a post office, they call that going postal,"...

The $26.5 trillion (gross notional) CDS market is under siege. Or such is the latest news from the formerly pervasive (ab)user of CDS trading strategies, David Einhorn. In an op-ed in the FT, Einhorn states "I think that trying to make safer credit default swaps is like trying to make safer asbestos,” he writes in a recent letter to investors, adding that CDSs create “large, correlated and asymmetrical risks” having “scared the authorities into spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer money to prevent speculators who made bad bets from having to pay." His full opinion can be found here,...

A Boston TV station discovered that Barney Frank was present in 2007 when police raided his boyfriend's home in Maine and confiscated marijuana, bongs and marijuana plants. Somehow this didn't come out until now. In the TV interview below, Frank professes ignorance of the contents of his boyfriend's house--he was on the porch when the police arrived!--and says he wouldn't recognize a marijuana plant if he saw one. It's a wonderful image, really: the boyfriend has these weird, spiky house plants scattered around the premises and Barney thinks they're ferns or something. And he didn't recognize the bags of marijuana,...

In most countries tens - perhaps hundreds - of thousands of children being abducted and sold on the black market would be seen as a national crisis, but not, it seems, in China. The government is touting some success in cracking down on child-trafficking gangs, but Adrian Brown finds distraught Chinese parents taking matters into their own hands. REPORTER: Adrian Brown These grainy images of a supermarket security camera record a young child being abducted. A woman leaves followed by the child, who appears distressed. The woman has taken the little girl's umbrella. Outside, the child will vanish, like tens...

Once something no longer serves a purpose, or fails at it's main function, it deserves to die... There was a time when newspapers championed the people of America.....they were a valued 4th estate that protected America from the arrogance and contempt of crooked politians and meglomaniacs who saw the American people as dups and fodder for thier own political dreams.....in those days headlines like: Congressional Arrogance Deaf Congress Presidential Imperialism would have been everywhere....Everyone knows America doesn't want this bill....millions of Americans have demonstrated their opinion on this only to be ignored by power mad idiots who only serve "the...

Are new cases now in decline? "The boogeyman will get you!" parents sometimes tell misbehaving children. With about 40% of parents saying "no!" to vaccinating their kids for swine flu, apparently health officials think turnabout is fair play. And the media seem happy to help. You see it in such headlines as "CDC Shocker: Swine Flu Killing Young People at Record Rate!" And in lines of panicked parents queued outside vaccine clinics like fans trying to score tickets to a Paul McCartney concert. And in schools closing willy-nilly, which could cost the nation tens of billions, according to a recent...

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. Homeland Security secretary says she is working to prevent a possible wave of anti-Muslim sentiment after the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas. Janet Napolitano says her agency is working with groups across the United States to try to deflect any backlash against American Muslims following Thursday’s rampage by Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim who reportedly expressed growing dismay over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The shootings left 13 people dead and 29 wounded. Napolitano was in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for talks with security officials and...

Military investigators have concluded that there was only one gunman involved in the rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead and dozens more injured, but they added that they were still trying to determine whether other people were involved in any plot, an Army spokesman said on Saturday. The spokesman, Chris Grey, also told reporters during a briefing that the shooting suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychologist, had been taken off a ventilator on Saturday but remained in the intensive care unit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Major Hasan was shot four...

House narrowly passes landmark health care bill WASHINGTON (AP) - In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

Memo to ABC: There's a Reason He's Not Called Smith By C. Edmund Wright Diane Sawyer - either espousing her editorial fantasy or a quoting a third hand comment from an anonymous "military wife" -- was dreadfully upset that the mass murderer from Fort Hood was not named Smith. One can only imagine how thrilled she'd have been had he been named something like, oh I don't know, Palin. From what I can deduce, had his name been Smith it would be much easier for the Diane Sawyers of the Jurassic media to cover up what they fear really went...

NEW YORK – Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in yesterday's massacre at Fort Hood, played a homeland security advisory role in President Barack Obama's transition into the White House

All of the Ayes must be voted out of office at their earliest election FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 887 (Democrats in roman; Republicans in italic; Independents underlined) H R 3962 RECORDED VOTE 7-Nov-2009 11:16 PM QUESTION: On Passage BILL TITLE: Affordable Health Care for America Act Ayes Noes PRES NV Democratic 219 39 Republican 1 176 Independent TOTALS 220 215 ---- AYES 220 --- Abercrombie Ackerman Andrews Arcuri Baca Baldwin Bean Becerra Berkley Berman Berry Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Blumenauer Boswell Brady (PA) Braley (IA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Cao Capps Capuano Cardoza Carnahan Carney Carson (IN) Castor (FL)...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives approved a sweeping healthcare reform bill on Saturday, backing the biggest health policy changes in four decades and handing President Barack Obama a crucial victory. On a narrow 220-215 vote, including the support of one Republican, the House endorsed a bill that would expand coverage to nearly all Americans and bar insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Most Republicans criticized its $1 trillion price tag, new taxes on the wealthy and what they said was excessive government interference in the private health sector. Democrats cheered and hugged when...

It is a historic vote--never before has the chamber passed such sweeping health care legislation--but not the historic vote that would send the bill to President Obama for his signature. The Senate must still vote on its own version of health care reform. If that passes, the two chambers would have to sort out their differences, producing a final bill to be voted on. That whole process could take months. In the coming weeks, a crucial debate surrounds health care reform: Will the process resemble that of the economic stimulus bill, a $787 billion measure passed in February with no...

Don't bring your pitchforks. This is to be our "last stand" to stop health care reform, it's Alamo time. Don't let your congressmen call it a "rally" or "protest"--make sure they say "press event" or "press conference." The point is to see "the whites of their eyes," because there's nothing a congressman fears more than a "freedom-loving American." Oh, and don't dress "too nicely." We don't want the press to start calling this another "Brooks Brothers riot" like they did when Bush aides stormed Miami hallways to stop the 2000 recount. You can feel the tension between the urge to...

Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has regularly accused the Republicans in the House of displaying “a culture of corruption.” Yet the critical vote to get the House version of the health bill out of the House, demonstrates that Speaker Pelosi not only likes corruption, she counts on it. Remember her middle name because it figures in the proof. On 7 November at 11:15 pm House bill 3962 passed by a vote of 220-215. Votes in favor of that bill included the following: Norm Dicks (D-Wash), Jane Harman (D-Cal), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Alan Mollohan (D-WVa). Jim Moran...

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been tirelessly working to dispel the ‘China threat’ perception, which appears to be increasing concomitantly with the country's rapid economic and military rise. Beijing argues that China's growing initiatives in the Indian Ocean are for 'peaceful purposes' (China.org.cn., June 3). Yet, in recent years, many China watchers in India have captured another side of Beijing's foray that depicts China carving into the Indian Ocean's security architecture by regular incursions into the region and the recent naval deployment in the Gulf of Aden to fight piracy. These initiatives appear based on a strategy that...

Late on November 3 (November 4 in Europe) the General Motors (GM) corporation decided to retain ownership of its heavily indebted German subsidiary Opel. The decision reverses GM’s September 10 tentative consent to sell a majority stake in Opel to a Kremlin-dominated consortium. GM’s reversal became public on the final day of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s November 2-4 visit to the United States. Merkel learned about GM’s Opel decision only after completing her series of meetings with U.S. officials (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Financial Times Deutschland, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, November 5, 6). Merkel had strongly advocated the Russian deal in recent months....

Contact information: Washington, D.C. Office: 2113 Rayburn House Office Building, District of Columbia 20515-1802 Phone: (202) 225-6636 Fax: (202) 225-1988 New Orleans Office: (more district offices) 4640 South Carrollton Avenue, Suite 120 New Orleans, Louisiana 70119 Phone: (504) 483-2325 Fax: (504) 483-7944 New Orleans Office: 4640 South Carrollton Avenue, Suite 120 New Orleans, Louisiana 70119 Phone: (504) 483-2325Fax: (504) 483-7944 web contact formIt would be appropriate to let him know how much we appreciate his vote. Not for the value of the vote, but because he gave the Dhims cover to say that it was "bipartisan."

SRI Lankans are using civil war as an excuse to seek asylum abroad, the country's high commissioner to Australia says. Senaka Walgampaya said many Sri Lankan asylum seekers were actually "economic refugees" wanting a better life in Australia. "As far as we can see, all the people who are seeking asylum in Australia are seeking to come here for a better life," he told Channel 10. "Also, most of them have their friends and relatives here ... they are coming here to join up with them." Mr Walgampaya said the Sri Lankan civil war was being used by nationals as...

And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...

Suspect Could Face Death Penalty in Fort Hood Shooting November 07, 2009 By Catherine Donaldson-Evans The Army psychiatrist suspected in Thursday's deadly Fort Hood rampage in Texas could get the death penalty if he is convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder — and military law experts say the evidence against him will be substantial. American-born Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan has yet to be charged but is expected to face at least 13 counts of murder, one for each of the victims who died, as well as numerous assault and weapons charges in a court-martial. "Obviously, we're all guessing, but...

Joe Sullivan was sent away for life for raping an elderly woman and judged incorrigible though he was only 13 at the time of the attack. Terrance Graham, implicated in armed robberies when he was 16 and 17, was given a life sentence by a judge who told the teenager he threw his life away. They didn't kill anyone, but they effectively were sentenced to die in prison. Life sentences with no chance of parole are rare and harsh for juveniles tried as adults and convicted of crimes less serious than killing. Just over 100 prison inmates in the United...

Tuesday 4pm It may have been the first, small clue that an apparently ordinary week at the world's largest army base was about to become something horrifically different, when neighbours saw Major Nidal Hasan escorting a visitor into his flat. Other residents at the Casa del Norte apartment complex were surprised to see the mild-mannered army officer accompanied by another man in Islamic dress. Alice Thompson, 53, who manages the two storey block of simple dwellings with her husband John, told The Sunday Telegraph: "It was very unusual because he had never had anyone round before. His visitor had long...

After two days of investigation into the mass shooting at Fort Hood, investigators have tentatively concluded that the attack was not part of a terrorist plot. Rather, they have come to believe that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused in the shootings, acted out under a welter of emotional, ideological and religious pressures, according to interviews with federal officials who have been briefed on the inquiry. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that Major Hasan believed he was carrying out an extremist’s suicide mission. But the investigators, working with behavioral experts, suggested that he may have long...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Megan Williams, who was supposed to take back her story that seven Logan County residents beat, raped and tortured her, didn't speak at a press conference at her lawyer's office on Wednesday. Instead, lawyer Byron L. Potts recanted her claims for her. He said Williams told him that the only injuries that weren't self-inflicted were the bruises on her face. "She is recanting the entire incident. She says it did not happen, and she's scared,'' Potts said. He urged prosecutors to re-examine the cases against the seven people convicted in the attack. Authorities don't believe Williams' new...

And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...

Former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush quietly visited the wounded from the Ft. Hood massacre on Friday. Barack Obama mentioned the attack at the end of some comments he made at a conference and on Saturday, Obama headed out to Camp David for a little R&R. Bush visits Ft. Hood, Obama goes to Camp David. What is wrong with this picture? Even more troubling, is there an Obama, Hassan connection?It has been a bit disconcerting that the President of the United States has seemed so terribly disengaged from a terrorist attack on a military base in...

Democrats seized on Friday's report that the nation's unemployment rate has reached a 26-year high of 10.2 percent to call for further tax and spending measures to bolster the economy. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) said the unemployment news was confirmation that the $787 billion fiscal stimulus signed into law in February WAS NOT BIG ENOUGH.“The bottom line is that additional action is required," Obey said. "An effective short term boost would mean a stronger economy, less unemployment and ultimately lower deficits.”Liberal Democrats, including Obey, have said for months additional stimulus efforts are needed. President Barack Obama...

Stepdad Guilty of Killing 'Baby Grace' Published: Nov. 7, 2009 GALVESTON, Texas, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A Texas man has been convicted of killing his 2-year-old stepdaughter, whose body was found by a fisherman washed up on a Galveston Bay beach. Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, received an automatic sentence of life with no possibility of parole Friday, the Houston Chronicle reported. Jurors deliberated for just over four hours before finding him guilty. The body of Riley Ann Sawyers was packed in a blue plastic box when it was discovered on Oct. 29, 2007. Investigators nicknamed the child "Baby Grace"...

After meeting with the FBI and the Defense Department about their investigation into the Fort Hood shooting, President Barack Obama used his weekly radio address on Saturday to again offer his condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured. On Thursday Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan opened fire on soldiers at a medical processing center on the Fort Hood, Texas military base killing 13 and wounding at least 38 others. Hasan was shot four times by security personnel at the base and was still alive as of Saturday. Obama said that while the “crime against our nation” exemplified...

From: DGiannotti@eth.state.ma.us FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 6, 2009 Contact: David Giannotti, Communications Division Chief 617-371-9505 Ethics Commission's Enforcement Division Alleges that Town of Harvard School Superintendent and a Former School Committee Chairman Violated the Conflict of Interest Law Allegedly Used Official Positions to Secure Reimbursement of Private School Tuition by Harvard Public Schools The State Ethics Commission's Enforcement Division, in two Orders to Show Cause ("OTSC"), alleged that Harvard Superintendent of Public Schools Thomas Jefferson ("Jefferson") and former Harvard School Committee Chairman Paul Wormser ("Wormser") violated G.L.c. 268A, the conflict of interest law, by using Jefferson's official position as Superintendent,...

NEW ORLEANS – State investigators raided ACORN offices on Friday, taking away computer hard drives and documents as part of a probe into alleged embezzlement and tax fraud when the organization's national headquarters was based in New Orleans."This is an investigation of everything — ACORN, the national organization, the local organization and all of its affiliated entities, specifically as it relates to any potential violations of Louisiana law," Assistant Attorney General David Caldwell said.ACORN staff on the scene declined to comment, but an attorney for the group said in a statement the raid was prompted by allegations that former ACORN...

A civil war is threatening to erupt within the Democratic Party as liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org looks to punish moderate Democrats opposed to the sweeping health care overhaul proposed by party leaders. MoveOn has reportedly raised more than $3.5 million in contributions to fund primary challenges against "any Democratic senator who blocks an up-or-down vote on health care reform with a public option," according to an e-mail sent to group members on Thursday. The e-mail warned that any Democratic House member who joins Republicans to filibuster the health care reform measure will "face an enormous backlash from the grassroots." The...

Note: This is satire designed to show the ludicrous nature of the media coverage on the Ft. Hood issue. It is not designed to trivialize a terrible event but to make people understand better what happened and how the event is being dangerously distorted.] By Barry Rubin When John Wilkes Booth opened fire on President Abraham Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre in April 1865, the media was puzzled. “True, the actor was outspoken in his Confederate sympathies and viewed himself as a Southerner,” said someone who knew him, “but that was no reason he might want Lincoln to be dead.” The...

Scotland - Britain called for consideration of a global tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis, and urged world finance officials meeting on Saturday in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told finance ministers from the Group of 20 rich and developing countries it was time to consider a global financial levy, such as a tax on transactions

FORT HOOD, Texas -- There was the classroom presentation that justified suicide bombings. Comments to colleagues about a climate of persecution faced by Muslims in the military. Conversations with a mosque leader that became incoherent. As a student, some who knew Nidal Malik Hasan said they saw clear signs the young Army psychiatrist - who authorities say went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 29 others wounded - had no place in the military. After arriving at Fort Hood, he was conflicted about what to tell fellow Muslim soldiers about the fighting in Iraq...

WASHINGTON — When it comes to combating global warming, Sen. Lindsey Graham is right where he loves to be — ahead of the curve, in the mix on a major issue, at the table for high-level, bipartisan talks behind closed doors. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is working with Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to craft a climate change bill. They face the dual challenge of overcoming widespread GOP opposition and withstanding relentless attacks by Big Oil and allied energy interests. "Our goal is to create a vision that not only will...

Billionaire gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman gave away just $125,000 of her charitable foundation's $46 million in assets in its first year of operation — and tax records show the bulk of the money went to a surprising place. The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been the subject of political controversy. ... But it's the $100,000 to...

If you want to know what's wrong with Sacramento, you need look no further than Orange County. That's where Republican Party insiders have cast aside one of the GOP's most principled members in its drive to fill the 72nd Assembly District seat vacated by disgraced Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who resigned after being caught on tape bragging in lurid detail to another assemblyman about his sexual exploits with lobbyists. The first major candidate to announce his intention to replace Duvall was Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. If the local GOP were serious about the limited-government rhetoric it constantly preaches, Norby would...

HARTFORD — - The woman who landed a temporary job in the office of the registrars of voters after being fined $10,000 by the state for ballot fraud four years ago owes the city $3,500 in back taxes. Prenzina Holloway is the mother of city council Democratic Majority Leader rJo Winch and a longtime member of the city's Democratic Party. In 2005, state officials said Holloway voted on behalf of, and forged the signature of, at least one voter during a 2004 Democratic primary, among other violations of state law. The state fined her $10,000. But because she demonstrated financial...