Analysis: Americans to face tougher 2013 on rising prices, taxes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Consumers will have to dig deeper into their pockets next year to pay for costlier healthcare, more expensive grocery bills and higher taxes, an extra drag on the country's already slow-moving economy.

The additional outlays look set to test the resilience of consumers, whose spending accounts for around two-thirds of the U.S. economy.

"We think it's going to be a difficult six to nine months," said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics for Moody's Analytics. "If anything, conditions are likely to get worse, particularly at the start of the year."

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Iran's Khamenei say US and Israel are to blame for Muslims slaughtering each other

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday accused the United States and Israel of fomenting divisions among Muslims to undermine "Islamic uprisings" across the Middle East.

"By exploiting inattention ... corrupt American, NATO and Zionist agents are trying to divert the deluge-like movement of Muslim youth and bring them into confrontation with one another in the name of Islam," he said in an annual message to Iranians who have gone to Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.

"They are trying to turn the jihad against colonialism and Zionism into blind terrorism in the streets ... so that Muslims shed each other's blood."

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The President Sends His Non-Regrets: A revealing interview about his priorities in 2009—and 2013

(WSJ) President Obama doesn't give many interviews these days outside Comedy Central, so it caused a stir Wednesday when editors at the Des Moines Register managed to pin him down and even elicit some news. Specifically, Mr. Obama said he wants to pursue immigration reform in a second term, as well as a budget "grand bargain" with Republicans that includes tax reform.

This will come as a surprise to voters reading the President's just-released 20-page brochure on his second-term agenda, which makes little or no mention of these priorities. Perhaps that's why the White House first demanded that the interview be off the record, making the transcript public only after the Register editor objected in a public blog post.

But the larger reason to be skeptical concerns Mr. Obama's answer to another Register question: Whether he regrets pursuing ObamaCare and other liberal social priorities in his first two years rather than focusing on the economy.

"Absolutely not," Mr. Obama told the Iowa journalists. "Remember the context. First of all, Mitch McConnell has imposed an ironclad filibuster from the first day I was in office. And that's not speculation."

Whoaaaa there, big fella. Mr. McConnell was then and still is the Senate Minority Leader, and in 2009 he had all of 40 votes. Mr. Obama could have pursued any agenda he wanted, and the Des Moines editors wanted to know why he didn't focus on the economy first. Yet Mr. Obama's instinctive reaction is to blame Republican obstructionism that never happened.

In those first days of progressive wine and roses, Mr. Obama managed to peel off three Republican votes for his stimulus blowout in February 2009. He got five Republicans for the trial-bar gift known as the Lilly Ledbetter bill and nine for an expansion of the state children's health program, both in January. That was some ferocious filibuster.

By spring 2009, when Minnesota's Al Franken was seated, the White House had 60 votes and a GOP-only filibuster wasn't even possible. "We have the votes. F-- 'em," declared then-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, according to the first-100-days chapters of Bob Woodward's new book.

The President is also missing the larger import of the Register's question. As Mr. Obama likes to remind voters now, in 2009 the economy had suffered a financial heart attack and needed to be nurtured back to health. That required careful management and attention to reviving consumer and business confidence.

Yet rather than work with both parties to fashion a growth agenda, he went all-in for a Keynesian spending blowout and subcontracted the details to House Democrats. And rather than wait to see how strongly—and even whether—the economy then recovered, he dove headlong into fighting to pass 40 years of pent-up liberal social policy.

It wasn't merely ObamaCare. The President also tried to impose a cap-and-tax on carbon energy production, end secret ballots for unions via card check, while promising to raise taxes in 2011 until he was stopped when voters elected a GOP House in 2010.

Mr. Obama likes to say he inherited "the most severe economic emergency we've had since the Great Depression," but then he claims that it didn't matter that he staged a two-year fight to remake one-sixth of the economy and threatened to remake another four-sixths.

If recessions following financial crises really are worse than normal, as the President also told the Iowa editors, then why didn't he take special care to postpone legislation that would add new costs to business, undermine confidence and thus weaken the recovery?

Mr. Obama didn't really answer the Register's question, so we will. He didn't focus on the economy because he didn't and still doesn't understand how the private economy works. He doesn't understand that incentives matter, or how government policies and regulation can sabotage growth. He really believes that government is the engine of economic prosperity.

Anyone who thinks the second term will be different should consult Mr. Emanuel's incisive counsel above.

NY Post: For America's future, The Post endorses Mitt Romney for president

(NY Post) Four frustratingly long years ago, a war-weary and economically battered America took a flier on a savior.

It didn’t work out.

Now, in 12 days, the nation will return to the polls — to reject, or to ratify, the results of the great Barack Obama experiment.

That is, to reject or to ratify the notion that hoping for change is a sound footing for productive national policy.

But, by the evidence, it is not.

It cannot create jobs.

It cannot reduce deficits.

It cannot restore foreign confidence in America — or Americans’ confidence in their own great nation.

America needs more than hope. It needs leadership. That is why The Post today endorses the candidacy of Mitt Romney for president of the United States.

Scrape it down to bedrock, and Mitt Romney knows that there is but one issue in this campaign: America’s woeful economy, and the demonstrated inability of President Obama to cope with it.

Obama says he inherited the mess, but he’s done nothing to fix it. Borrow, spend, regulate and redistribute is not a prescription for sustainable growth, yet that has been the totality of his program.

He says things will get better — soon. But there’s no evidence for that.

Obamanomics has produced:

* A sky-high national debt, now at a stupefying $16 trillion and growing.

* Intractable unemployment and a workforce hemorrhaging discouraged workers.

* No perceptible economic growth.

* Historic expansion in welfare programs — especially food stamps.

Obama proposes massive tax increases aimed not so much at the rich, as he claims, but squarely at the middle class and small business, which is insane: Small business — the real engine of American job creation — needs to be nurtured, not squeezed dry.

Americans need jobs — jobs for those trying to raise a family, jobs for those who are leaving school, jobs period!

Instead, they are about to be saddled with an unworkable health-care boondoggle that will suck hundreds of billions from a private-sector economy that could better use the cash to create — yes — more jobs!

Can Mitt Romney really turn all this around? Yes, he can.

In the debates, Americans saw a leader.

They saw a man with the experience, the temperament, the principles and the knowledge to address America’s economic woes instead of just blaming others.

After all, as governor of deep-blue Massachusetts, he worked with a Democratic legislature to close a $3 billion deficit without raising taxes or borrowing.

There is one other significant issue.

Four years ago, Obama vowed “to restore America’s standing in the world.” But he has sown rancor and confusion instead.

Our friends don’t know if they’re still our friends; our enemies wonder whether we have the courage to stand up to them.

The result has been a cataclysmic breakdown of US leadership in the Middle East.

Israel — and not just Israel — questions whether Obama is committed to curbing Iran’s nuclear threat.

Syria is in open civil war, while Egypt and Libya teeter on the brink. Osama bin Laden may be dead, but al Qaeda has hardly been contained — as Benghazi tragically proved.

In contrast, the smoke now hanging over the Middle East testifies to Obama’s inability to get the job done.

Any job.

Because, in the end, the fundamental problem is the president’s core philosophy.

He believes in equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity — and that is not how America is supposed to work.

America is not working right now.

Forward?

For four more years?

We think not.

Mitt Romney for president.

"Norway is harboring lots of potential Islamic terrorists"

Gates of Vienna: Home-Grown Islamic Radicalism in Norway

Sudan blames Israeli air strike hit for huge munitions plant blasts; Israel declines to comment

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan said on Wednesday that an Israeli air strike had caused the huge explosion and fire at an arms factory in Khartoum that killed two people, but Israel's defense minister declined to comment.

Sudan, which analysts say is used as an arms-smuggling route to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip via neighboring Egypt, has blamed Israel for such strikes in the past, but Israel has either refused to comment or said it neither admitted or denied involvement.

Asked by Israel's Channel Two News about Sudan's accusations, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said: "There is nothing I can say about this subject."

A huge fire broke out late on Tuesday at the Yarmouk arms factory in the south of the capital which was rocked by several explosions, witnesses said. Firefighters took more than two hours to extinguish the fire at Sudan's main factory for ammunition and small arms.

"Four military planes attacked the Yarmouk plant ... We believe that Israel is behind it," Information Minister Ahmed Belal Osman told reporters, adding that the planes appeared to approach the site from the east.

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Catholic bishops mull Muslim conversions after Arab Spring

VATICAN CITY (AFP) — Catholic bishops meeting for a global synod in the Vatican have been raising in public the delicate topic of converting Muslims to Christianity on the back of the Arab Spring revolutions.

"Something's happening that is linked to the Arab Spring. People are asking questions, no longer satisfied by the common message in the mosques," said Paul Desfarges, who has lived in Algeria for 38 years and became a bishop in 2009.

"Young people and the not-so-young want to be able to believe freely, they want to be free even to not believe at all," he told a meeting of 260 bishops.

While the issue of converting Muslims had been raised at previous synods it is the first time that bishops have been speaking publicly about it, he said.

Desfarges told journalists that there had been newcomers to Christianity in his diocese but cautioned, "we don't want to use conversions against Islam."

"Some Algerians have asked to convert. They have to be very secret about it. They come to us after a very personal journey of faith: after a dream, a television programme, a film or a book," he said.

"But that has to be the result of an internal questioning. We take all the time they need, in order to respect their liberty," he added.

He said conversions posed problems for Muslim families: "For the average Muslim it's unthinkable, unheard of. 'What have we done to deserve this?' cry the parents of children who have converted."

While the Algerian Constitution provides for freedom of conscience, those who try to convert others to their religion can be prosecuted.

In other Muslim countries, abandoning your faith to embrace Christianity is severely punished and those found guilty can face the death penalty.

E-mails: White House knew of terrorism claims in Benghazi attack but ignored them and later engaged in coverup

Dereliction of duty.

Washington (CNN) -- Two hours after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the White House, the State Department and the FBI were told that an Islamist group had claimed credit, government e-mails obtained by CNN show.

One of the e-mails -- sent from a State Department address to various government agencies -- specifically identifies Ansar al-Sharia as claiming responsibility for the attack on its Facebook page and on Twitter.

The e-mails raise further questions about the seeming confusion on the part of the Obama administration to determine the nature of the September attack and those who planned it.

The attack left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead.

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Palestinians fire 72 rockets and mortars from Gaza into Israel in 2 days, IDF retaliates by killing 4 Hamas terrorists; UPDATE: 79 rockets fired from Gaza

(JPost) Palestinians fired eight rockets and mortar shells into the Ashkelon Regional Council on Wednesday afternoon, the latest in a barrage of rockets raining down on southern Israel since Tuesday night.

The Iron Dome successfully intercepted a Grad rocket, the eight it has struck down since Tuesday night.

Palestinian terrorists fired 67 rockets and mortar shells into southern Israel since Wednesday morning, injuring five and sending local residents fleeing for cover.

IAF strikes targeting Palestinian rocket-launching squads killed four Hamas operatives but did little to stem the flow of rockets.

Hamas's armed wing, the Al-Qassam brigades, took responsibility Wednesday for both a barrage of rockets unleashed against Israel since Tuesday night and the bomb that critically injured an IDF officer along the Gaza border on Tuesday. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) took responsibility for the Gaza border bomb.

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Update:

An Israeli military spokeswoman, said 79 projectiles had been fired at Israel and that the Iron Dome system had intercepted eight of them. She said several homes had been damaged by Palestinian rockets.

Colorado finds 300 more suspected non-citizens on voter rolls

DENVER (AP) – There are 300 more suspected noncitizens on Colorado's voter rolls, Secretary of State Gessler announced Tuesday in the latest chapter of a contentious national debate over what Republicans say is vulnerability in the voting system.

The latest figures are from the 3,903 people who received letters from Gessler's office questioning their citizenship in August. During a first round of checks, Gessler said 141 others were found to be possible noncitizens based on a federal immigration database.

Critics of Gessler, who is a Republican, have questioned his political motives and argue the checks have the potential to disenfranchise eligible voters. Some of the people who have received letters questioning their citizenship have turned out to be U.S. citizens, and a few of the original 141 have maintained they are citizens.

The majority of the people who are suspected to be noncitizens and on the rolls are unaffiliated voters, which make up more than half, and Democrats, according to data provided by Gessler's office. The proportion in party registration breakdown is similar to the overall number of people who received letters in August.

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A Second First Term: Meet Obama's new agenda, same as the old agenda, only less

(WSJ) Barack Obama won the Presidency in 2008 as the anti-George W. Bush and in 2012 he's been trying to win again as the anti-Mitt Romney, without elaborating much of a second-term agenda. Two weeks before Election Day, we now know why. His new ambitions look a lot like his old ambitions, except stuck on repeat.

On Tuesday Mr. Obama finally tried to give the future more definition with a new plan, except it isn't new and barely qualifies as a plan. "I've laid out a plan for jobs and middle-class security," he claimed in Delray Beach, Florida, brandishing a 20-page brochure titled "A Plan for Jobs and Middle-Class Security" and going on to invoke his "plan" another dozen-odd times. "I won't be running the okey doke on you," he added.

Voters may okey doke themselves if they believe this document, which is heavy on backward-looking and discredited factoids and light on economic specifics. For example, Mr. Obama wants to spend money to hire 100,000 math and science teachers for public schools. Isn't that what happened in 2009? And didn't his own Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, say that class size barely matters to education outcomes?

The President says he'll use community colleges to train another two million workers "for good jobs that actually exist," perhaps to distinguish these from the jobs he said the 2009 stimulus would create but actually didn't. And he says he'll create a million new manufacturing jobs by 2016 via a new temporary tax credit for U.S. companies that expand domestic hiring.

All of this is merely a kind of Junior Achievement version of the stimulus, trying to create jobs with more government spending that isn't affordable, or temporary tax favors that fail because they are, well, temporary. Businesses hire based on total employee costs, not one-off tax benefits. Since 2009 the country has lost 610,000 net manufacturing jobs, despite such preferences.

The only thing close to a real new idea is Mr. Obama's pose as Cheerleader in Chief for oil and natural gas production. But what's new is Mr. Obama's support, not the production, which he has had nothing to do with. He's now climbed aboard the caboose of this train because he can see that it's been a winning issue for Mr. Romney.

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Bayonets, Big Bird and Benghazi lies

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks.

The brief emails also show how U.S. diplomats described the attack, even as it was still under way, to Washington.

U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Benghazi assault, which President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials ultimately acknowledged was a "terrorist" attack carried out by militants with suspected links to al Qaeda affiliates or sympathizers.

Administration spokesmen, including White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing an unclassified assessment prepared by the CIA, maintained for days that the attacks likely were a spontaneous protest against an anti-Muslim film.

While officials did mention the possible involvement of "extremists," they did not lay blame on any specific militant groups or possible links to al Qaeda or its affiliates until intelligence officials publicly alleged that on September 28.

There were indications that extremists with possible al Qaeda connections were involved, but also evidence that the attacks could have erupted spontaneously, they said, adding that government experts wanted to be cautious about pointing fingers prematurely.

U.S. intelligence officials have emphasized since shortly after the attack that early intelligence reporting about the attack was mixed.

Spokesmen for the White House and State Department had no immediate response to requests for comments on the emails.

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Obama Leads Biden Chant Hours After Throwing Him Under the Bus

That's the Obama way.

(WFB) Mere hours after throwing his vice president under the bus at the third presidential debate, President Obama led supporters in a chant saluting Vice President Joe Biden. “I want everybody to understand this: I could not ask for a better partner than my vice president, Joe Biden,” Obama said at a Tuesday campaign rally in Dayton, Ohio. “There’s nobody who knows more about foreign policy than my vice president,” Obama continued. “There’s nobody who gives me better advice than my vice president. There’s nobody that you’d rather have in a foxhole with you when it matters than my vice president.” Obama pointedly said that Biden opposed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden during the foreign policy debate Monday night.

Israel: IDF catch 19-year-old Palestinian peace activist heading for Jerusalem with 8 pipe bombs

(JPost) A 19-year-old Palestinian man caught with eight pipe bombs at the Kalandiya check point was trying to get to Jerusalem, the IDF said Tuesday.

The man, believed to be from Nablus, got off a Palestinian bus carrying a large backpack, and tried to sneak past security checks for pedestrians at the checkpoint, which separates greater Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Lt.-Col. Yuval Shenkin, commander of the Military Police's Erez Brigade, which controls crossings in the area, said the incident was highly unusual. "To try to get this amount of explosives through is certainly exceptional," Shenkin said.

"Had he gotten past Kalandiya, he'd be in Jerusalem," he added.

After getting off the bus, the man walked around the pedestrian route, arousing soldiers' suspicions.

The soldiers told him to go back to the pedestrian line and undergo security checks. At that point, the man became even more suspicious, Shenkin added. "He said he was confused, and that he wanted to go back to the West Bank. At this stage, the soldiers understood something was going on. They placed his backpack through X-ray screening, and found eight pipe bombs," Shenkin said.

IDF sappers were called to the scene to deal with the explosives.

As soon as it became clear that the man was a security suspect, he was isolated in the bomb-proof terminal and separated from his backpack, Shenkin stressed. The suspect was transferred to the Israel Police for questioning.

Shenkin praised the alertness of soldiers for seizing the bombs. "They begin their shift at 4 a.m. Fifteen thousand Palestinians and thousands of vehicles pass through Kalandiya to go to Jerusalem. They prevented the bombs from getting through," the commander said.

FactCheck.org: Obama inflated jobs claim from 325,000 to 5.2 million

In a new TV ad, President Obama makes an inflated claim to have added 5.2 million new jobs. The total added during his time in office is actually about 325,000.

In the ad, the president says “over 5 million new jobs” while the figure “5.2 million” appears on screen. But that’s a doubly misleading figure.

• Viewers would need to pay close attention to the on-screen graphic to know that the ad refers only to employment gains starting in March 2010, omitting the 4.3 million jobs that were lost in the first year of Obama’s term.
• And there’s no way a viewer would know that the total counts only private-sector jobs, omitting continuing losses in government employment.

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First Jordanian soldier killed due to Syrian conflict

(VOA) A Jordanian soldier was killed Monday in clashes with armed militants trying to cross the border into Syria as the Arab League downplayed chances for a truce during this week's Eid al-Adha holiday.

Jordan's information minister, Sameeh Maaytah, said the soldier was the first member of the country's military to be killed in violence related to Syria's civil war. He died in clashes with Islamist fighters attempting to illegally enter Syria to join rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's government.

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13-Year-Old Jenny Gives Report Cards to Obama and Romney – *VIDEO

Via Stacy on the Right:

This is the best video I have ever seen by a child. Clearly her parents have done an excellent job getting her to think for herself, speak and think clearly and analyze facts.

via 13-Year-Old Jenny Gives Report Cards to Obama and Romney – YouTube.

The best anti-Obama sticker I've ever seen

Obama administration watched Americans being killed in Libya via live feed and did nothing for 7 hours

(NRO) A U.S. ambassador is missing and his diplomatic team is desperately fighting off terrorist attacks. Our commander-in-chief and his national-security team in Washington are listening to the phone calls from the Americans under attack and watching real-time video from a drone circling overhead. Yet the U.S. military sends no aid. Why?

On September 11, at about 10 p.m. Libyan time (4 p.m. in Washington), Ambassador Chris Stevens and a small staff were inside our consulate in Benghazi when terrorists attacked. The consulate staff immediately contacted Washington and our embassy in Tripoli. The White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and numerous military headquarters monitored the entire battle in real time via the phone calls from Benghazi and video from a drone overhead.

Our diplomats fought for seven hours without any aid from outside the country. Four Americans died while the Obama national-security team and our military passively watched and listened. The administration is being criticized for ignoring security needs before the attack and for falsely attributing the assault to a mob. But the most severe failure has gone unnoticed: namely, a failure to aid the living.

By 4:30 p.m. Washington time, the main consulate building was on fire and Ambassador Stevens was missing. In response, the embassy in Tripoli launched an aircraft carrying 22 men. Benghazi was 400 miles away.

At 5 p.m., President Obama met with Vice President Biden and Secretary of Defense Panetta in the Oval Office. The U.S. military base in Sigonella, Sicily, was 480 miles away from Benghazi. Stationed at Sigonella were Special Operations Forces, transport aircraft, and attack aircraft — a much more formidable force than 22 men from the embassy.

In the past, presidents had taken immediate actions to protect Americans. In 1984, President Reagan had ordered U.S. pilots to force an airliner carrying terrorists to land at Sigonella. Reagan had acted inside a 90-minute window while the aircraft with the terrorists was in the air. The Obama national-security team had several hours in which to move forces from Sigonella to Benghazi.

Fighter jets could have been at Benghazi in an hour; the commandos inside three hours. If the attackers were a mob, as intelligence reported, then an F18 in afterburner, roaring like a lion, would unnerve them. This procedure was applied often in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Conversely, if the attackers were terrorists, then the U.S. commandos would eliminate them. But no forces were dispatched from Sigonella.

In the meantime, while untrained and poorly led by American standards, the terrorists at Benghazi were proving to be lethal. They forced the Americans to abandon the consulate, with the ambassador still missing, and fall back to an annex a mile away. When the terrorist gang followed the Americans, looters took the opportunity to ransack the empty consulate. But when they found Ambassador Stevens unconscious on the floor, they stopped looting and rushed him to a hospital. Unfortunately, the doctors could not save his life. Not knowing who he was, they took the cell phone from his pocket and called numbers. By about two in the morning, the American embassy received word that the ambassador was dead.

At about the same time, the 22 men from the embassy in Tripoli had arrived at the Benghazi airport. They drove to the annex to assist in its defense against persistent terrorist attacks. Around 4 a.m. Libyan time — six hours into the fight — enemy mortar rounds killed two of the defenders on the roof of the annex.

The fight began at 10 p.m. and petered out at dawn when the Libyan militia came to the aid of the Americans.

It is bewildering that no U.S. aircraft ever came to the aid of the defenders. If even one F18 had been on station, it would have detected the location of hostiles firing at night and deterred and attacked the mortar sites. For our top leadership, with all the technological and military tools at their disposal, to have done nothing for seven hours was a joint civilian and military failure of initiative and nerve.

Secretary of State Clinton has said the responsibility was hers. But there has been no assertion that the State Department overruled the Pentagon out of concern about the sovereignty of Libyan air space. Instead, it appears passive groupthink prevailed, with the assumption being that a spontaneous mob would quickly run out of steam.

Firefights, however, wax and wane from dusk to dawn. You cannot predict ahead of time when they will stop. Therefore a combat commander will take immediate action, presuming reinforcements will be needed.

The administration wrongly blamed a mob for the attack. Yet ironically, Mr. Obama’s chances of reelection would have plummeted were it not for the human decency of a mob that took the ambassador to the hospital before the terrorists returned.

If the terrorists had taken his body and, with no Special Operations Forces hot on their trail, taunted America the next day — claiming the ambassador was still alive — the Benghazi tragedy would have escalated into an international disaster. The U.S. military sent no aid. Why?

Report: Islamist radicals find warm welcome in Obama White House

(TheDC) White House visitor records show that administration officials have hosted numerous White House meetings with a series of U.S.-based Muslim political groups that have close ties to jihadi groups and push to reduce anti-terrorism investigations.

The visits were discovered by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, which compared the Obama White House’s visitor records with its database of Islamist advocacy groups.

For example, the records show that officials from the Council on American Islamic Relations have visited the White House 20 times, according to the organization’s report.

Members of CAIR were invited to the White House, even though an April 2009 FBI statement said the bureau “does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner” because of its ties to the Hamas jihadi group.

Administration officials also invited Syrian-born Louay Safi to the White House twice in 2011, even though he had been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two terrorism cases, and had been barred from Fort Hood following the 2009 jihadi attack by a Muslim U.S. Army major.

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Chavez, Castro and Putin are rooting for Obama

 It's a dictators-for-Obama palooza.

(Times 24/7) The latest [dictator] to publicly announce his support for the commander-in-chief’s reelection bid was Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who this week assured he’d vote for Obama if he were from the United States. The America-bashing strongman made the announcement on state-owned television, saying “Obama is a good guy” and that if Obama was from Caracas, he’d surely return the favor by voting for Chavez.

Earlier in the year the government-official daughter of Cuban military dictator Raul Castro proclaimed her country’s support for Obama during a visit to the U.S. “I believe that Obama needs another opportunity and he needs greater support to move forward with his projects and with his ideas, which I believe come from the bottom of his heart,” Mariela Castro said during a cable news interview. ...

That brings us to Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who has eliminated most elections in his country, monopolized all major media and destroyed the political party system. ... In a letter to a major newspaper, the president of a group dedicated to expanding freedom around the world points out that under Putin there has been an “across-the-board crackdown on civil society.” The piece goes on to ask: “Will Obama stand up against Putin’s abuses?” Unlikely, now that the Russian dictator has extended his endorsement.

London: 3 Muslim suicide bombers planned new attack "bigger than 7/7"

The three were inspired by the anti-Western sermons of U.S. born Islamist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed in Yemen in September 2011.

LONDON (Reuters) - Three British men planned to carry out suicide bombings which could have been more devastating than the July 7, 2005 attacks in London, a court heard on Monday.

Fifty-one people died and over 700 were injured in co-ordinated suicide bombings on London underground trains and a bus by four British Islamists in the so-called 7/7 attacks.

Irfan Naseer, 31, Irfan Khalid and Ashik Ali, both 27, are accused of being central figures in the plot, jurors at Woolwich Crown Court were told.

"The police successfully disrupted a plan to commit an act or acts of terrorism on a scale potentially greater than the London bombings in July 2005 had it been allowed to run its course," said prosecutor Brian Altman.

"The defendants were proposing to detonate up to eight rucksack bombs in a suicide attack and/or to detonate bombs on timers in crowded areas in order to cause mass deaths and casualties.

"One of them even described a plan to cause another 9/11," he added, referring to the 2001 attacks in the United States.

All the men, from the city of Birmingham in central England, are accused of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts, which they deny.

Naseer is accused of five counts of the offence, Khalid four and Ali three, all between Christmas Day 2010 and September 2011. Nasser and Khalid are also accused of travelling to Pakistan for training in terrorism.

Iran's Mullahs Panic Over Prospect of Romney Victory, Sound Just Like US Left

(INN) Iran’s government mouthpiece Press TV is panicking over the prospect of a defeat for President Barack Obama and warns that Mitt Romney will steal the election through “black-box” voting machines that “manufacture election outcomes.” [...]

Riots also may break out after Romney is declared the winner, the media outlet continued. [...]

"If Romney steals the election, and African-Americans pour into the streets, they will be joined, at least in some areas, by angry whites, Hispanics, and others…

“If the Republicans steal another presidential election, …America might experience a wave of protests that would make the aftermaths of the Martin Luther King assassination, and the Rodney King beating, look like a picnic in the park.

For a change, Press TV did not refer to the “Zionist conspiracy” having a guiding hand in the “fraudulent” polls and the predicted “stolen” election.

Gunfire at Beirut Corral

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Gunmen armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades exchanged fire in southern districts of Lebanon's capital Beirut on Sunday night, security sources said, and residents could also hear the sound of ambulance sirens.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the clashes, which occurred after angry mourners tried to storm government offices in the centre of Beirut at the end of the funeral of an intelligence official assassinated on Friday.

Video: Egyptian President Morsi Joins Preacher in Prayer for Destruction and Dispersal of the Jews

Sellout? NY Times reports Obama administration to conduct one-on-one talks with Iran

(WJD) The New York Times reported on Sunday that the Obama administration has chosen to open face-to-face, one-on-one negotiations with the genocidal and antisemitic government of Iran for the first time.

The Times called the negotiations "a last-ditch diplomatic effort to avert a military strike on Iran" and the "result of intense, secret exchanges between American and Iranian officials that date almost to the beginning of President Obama’s term."

The talks will apparently not be held until after the American presidential elections. Iran insisted upon this precondition.

The talks are being spun by the Times' sources as a major breakthrough, and a sign that sanctions have forced Iran into talks that will end will Iran giving up its nuclear program.

Unfortunately, this is likely not the case. According to the Times, allowing the Iranians to enrich uranium to some degree is "a concession that experts say will probably figure in any deal on the nuclear program."

This would constitute, in effect, a deal that is not a deal; and Iran would undoubtedly continue its efforts to build a nuclear program in secret while using this concession as cover.

The decision also constitutes an extraordinary public betrayal of Israel, which has taken Obama at his word that he will not allow Iran to reach nuclear capability. According to Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Israel was not informed of these talks, and believes that Iran should not be "rewarded with direct talks.” Instead, "sanctions and all other possible pressures on Iran must be increased.”

That this options is not being pursued should be sign that Obama is, in all likelihood, laying the groundwork for what will be, essentially, complete American capitulation to Iran on the nuclear issue.

The White House has denied the report; though given recent proof of administration deception on the Libyan embassy attack, this denial cannot be granted much credence.

It is possible, however, that the leak to the NY Times will force Obama to backtrack on the issue.

Violence erupts in Beirut after assassinated intelligence chief's funeral

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Violence erupted in downtown Beirut on Sunday as protesters tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati after the funeral of an assassinated intelligence chief whose death they blame on Syria.

Security forces shot into the air and police fired tear gas to repulse the hundreds of protesters who overturned barriers and threw stones and steel rods, witnesses said.

The clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria.

An angry crowd had marched on the prime minister's office after politicians at the funeral of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, who was killed by a car bomb on Friday, called on Mikati to resign over the killing.

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Rewriting Benghazi: Obama Administration Tries to Write Al Qaeda Out of Libya Story

(Weekly Standard) The Obama administration appears to be mounting yet another version of its campaign to push back on claims that it misled on the intelligence related to the attacks in Benghazi on 9/11/12. But the new offensive by the administration, which contradicts many of its earlier claims and simply disregards intelligence that complicates its case, is raising fresh questions in the intelligence community and on Capitol Hill about the manipulation of intelligence for political purposes.

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This is really getting bizarre. There are now coverups of coverups.

Gaza-bound ship carrying supporters of Palestinian terrorism escorted to Ashdod after takeover in Israeli territorial waters

ASHDOD, Israel (AFP) - A Gaza-bound ship of activists and MPs which was boarded by Israeli troops, arrived late Saturday at Ashdod port under naval escort, ending the latest bid to reach the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

More than 10 hours after it was taken over by Israeli naval commandos in international waters, the Finnish-flagged Estelle docked at Ashdod harbour in southern Israel, escorted there by two naval vessels, an AFP correspondent said.

The takeover ended the latest attempt by pro-Palestinian activists to breach Israel's tight maritime embargo on Gaza which prohibits all naval traffic in and out of the coastal territory.

"There was no violence," an Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP, saying troops had taken control of the 53-metre (174-foot) vessel and were taking it back to Ashdod port in southern Israel. "The passengers did not resist."

On board the ship are 17 passengers, among them five parliamentarians from Europe and a Canadian former lawmaker, organisers said. It was also carrying a shipment of humanitarian aid and 30 doves, which the passengers had been intending to release on arrival in Gaza.

"We've heard nothing since they told us they had come under attack," said Victoria Strand, a Stockholm-based spokesman for Ship to Gaza-Sweden. "We believe they have just passed into Israeli territorial waters."

Earlier, Strand told AFP that the vessel had "come under attack" at 0830 GMT after being approached by navy vessels some 38 nautical miles off the Gaza coast.

The military said the boarding was carried out only after "numerous calls to the passengers onboard" went unanswered.

"As a result of their unwillingness to cooperate and after ignoring calls to change course, the decision was made to board the vessel and lead it to the port of Ashdod," the military said, indicating that troops "did not need to use force."

On arrival at Ashdod, the passengers would be handed into police custody and then onto the immigration authorities for immediate deportation.

The takeover of the MV Estelle was quickly denounced as "piracy" by Gaza's Hamas rulers.

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Islamic Jurisprudence: Pakistani man shot dead after being acquitted of blasphemy

(Hindustan Times) A Pakistani man who was acquitted of a blasphemy charge has been shot dead by two men in Punjab province, police officials said on Saturday.

Sajjad Hussain, a resident of Khan Muslim village in Gujranwala district, 80 km from Lahore, was gunned down on Friday. He had been arrested in February 2011 after Sath Sanaullah, a resident of his neighbourhood, accused him of committing blasphemy against Prophet Mohammed during a private conversation.

Hussain was booked under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, the harsh blasphemy law.

A district and sessions court acquitted him last month for lack of evidence.

On Friday, Hussain was at his shop when two armed men came and fired at him. He was killed instantly.

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France 24 TV's Cairo reporter Sonia Dridi "savagely attacked" near Tahrir Square

PARIS (AP) — France 24 TV says its correspondent in Cairo was "savagely attacked" near Tahrir Square after being seized by a crowd shortly after a live news report.

The state-funded, independent news channel said in a statement Saturday that correspondent Sonia Dridi was attacked around 10:30 p.m. a day earlier. It said she was later rescued by a colleague and other witnesses.

France 24 said its employees were safe and sound "but extremely shocked" and that it will file suit against unspecified assailants. The network and the French Embassy are working to bring the correspondent home.

Tahrir Square was the epicenter of a popular uprising that toppled longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak last year. It remains a key demonstration site for both allies and critics of new President Mohammed Morsi.

Tunisian children's magazine gives step-by-step instructions on how to make a Molotov Cocktail petrol bomb

(RadicalIslam.org) A popular children’s magazine in Tunisia recently ran an article providing step-by-step instructions on how to make a petrol bomb.

Reuter’s reports that the latest edition of Qaws Quzah, “Rainbow ,” featured a piece about the history of Molotov Cocktails in its "Knowledge Corner" with detailed instructions and a diagram showing how they are made.

The news agency quotes the article as saying, "It is an improvised weapon that is often used in riots and acts of sabotage because it is easy to make and use.”

The magazine has been around for decades and is read by children from the ages of 5-15 years old. It purports to have no political orientation.

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UAE Calls for Anti-Muslim Brotherhood Coalition

Do you think UAE could be accused of being Islamophobic?

(RadicalIslam.org) The United Arab Emirates may be hard to spot on a map and it may only have a population of 8 million, but its government is flexing its muscles when it comes to the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. It is proposing the formation of a coalition against the Brotherhood and is threatening to send saboteurs into Iran.

The UAE Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, publicly suggested that the Gulf countries to unite against the Muslim Brotherhood because it “does not believe in the nation state. It does not believe in the sovereignty of the state.”

This is very significant because the pro-U.S. Arab governments haven’t loudly vocalized their concern about the Brotherhood since the Arab Spring began. Calling out the Brotherhood is a risky move because it antagonizes large elements of the Gulf societies. It also fractures the Sunni bloc because the Brotherhood now runs Egypt. In addition Qatar, a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a chief backer of the group.

In July, the UAE arrested 60 members of Islah, the Brotherhood affiliate in the country. The government claims that the detainees confessed to belonging to a secret military wing that was working with the Brotherhood branches in three other Gulf countries to establish Islamist governments. About $3.67 million was allegedly transferred to Islah by one of these branches.

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IDF tank battalion practices racing to war

(JPost) An IDF tank battalion stationed in the Jordan Valley held a major drill this week to practice racing to a war front during a simulated outbreak of hostilities. The drill involved reserve army companies for the first time.

The reserves joined conscripted solders on the field in an exercise not held by the battalion in a long time on such a large scale.

“We understand we will be among the first forces that respond at a war front. That’s why we’re preparing,” Col. Yohai Benhur, commander of Battalion 9, part of the IDF’s Armored Corps 401 Brigade, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. During the drill, held at the large Nabi Musa base near the Dead Sea, Merkava 4 tanks fitted with the Wind Jacket anti-rocket shield fired live ammunition.

IDF soldiers played the enemy, and moved around the ‘battlefield’ as guerrilla forces armed with shoulder-held antitank missiles.

“It was a surprise mobilization. Soldiers found themselves at Nabi Musa on Tuesday night, and by Wednesday morning, the ‘fighting’ had begun,” Benhur said.

“Intensive fighting in hilly country was simulated,” he added.

In addition to tank fire, artillery and infantry units joined the drill to see how quickly they could link up with the tanks.

“All the forces that the battalion would need to fight a war were involved,” Benhur added.

“This has increased the battalion’s readiness in a very good way. Even before this we were ready, but today, our readiness is at the maximum level,” he said.

Though stationed in the Jordan Valley area, Battalion 9 could find itself on a southern or northern battle front within hours in the event of an escalation.

Libya, Jordan and Obama's guiding lights

(Caroline Glick) The operational, intelligence and political fiascos that led to and followed the September 11 jihadist assault on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, all derive from the same problem. That problem is the failure of US President Barack Obama's conceptual framework for understanding the Middle East.

The Islamic revolutionary wave sweeping across the Arab world has rent asunder the foundations of the US alliance system in the Middle East. But due to Obama's ideological commitment to an anti-American conceptual framework for understanding Middle Eastern politics, his administration cannot see what is happening.

That framework places the blame for all or most of the pathologies of the Muslim world on the US and Israel.

What Obama and his advisers can see is that there are many people who disagree with them. And so they adopted a policy of delegitimizing, discrediting and silencing their opponents. To this end, his administration has purged the US federal government's lexicon of all terms that are necessary to describe reality.

"Jihad," "Islamist," "radical Islam," "Islamic terrorism" and similar phrases have all been banned. The study of Islamist doctrine by government officials has been outlawed.

The latest casualty of this policy was an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.

The latest casualty of this policy was an instructor at the Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia.

Until he was sacked this week, the instructor taught a class called "Perspectives on Islam and Islamic Radicalism."

According to Col. Dave Lapan, spokesman for the Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, the instructor was fired for committing a thought crime. He "portrayed Islam almost entirely in a negative way." Dempsey himself ordered the probe of all Islamic courses across the US military educational system.

The administration's refusal to accept the plain fact that the Islamic regimes and forces now rising throughout the Muslim world threaten US interests is not its only conceptual failure.

Another failure, also deriving from Obama's embrace of the anti-American and anti-Israel foreign policy narrative, is also wreaking havoc on the region. And like the conceptual failure that led to the murderous attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, this conceptual failure will also come back to haunt America.

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Lebanese government to sue producers of TV drama Homeland because 'it portrays Beirut as full of terrorists', as huge car bomb in central Beirut kills 8 and wounds 80

You just can't make this up.

(Daily Mail) Tourism leaders in Lebanon want to sue the producers of US drama 'Homeland' claiming the latest episode was full of 'lies' and wrongly depicts Beirut as harbouring terrorists.

Lebanese Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud is so upset about the show's 'damaging' portrayal of the city that he is consulting lawyers.

Abboud said the episode wrongly depicted the city as a strong-hold for terrorists and a place where foreigners can easily fall victim to random attacks.

However his comments have now been overshadowed by a car bomb which rocked the city this afternoon.

At least eight people have been killed and an estimated 80 people wounded in the worst blast seen in the city for years.

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - A huge car bomb exploded in central Beirut during rush hour on Friday, killing eight people, wounding about 80 and raising fears of renewed sectarian violence in a country still scarred from a long civil war.

The explosion did not appear to target any political figure in Lebanon's divided community but it occurred at a time of heightened tension between Lebanese factions on opposite sides of the conflict in neighboring Syria.

It ripped through the street where the office of the anti-Damascus Christian Phalange Party is located near Sassine Square in Ashrafiyeh, a mostly Christian area.

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Obama spinning toward a loss

(The Hill) President Obama is losing. So says the latest Gallup poll, and so do those swelling numbers in key states like Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia and Ohio.

Democrats say wait, he won the second debate. They are holding their breath, hoping polls next week will show that this week's debate brought the herky-jerk of the campaign back full swing, with Obama back to his September lead in the swing states and poised to win. But with two weeks to go, a sudden surge in voter support for a president as unpopular as this one, in an economy this weak, is simply hard to believe. Conservatives like Karl Rove note that this late in October, no candidate with support higher than 50 percent (see Mitt Romney: Gallup) has ever gone on to lose.

Perhaps Obama lost the presidency weeks ago, on Oct. 3, when he sleepwalked and scribbled through the first debate and helped make Romney a new candidate overnight. It was Obama's night to finish Romney off; behind in the polls, even Romney likely woke up that morning thinking it was over. But Obama underestimated the task, the challenger and the electorate — all in 90 minutes. So a win this week was critical but perhaps not decisive. There is no obvious reason for Obama's performance to reverse the course of the campaign and blunt Romney now. And though there is one final debate next week, a back-and-forth on national security and foreign policy isn't likely to make the sale for anyone who still cannot make up his or her mind.

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American Crossroads: "Act of Terror"

President Obama misled the American people on Libya. This American Crossroads video gets to the bottom of it -- piece by ugly piece.

State Department granted New York terror plotter Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis a student visa to study cyber security

(FP) Last December, the State Department issued a student visa to the Bangladeshi man arrested this week for trying to blow up the Federal Reserve building with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb, the State Department confirmed today.

Twenty-one-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, who was arrested Wednesday as part of an FBI sting operation, was reportedly in contact with al Qaeda before he entered the United States in January to attend Southeast Missouri State University, where he was studying cyber security. But the State Department's system to check visa applicants didn't find any reason to deny him entry, and the department issued his visa.

"The suspect did have a student visa to attend a legitimate academic program in the United States, for which he was qualified," State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said today. "Visa decisions are made in accordance with applicable law and department regulations. Each case is looked at on a case-by-case basis, taking into account all of the information contained in U.S. government databases and in consultation with other government agencies."

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Salafi Muslims destroy 8,000-year-old carvings in Morocco

RABAT (AFP) — Stone carvings in Morocco's High Atlas mountains dating back more than 8,000 years and depicting the sun as a pagan divinity have been destroyed by Salafists, a local rights group said on Wednesday.

"These stone carvings of the sun are more than 8,000 years old. They were destroyed several days ago," Aboubakr Anghir, a member of the Amazigh (Berber) League for Human Rights, told AFP.

"One of the carvings, called 'the plaque of the sun,' predates the arrival of the Phoenicians in Morocco," Anghir said.

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Whoopi Goldberg pulls the Mormon card

Whoopi Goldberg to Ann Romney: Hey, isn’t it true that Mormons don’t serve in the military?

By the way, they do.

What's really telling is that Ms Goldberg is supposedly a liberal - a person who supposedly harbors no prejudices, especially as a black woman who uses a Jewish stage name.

But her rabid defense of Obama overrides such liberal principles.

Ms Goldberg doesn't believe drugging a 13-year-old girl and sodomizing her is really rape. I think the fact that she is an outright unprintable word is already well proven.

Turkish pianist on trial for insulting Islam

ISTANBUL (AP) — A top Turkish pianist and composer appeared in court on Thursday to defend himself against charges of offending Muslims and insulting Islam in comments he made on Twitter.

Fazil Say, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, is on trial for sending tweets that included one in April that joked about a call to prayer that lasted only 22 seconds.

Say tweeted: "Why such haste? Have you got a mistress waiting or a raki on the table?" Raki is a traditional alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable. [...]

The charges against Say also cite other tweets he sent, including one — based on a verse attributed to famous medieval poet and wine-lover Omar Khayyam — which questioned whether heaven was a tavern or a brothel, because of the promises that wine will flow and each believer will be greeted by virgins.

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They'd hang Omar Khayyam if he were alive today.

Obama goes on Comedy Central to talk about murder of four Americans, including US Ambassador, in Libya

According to Obama, when Americans get killed it's not "not optimal".

I've never seen anyone, certainly not an American president, ever describe the terror murders of Americans as "not optimal".

(Yahoo! News) Under heavy fire from Republicans over the deadly attack in Libya, President Barack Obama told "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart on Thursday that his response had not suffered from "confusion." But Obama admitted that communication among government agencies and to the American public was "not optimal" and needs fixing.

Stewart had asked about the muddled public explanation for what happened in the Sept. 11 attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, at the Benghazi consulate. The acerbic comic had also suggested poor communication among government agencies led to public pronouncements that were "not the optimal response." [...]

It was Obama's sixth appearance on the satirical program, and his second since taking office. He last appeared on the program on Oct. 27, 2010—days before the mid-term elections in which Republicans romped. (He has been on Meet The Press as many times—but not since 2009).

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New Texas Reality Show - "Survivor, Texas-Style"

Due to the popularity of the "Survivor" shows, Hollywood is planning to do one entitled: "Survivor, Texas-Style!"

The lucky contestants will all start in Dallas, drive to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and down to Brownsville. They will then proceed up to Del Rio, El Paso, Odessa, Midland, Lubbock and Amarillo. From there they will go on to Abilene and Fort Worth. And finally back to Dallas.

Each contestant will be driving a pink Prius with 13 bumper stickers which will read:
1. "I'm a Democrat"
2. "Amnesty for Illegals"
3. "I love the Dixie Chicks"
4. "Boycott Beef"
5. "I Voted for Obama"
6. "George Strait Sucks"
7. "Re-elect Obama in 2012"
8. "Vote Eric Holder Texas Governor"
9. "Rosie O’Donnell is Texas born"
10. "I love Obama care and Chuck Schumer"
11. "Barney Frank is my hero"
12. "I side with Jane Fonda"
And the last sticker is…
13. "I'm here to confiscate your guns"

The first contestant to make it back to Dallas alive wins.

Attacker of Pakistani schoolgirl was held, freed in 2009

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The alleged organizer of the Taliban shooting of a Pakistani schoolgirl was captured during a 2009 military offensive against the hardline Islamist group but released after three months, two senior officials told Reuters.

They identified the man who planned the attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai only as Attaullah, and said he was one of the two gunmen who shot her on a school bus this month in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad.

Believed to be in his 30s, Attaullah is on the run and may have fled to neighboring Afghanistan, they said. He organized the attack on the orders of one of the Taliban's most feared commanders, Maulana Fazlullah, officials said.

Critics say Pakistan's low conviction rate of militants, even high-profile ones who carried out major attacks, is one reason why extremism has spread in the South Asian nation.

The attack on Yousufzai, an advocate of education for girls, has drawn widespread condemnation and raised fresh questions about U.S. ally Pakistan's commitment to fighting militancy in the nuclear-armed country.

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Study: Black Americans Feel Less Freedom Under Obama Than They Once Did

Four years after Barack Obama was elected president, this is not exactly a "post-racial" America.

A new study from Washington University in St. Louis finds that under Obama, many black Americans feel less free than whites when it comes to political participation.

From 2005 to 2011, only 45 percent of blacks said they believed the government would allow them to make a public speech, while 67 percent of whites believed they could, the study found.

The study found that while the election of Obama initially boosted feelings of political empowerment among black Americans, those sentiments significantly faded in the years that followed—especially among conservative and religious blacks.

These two groups make up a large segment of the black population, with 56 percent of blacks identifying as "born again," and 39 percent of blacks as "somewhat conservative," according to the study.

"First we saw the 'empowerment effect,' the boost that happens when a member of your group gets elected to an important political position," says study author James L. Gibson, a professor of government and African-American studies at Washington University. Gibson's findings are based on national surveys conducted between 2005 and 2011.

In 2009, the year after Obama was elected, 71 percent of blacks reported feeling as free to speak one's mind as they used to.

"But then perceptions of political freedom deteriorated among conservative and religious blacks," says Gibson. By 2011, the percentage of blacks who felt as free to speak their mind had dropped to 56 percent, back to pre-Obama levels. (White Americans also reported feeling less free to speak one's mind under Obama, but the decline was far less than among blacks).

In part, says Gibson, this can be attributed to "ideological polarization." That split may have begun when Obama dismissed Pennsylvania voters in 2008 who "cling to guns or religion." But Gibson says many conservative and religions blacks likely believed when Obama was first elected that he would protect their interests as president. "Race produces a level of trust and confidence that one is on your side," he says.

Over time, that confidence eroded. Gibson cites the contraception debate between the White House and some religious leaders that erupted last year. Black Americans, he notes, are traditionally conservative on social issues.

Another schism may have centered on gay marriage. The Democratic-leaning Coalition of African-American Pastors, for example, recently said they felt "marginalized" and "ignored" by Obama's seemingly sudden support for same-sex marriage.

Religious fundamentalists and conservative blacks, Gibson says, "have seen their efforts to participate in public life [under Obama] being thwarted over and over and over again."

Afghan girl "beheaded for refusing prostitution"

Afghan police have arrested four people who allegedly tried to force a woman into prostitution and beheaded her when she refused.

(Telegraph) Mah Gul, 20, was beheaded after her mother-in-law attempted to make her sleep with a man in her house in Herat province last week, provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada told AFP.

"We have arrested her mother-in-law, father-in-law, her husband and the man who killed her," he said.

Gul was married to her husband four months ago and her mother-in-law had tried to force her into prostitution several times in the past, Sayedzada said.

The suspect, Najibullah, was paraded by police at a press conference where he said the mother-in-law lured him into killing Gul by telling him that she was a prostitute.

"It was around 2am when Gul's husband left for his bakery. I came down and with the help of her mother-in-law killed her with a knife," he said.

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IDF unveils new anti-aircraft missile system days after Strela missile fired at an Israeli helicopter

(Gaza) Last week, Islamic terrorists fired a Strela missile at an IDF helicopter from inside Gaza. Since the fall of Libya under Gadaffi, Isreal has been expecting the use of weapons smuggled in from the new-democratic-Islamic state and thus wasn't caught unaware. Which explains why today Israel unveiled its latest anti-missile system for aircraft. C-Music designed to protect larger aircraft from the peaceful habits of the followers of Mohammed. The system uses a radar to catch sight of any missiles coming its way and then fires a laser at the seeker part of the missile in which to blind and divert it out of the way.

The problem here is, Israel has to get it right every time, Islamic terrorists only have to get it right once. Oh yeah, anybody else notice that the Man-Pad used by the so called terrorist looks very much like a Carl Gustav anti-tank weapon?

Hamas opposes Holocaust studies at UNRWA schools on account that it's a "crime against Palestinians"

(JPost) Hamas on Wednesday reiterated its strong opposition to teaching the Holocaust in UNRWA-run schools in the Gaza Strip.

The Refugees Affairs Department of Hamas said that teaching the Holocaust was a "crime against the issue of the refugees that is aimed at cancelling their right of return."

The Hamas response came in response to unconfirmed reports in a number of Arab media outlets to the effect that UNRWA was planning to re-introduce the Holocaust into its school curriculum.

UNRWA teachers in Jordan also announced this week their strong opposition to teaching the Holocaust in their schools.

Hamas called on UNRWA to stop "passing suspicious projects in the context of services it provides to Palestinian refugees."

The children at UNRWA schools don't need material about the Holocaust, Hamas said. "Rather, they need to be re-tought the history and geography of Palestine as a basic subject. The children are entitled to learn about the massacres perpetrated by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinians since the Nakba [disaster]."

Hamas appealed to all political forces, civil societies and UNRWA teachers in the Gaza Strip to "confront these suspicious projects and reject them."

Egypt 2.0: Teacher cuts girls' hair for not veiling

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) — A teacher in southern Egypt punished two 12-year-old schoolgirls for not wearing the Muslim headscarf by cutting their hair, the father of one girl said Wednesday, in an incident that stokes concerns over personal rights following the rise of Islamist political movements.

The governor of Luxor province where the incident occurred called the teacher's actions "shameful" and said she had been transferred to another school. But rights groups say that some Islamic conservatives have been emboldened by the success of groups like Muslim Brotherhood and the ultraconservative Salafi trend in parliamentary and presidential elections and have been increasingly brazen about forcing their standards on other Egyptians.

The incident follows a surge in legal cases against Egyptians, mostly Christians, who allegedly showed contempt for religion. The trial of one, Alber Saber, opened Wednesday but was postponed.

It also comes amid a fierce debate over how the role of religion will be defined in the country's new constitution. The preponderance of Islamists on the panel drafting the document has alarmed liberals and religious minorities.

In the village of Qurna in Luxor province, 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Cairo, Berbesh Khairi El-Rawi said the teacher forced the two girls to stand with their hands above their heads for two hours and then cut their hair in their school. [...]

Ziad Abdel Tawab of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights said the incident was alarming but not surprising.

"Whether in schools or outside schools, the general sentiment is that any abusive action, if it is justified as protection of Islam, is tolerable," he said.

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BREAKING: Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis arrested after allegedly trying to blow up Fed building in NYC

(Fox News) DEVELOPING: Federal authorities arrested a Bangladeshi national Wednesday morning for allegedly plotting to blow up a Federal Reserve building in New York City's lower Manhattan, mere blocks away from the site of the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001.

The 21-year-old suspect, Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, attempted to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb in front of the Fed building on Liberty Street, but the device was a fake supplied to him by undercover FBI agents who had been tracking his activity, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force said Wednesday afternoon.

The supposed explosives posed no threat to the public, the FBI said.

A criminal complaint accuses Nafis of having overseas connections to Al Qaeda and travelling to the U.S. in January to recruit individuals to form a terrorist cell and conduct an attack on American soil. But one of Nafis' potential recruits was an FBI source, who alerted authorities, the FBI said.

Hillary voluntarily goes under the bus: "I take responsibility" for Benghazi

Not sure she did Obama a big favor. It makes him look even less presidential after he offered a litany of excuses, even blaming Romney at one point.

LIMA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton assumed responsibility on Monday for last month's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, which has become an issue in the hard-fought U.S. presidential campaign.

"I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN during a visit to Peru, adding that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden would not be responsible for specific security instructions for U.S. diplomatic facilities.

"I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world," Clinton said.

"The president and the vice president wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision."

Clinton's comments followed stepped-up criticism of the Obama administration over the Benghazi attack, which Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney has sought to use to dent Obama's foreign policy credibility before the November 6 election.

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Obama secures the all important Farrakhan endorsement

(McClatchy) Farrakhan accused Republicans of having “overt” racist motives in their opposition to Obama [is that the pot calling the kettle white? -ed.], the country’s first black president. He attacked a political process that he says is controlled by monied interests and wants “to keep America white.”

And while he claimed Obama’s Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, had lied about his real positions on most major issues throughout the first presidential debate, he also criticized Obama’s low-energy response.

He asked his listeners if they were disappointed in Obama’s performance, and hundreds of hands rose throughout the coliseum.

“Feels like your champion didn’t show up for the fight,” Farrakhan said. “If you lose the first round or two, you go to your corner. It’s called ‘adjustment time.’ Every good fighter knows how to make an adjustment. You don’t get lost.”

He said he thinks Obama and his advisers worried about the president appearing like “an angry black man.” The reasoning: “You can’t go out there and beat up on a white man. You’re going to lose the white vote.”

He then turned his comments back to the president.

“You aren’t going to win any more white votes by being kind and gracious,” he said. “Be a little black.”

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I'm sorry, who's the racist?