Virginia Farmer/2010 |
During a Wednesday town hall meeting in Atkinson, Illinois, a farmer expressed concern to President Obama regarding forthcoming regulations involving dust.
By the way, Mr. President, we didn’t know Indonesia is a farm state.
Family friendly and striving to be a worthy choice for your Internet browsing. Comments and material submissions welcome: tkforppe@yahoo.com . Pocomoke City-- an All American City And The Friendliest Town On The Eastern Shore.
Virginia Farmer/2010 |
A week after authorities intercepted packages in Dubai and Britain that were bound for the U.S., al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement taking credit for the plot and saying it would continue to strike American and Western interests. The group specifically said it would target civilian and cargo aircraft.
"We have struck three blows at your airplanes in a single year. And God willing, we will continue to strike our blows against American interests and the interests of America's allies," the group said in a message posted on a militant website.
The authenticity of Friday's claim could not be immediately verified. A U.S. intelligence official said authorities are not surprised to see this claim now.
U.S. officials have said all week that there were strong indications the plot originated with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, a terror group that has become al-Qaida's most active franchise and has increasingly carried out attacks on Western targets.
Authorities in the U.S. and the UAE have said the Sept. 3 crash of the UPS plane in Dubai shortly after takeoff was caused by an onboard fire, but investigators are taking another look at the incident following the parcel bomb plot.
A security official in the UAE familiar with the investigations into the UPS cargo plane crash in Dubai and the mail bombs plot told The Associated Press Friday that there is no change in earlier findings and that the UPS crash in September was likely caused by an onboard fire and not by an explosive device.
"There was no explosion," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity under standing UAE rules on disclosing security-related information.
A UPS spokesman, Norman Black, said his company had "no independent knowledge of this claim by al-Qaida," and noted that both UAE officials and U.S. National Transportation Safety Board officials have so far ruled out the possibility of a bomb as cause in the crash.
In its statement, al-Qaida's Yemeni offshoot said that it "downed the UPS airplane but because the enemy's media did not attribute the act to us, we kept silent about the operation until we could return the ball once more.
"We have done that, this time with two explosives, one of them sent via UPS, the other via FedEx."
It said that its "advanced explosives" give it "the opportunity to detonate (planes) in the air or after they have reached their final target, and they are designed to bypass all detection devices."
Both mail bombs were hidden inside computer printers and wired to detonators that used cell-phone technology and packed powdered PETN, a potent industrial explosive.
The message also directed a warning to Saudi Arabia, which was instrumental in passing along the key tip that led to the discovery of the bombs: "These explosives were directed at Jewish Zionist temples, and you intervened to protect them with your treason. God's curse on the oppressors."
Al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen grew strength after several key leaders escaped from a Yemeni jail in 2006. In 2009, it was further bolstered by a merger with Saudi al-Qaida militants to form al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.
The group first made a stunning show of its international reach in December, when it allegedly plotted a failed Christmas Day attempt to blow up a passenger jet over the U.S. The Obama administration branded the terror group a global threat, and has dramatically stepped up its alliance with Yemen's government to uproot it.
"AQAP continues to probe for weaknesses in our ability to disrupt, detect or stop their operations," said Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican who serves on the House intelligence terrorism subcommittee.
He expressed little surprise at the claim, saying:
"They are agile and determined. So must we be."
“King George III and the parliament of Great Britain that we rebelled against respected the liberty of the colonists of America more than the Congress and the president of the United States of America,” he told thousands of tea party activists gathered on Washington’s National Mall for the 9/12 rally.
Cuccinelli, who has become a darling of the right because of his eagerness to butt heads with the administration, called the health law “the greatest erosion of liberty in my adult lifetime.” His office filed suit against the federal government on the day Obama signed the health care bill into law.
The analogy came during a condemnation of the new mandate that individuals buy health insurance, a key provision in the bill Obama signed into law this March. In 1774, after the first Continental Congress boycotted goods, Cuccinelli said the solicitor general told the British Crown that the government couldn’t mandate subjects buy products like tea.
“If the federal government can order you to buy health insurance, they can order you to buy anything,” he said.
The health care law has become one of the biggest issues galvanizing conservative voters, and Republicans hope to capitalize on polls that show the new law remains unpopular with a majority of voters to make traction with independents in the coming midterms. The individual mandate was included in the bill as a cost-control measure.
“Make no mistake about it: this lawsuit is not about health care,” he said, wearing a full business suit and black cowboy boots on a sweaty afternoon. “It’s about liberty and preserving liberty as the Founding Fathers understood it, not as the people who occupy this building rewrite it every week…all that stands between us and the end of federalism is one lawsuit.”
He told the conservative activists who had come from around the country that he hopes to argue his case before the Supreme Court in about a year-and-a-half.
In his sermon at New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Wright criticized supporters of the Iraq war and defended former state Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen for speaking out against it. Griffen serves as the church's pastor.
Wright's only reference to Obama came when he compared Griffen's opponents to those who incorrectly think Obama is Muslim. The president, whose full name is Barack Hussein Obama, is Christian.
"Go after the military mindset ... and the enemy will come after you with everything," Wright told the packed church.
"He will surround you with sycophants who will criticize you and ostracize you and put you beyond the pale of hope and say 'you ain't really a Baptist' and say 'the president ain't really a Christian, he's a Muslim. There ain't no American Christian with a name like Barack Hussein,'" he added.
A poll released this month found that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they thought Obama was Muslim, up from the 11 percent in March 2009. The proportion who correctly said he was Christian was 34 percent, down from 48 percent in March of last year. The poll, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, surveyed 3,003 people.
Obama cut ties with Wright in 2008, after Wright's more incendiary remarks hit the Internet during the presidential election. At a National Press Club appearance in April 2008, Wright claimed the U.S. government could plant AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrahkan and suggested Obama was putting his pastor at arm's length for political purposes while privately agreeing with him.
Obama denounced Wright as "divisive and destructive" and left Wright's church in Chicago.Griffen said he invited Wright to speak at his church as part of a monthlong focus on the relationship between faith and the community.
Wright defended Griffen's outspokenness on political issues, saying it showed he was willing to speak out even if it would cost him politically.
Wright's sermon focused on the Old Testament story of the prophet Elisha thwarting an attack by the Aramean Army. Wright repeatedly made references to the war in Iraq and suggested parallels with the Biblical story.
"What was his motivation? Elisha had embarrassed him, like Saddam had embarrassed George Herbert Walker," Wright said, referring to the former president.
Wright spoke as Arkansas Republicans hope to capitalize on Obama's unpopularity in the fall election. Obama has not visited the state since 2006, and lost its six electoral votes in the 2008 election.
That 20 percent of Americans told pollsters they believe President Barack Obama is a Muslim?
Or, that suggesting someone is a Muslim would be circulated as a way to denigrate that person?
Two facts about the poll results released last week by the Pew Research Center are particularly distressing. First, the poll was taken before President Obama waded into the controversy surrounding plans to build an Islamic center including a mosque near the Ground Zero site in New York City. That means that if the poll were taken today, the percentage holding that opinion would undoubtedly be greater. Second, and perhaps most astoundingly, the percentage of Americans who say Mr. Obama is a Muslim is considerably higher now than it was when he assumed the presidency 18 months ago.
What does it all mean? Nothing good. That was a time when conspiracy theories and blatant falsehoods were relegated to the far fringes of society. But thanks to the prevalence of Internet-fueled rumors — and, sad to say, the decline and vilification by many of the once-trusted "mainstream media" — it is now much more likely for such bizarre beliefs to spread. (And if you don't think the notion that President Obama is a Muslim is tantamount to a conspiracy theory, just consider how many millions of people in government, media and ordinary life would have to be involved in upholding the "lie" that he is a Christian.)
Less strange, but perhaps more sad, is the reason Mr. Obama's enemies are spreading this falsehood: their supreme confidence that being labeled a Muslim is a sinister mark against him, akin to alcoholism or philandering. In light of the shameful reaction to the Manhattan mosque episode, we fear it may be a long time indeed before this particular variety of "slander" loses its currency.
It seems that a new segment of the population with entirely too much time on their hands has taken to making sure jokes on television shows, such as Saturday Night Live, are fact-checked.
So if a comedian makes a joke at the expense of President Barack Obama, the writer is supposed to make sure the the punchline doesn't stray too far from reality.
CNN recently fact-checked an SNL skit on President Obama.
I suppose we should check whether the chicken really did cross the road and get a positive identification on who was at the door for all "knock-knock" jokes.
While the idea of fact-checking jokes is ludicrous, I can understand why some folks are upset. As shown in the huge television ratings of comedy shows, such as SNL and the Jon Stewart Show, during the presidential election, these shows are increasingly influential in shaping public opinion.
But these whiners have to get a grip and understand that a joke is a joke and sometimes President Obama and the Democrats will be targeted, and other times, it will be Sarah Palin and the Republicans playing the butt of the joke.
As long as its funny, it doesn't matter who is being clowned.
Check out this latest picture from Veterans Day 11/11/09 at the Ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery. I don't know whether the National Anthem is being played, or the Flag is going by, or WHAT, but EVERYBODY in the picture is either saluting or has his hand over the HEART.
All except ONE.
Guess who.
President Obama created a new presidential precedent when he bowed to the Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko Saturday.
No president of the United States in the more than 230 years since the country was founded in 1776 had ever bowed to a member of royalty. That was until Barack Obama’s presidency.
In April, President Obama bowed to the Saudi king during the G-20 meeting. At the time, Obama’s deferential bow was somewhat obscured, and the White House insisted that the president simply had leaned forward to shake the king’s hand.
But the president's recent demonstration of royal deference to the Japanese emperor and empress suggests his earlier action was no aberration.
What should we make of this? Is it trivial to worry about what on its face could easily be interpreted as nothing more than a polite gesture by our president to respect the culture of a country?
America was founded on republican virtues — small “r,” that is. Like the French Republic, our nation does not recognize royalty or social rank, especially from officials of the republic.
The conduct of our president when he deals with foreign leaders is a serious matter. After all, he represents the American people and our Constitution.
Indeed, when President Obama bows before a foreign leader, the whole country bows with him.
It is difficult to grasp what President Obama’s motives are for bowing to foreign royalty (it would be nice if a reporter asked his press secretary Robert Gibbs why he does it).
But Obama’s motives do not really matter when we consider his behavior.
What matters is how the rest of the world will interpret his actions. When it comes to bowing before foreign leaders, there is a fine line between showing politeness and servility, between respect and weakness
Continued HERE
Five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 conspiracy, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be transferred to New York to go on trial in civilian court, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Friday.
Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi will all be transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York -- a short distance from the World Trade Center towers that were destroyed in the September 11 attacks.
"After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11th will finally face justice," Holder said.
He said he expected all five to be tried together and for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The trial would be open to the public, although some portions that deal with classified information may be closed, Holder said.
"Based on all of my experience and based on all of the recommendations and the great work and the research that has been done, I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful," he said.
He also expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found "to ensure a fair trial in New York."
Of the 2,752 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, 2,606 died when terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center towers.
Holder also announced that five other detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent to military commissions for trial. They were identified as Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, Ibrahim al Qosi, Noor Uthman Muhammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Al-Nashiri is an accused mastermind of the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole; Khadr is a Canadian charged with the 2002 murder of a U.S. military officer in Afghanistan. Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured in July 2002.
Holder said a venue for the military commissions has not been set.
Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice," President Obama said Friday in Japan.
"The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.Mohammed is the confessed organizer of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. But his confession could be called into question during trial. A 2005 Justice Department memo -- released by the Obama administration -- revealed he had been waterboarded 183 times in March 2003.
The CIA has also admitted using waterboarding on al-Nashiri, the first person charged in the United States for the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
A sweeping oceans and Great Lakes management policy document proposed by the Obama Administration will have a significant impact on the sportfishing industry, America’s saltwater anglers and the nation’s coastal communities. The draft policy, the Interim Report of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, issued on September 17, will govern federal Pacific and Atlantic Ocean waters and Great Lakes resource conservation and management and will coordinate these efforts among federal, state and local agencies. This past June, President Obama created the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), to develop a draft national policy and implementation strategy for conserving and managing the United States ocean territory and the Great Lakes.VIA
“In regards to recreational fishing specifically, it is a long-standing policy of the federal government to allow public access to public lands and waters for recreational purposes consistent with sound conservation including the nation’s wildlife refuges, national forests, and national parks and should be reflected in a national policy for the oceans and Great Lakes. In fact, the use of public resources by recreational anglers is essential to the conservation model used in this country for fish and wildlife management,” said ASA Ocean Resource Policy Director Patty Doerr.
Doerr further said, “As with any good federal policy decision, discussions about measures that may restrict public access to public resources must involve an open public process, have a solid scientific basis and incorporate specific guidelines on implementation and follow-up. We are very concerned about the abbreviated 90 day timeline which forced the Task Force to issue this policy document prematurely. The implications of such a policy are vast and nationwide. Therefore, the review process should be very deliberate and go well beyond the 30 days public review and comment period which started on September 17.” The Task Force's Interim Report is currently under a 30-day public review and comment period.
Since 1950, with the passage of the Sport Fish Restoration Act, anglers and the sportfishing industry have provided the bulk of funding for fisheries conservation and management in the United States through fishing license fees and the federal manufacturers excise tax on recreational fishing equipment. According to NOAA Fisheries, saltwater anglers contribute over $82 billion annually to the economy. Despite taking only three percent of the saltwater fish harvested each year, the recreational sector creates nearly half the jobs coming from domestic saltwater fisheries.
| |||
|
By Norma Yuriar
Huron, Calif. (KMPH News) - "Mr. President, turn the water on now," Fox News Host Sean Hannity said, during a live broadcast from the Central Valley. The conservative talk show host anchored his daily program from a farm near Lemoore to highlight the valley's water crisis.
The one hour segment titled, "The Valley that Hope Forgot" drew hundreds to a fallowed tomato field of Highway 198 in Huron. Sylvia Soto said she attended the rally in hopes President Obama was watching. The field worker says she is on the brink of losing her job.
"Our plant is shutting down on the 23rd of October because of the crisis of the water," Soto said.
This crisis is a combination of a statewide drought and water regulations in place to protect endangered fish.
"We are not just talking about the Delta Smelt, we are also talking about Salmon, these salmon are food and provide jobs for people," Federation of Fisherman's Association Zeke Grader said.
Grader told Hannity, local farmers aren't the only ones hurting.
"You need to come up to the north coast the place where I'm from, Fort Bragg, come to Eureka and visit with the unemployed fishermen and give this some balance," Grader said.
Hannity disagreed.
"The problem is the water has been turned off because environmental wackos like you care more about the fish than they do about people," Hannity said.
Manuel Guerra, a Farmer from Kerman said he hoped the spirited debate captured the attention of President Obama.
"I hope that this helps [bring more water] because my brother and I do custom farming and we just lost all of our jobs," Guerra said.
Former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry said although President Obama is no a fan of the conservative talk show host, it's hard to ignore Hannity's voice when it's backed by 'real people'.
"Whether you agree with Sean Hannity or you don't, you can't argue with fact that he is a force in America," Autry said.
Autry told KMPH News he believed the live Fox News broadcast would do for the valley, what town hall protestors did for the health care debate.
"They managed to do something very dramatic and that's have [Obama's] folks go back to the drawing board and come up with a good, common sense health care reform, that was not going to happen until people spoke out," Autry said.
Those in the audience, attending Thursday's rally agreed.
"It's going to take something like this to really make a difference," Phillip Garcia of Firebaugh said.
"Even if Obama does not listen to [Hannity], it's going to swell and it's going to grow and I feel like the message is going to get across," Natasha Hunt of Coalinga said.