Honey Bees

Honey Bees

Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost - Yahoo! News

Analysis: US now winning Iraq war that seemed lost - Yahoo! News: "BAGHDAD - The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace — a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago."

If Obama was making the decisions, Iraq would be a cauldron of misery and disaster right now.

'Hizbullah convoy likely hit in Iran' | The Iranian Threat | Jerusalem Post

'Hizbullah convoy likely hit in Iran' | The Iranian Threat | Jerusalem Post

DEBKAfile - US, UK, France launch sea exercise for naval blockade on Iran

DEBKAfile - US, UK, France launch sea exercise for naval blockade on Iran

Abbas didn't have to honor terrorist :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Steve Huntley

Abbas didn't have to honor terrorist :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Steve Huntley: "Here's a question Barack Obama might want to ask Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas when they meet in the Middle East next week: How could you, Mr. President, join in the unseemly celebration of a child murderer as a 'hero'?"

Obama on 9/11-- Barry Rubin

Mr. Obama, Meet Mr. Jihadi

"Barack Obama says regarding his thoughts after 9/11:

'The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.'

and that my friends is what you get with a Harvard education."

Mossad Involved In Betancourt Rescue - Spanish Media, As Reported by Dow Jones

Mossad Involved In Betancourt Rescue - Spanish Media

"Vanguardia's correspondent in Tel Aviv said the Mossad operation consisted of two agents unknown to each other separately infiltrating FARC.

The pair managed to penetrate the Marxist guerrilla group so effectively that they ultimately controlled what FARC did or didn't know, the Catalan newspaper said.

The Israeli and U.S. secret services used unmanned spy drones to locate the camp where the hostage were held, Vanguardia said."

Apologies for Dowd Piece -- But See Attached Al Jazeera Post

Al Jazeera Piece on Gaza Phone Bank Dialing For Obama

I received Peter's email indicating that the Maureen Dowd thread was a sham. I haven't had a chance to check yet, but I trust Peter, so I am mortified and apologetic for rushing it out on trust in people who haven't done this to me before. That being said, see the attached video post from some time ago -- an Al Jazeera piece on Palestinian fundraising for Obama -- also a violation of Federal law. Based on this prior piece, I found (and still find) this new one believable, and hopefully someone definitively can prove this out, one way or another, to all concerned.

I have no problem with Arab Americans in Michigan exercising their First Amendment rights, but have no desire to see foreigners interfere in our already flawed election process.

The $4 Billion Senator - WSJ.com

The $4 Billion Senator - WSJ.com

Dear Senator Schumer,

You are a smart guy, no doubt, a dedicated public servant, and generally an effective Senator, but you have one flaw that many of your constituents have long been aware of -- your need to constantly stay on TV and in the public spotlight, regardless of the relevancy and the cost. You will make your arguments that your public pronouncements about the Indymac mess were driven by your sense of public duty rather than your vanity, at incredible cost to the taxpayers and further erosion in public confidence in the financial system, but those who have followed you for these years will know the truth -- it was the result of your worst failing. If you were not out to make PR points, you would have delivered your message in private, given the severity of the crisis in confidence that has consumed our market.

As far as I am concerned, you deserve to be investigated for stock manipulation rumor mongering, just as many hedge fund guys will be.

Shame on you.

Obama's Foreign Money

From Bud and Phyll:

ON THE POLITICAL FRONT--- the news this week regarding the US presidential campaign was that Sen. Obama's money-raising efforts had hit all time highs; that the sums involved were enormous, but that they were taken in by the campaign in small, not large, individual sums, indicating that the Senator had tapped into some broad, common, public general psyche; that this was all representative of the Senator's "common touch" and that this was bad... indeed, horrid... news for Sen. McCain. But something in the numbers struck us as being incomprehensible. We found it odd that $200 million could come in to the campaign's war chest and that it came in average $15 "units." We did the math. That meant that the campaign had to take approximately 13.3 million campaign contributions if the averages held. Believing that that might be an incorrect use of easy statistics, we thought, let's allow that $50 million of the $200 million came in much larger sums, averaging perhaps $5000 "units." That would still leave $150 million to be divided amongst what would still be millions upon millions and upon millions more of individual, small contributors. We thought to ourselves, this is an impossible task for the campaign staff, for those contributors have to be logged in; data collected, and names secured in order to comply with current election regulations. But then we thought, if Sen. Obama's campaign stands for anything other than far-left-of-centre economics, it stands for transparency and "above board" policies, so we dismissed our concerns as those of an old guard, curmudgeon fearful of the rise of a left-wing government.

Then we read Ms. Maureen Dowd's editorial in The NY Times recently that raised these exact same concerns. This caught our eye because Ms. Dowd is one of The Times' most openly left-of-centre editorialists. Her positions have always been centre-left. Thus when we found out that she is concerned that "the bulk of the contributions were clearly coming in from overseas internet service providers and at the rate and frequency of transmission it was clear these donations were "programmed" by a very sophisticated user," we became all the more concerned. So too should others be.

Ms. Dowd went on to say"while the security people were not able to track most of the sources due to firewalls and other blocking devices put on these contributions that were coming in, seemingly from individuals, the funds were from only a few credit card accounts and bank electronic funds transfers. The internet service providers (ISPs) they were able to trace were from Saudi Arabia, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries. One of the banks used for fund transfers was also located in Saudi Arabia.... Another concentrated group was traced to a Chinese ISP with a similar pattern of limited credit card charges."

This is not some centre-right ideologue making these accusations, nor were these from Pat Buchanan's organization or from some other centre-right think tank. This is, instead, an accusation made by one of the Left's most ardent supporters, and it warrants further consideration. We wonder when the national media will pick up on Ms. Dowd's concerns? Our bet is never.

My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil - WSJ.com

My Plan to Escape the Grip of Foreign Oil - WSJ.com: "Let me share a few facts: Each year we import more and more oil. In 1973, the year of the infamous oil embargo, the United States imported about 24% of our oil. In 1990, at the start of the first Gulf War, this had climbed to 42%. Today, we import almost 70% of our oil.

This is a staggering number, particularly for a country that consumes oil the way we do. The U.S. uses nearly a quarter of the world's oil, with just 4% of the population and 3% of the world's reserves. This year, we will spend almost $700 billion on imported oil, which is more than four times the annual cost of our current war in Iraq.

In fact, if we don't do anything about this problem, over the next 10 years we will spend around $10 trillion importing foreign oil. That is $10 trillion leaving the U.S. and going to foreign nations, making it what I certainly believe will be the single largest transfer of wealth in human history."

Is Obama Really a Natural Born CItizen for Electability Purposes?

From BudNPhyll:

The media sure have been quiet on this if it is true!!!!



This came from a United States Naval Academy alumnus. It'll be interesting to see how the media handles this...

======================


Barack Obama is not a legal U.S. natural-born citizen according to the law on the books at the time of his birth, which falls between December 24, 1952, to November 13, 1986. Federal Law requires that the office of President requires a natural-born citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. Citizen parents. This is what exempts John McCain, though he was born in the US Panama Canal Zone.


US Law very clearly states: ". . . If only one parent is a U.S. Citizen at the time of one's birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for minimum ten years, five of which must be after the age of 16." Barack Obama's father was not a U.S. Citizen is a fact.


Obama's mother was only 18 when Obama was born. This means even though she had been a U.S. Citizen for 10 years, (or citizen of Hawaii being a territory), his mother fails the test for at-least-5-years- prior-to Barack Obama's birth, but-after-age-16.


In essence, Mother alone is not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. Citizenship. At most, 2 years elapsed from his mother turning 16 to the time of Barack Obama's birth when she was 18. His mother would have needed to have been 16 + 5 = 21 years old at the time of Barack Obama's birth for him to be a natural-born citizen. Barack Obama was already 3 years old at the time his mother would have needed to be to allow him natural citizenship from his only U.S. Citizen parent. Obama should have been naturalized as a citizen . . . but that would disqualify him from holding the office.


The Constitution clearly declares: Naturalized citizens are ineligible to hold the office of President. Though Barack Obama was sent back to Hawaii at age 10, any other information does not matter because his mother is the one who must fulfill the requirement to be a U.S. Citizen for 10 years prior to his birth on August 4, 1961, with 5 of those years being after age 16.


Further, Obama may have had to have remained in the USA for some time frame to protect any citizenship he might have had, rather than living in Indonesia. This is very clear cut and a glaring violation of U.S. Election law. I think the Governor Schwarzenegger of California should be very interested in discovering if Obama is allowed to be elected President without being a natural-born U.S. Citizen, since this would set a precedent. Stay tuned to your TV sets because I suspect some of this information will be leaking through over the next several days.

Israel’s Water Crisis

Israel’s Water Crisis
Not enough is made about the impact of water as one factor in global conflicts and suffering. It stands as a very important issue that the press hasn't discussed, with respect to the Israelis relations with the Palestinians, Lebanese and the Syrians. Read this linked article for more on Israel's severe water issues, which, like many of their issues, they had the power to mitigate, forestalled by a lack of political leadership.

Imagine that you turned on your water tap and nothing came out, and then think of how desperate you could become.

Challenge-Magazine | Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka | Egyptian Workers Impose a New Agenda

Challenge-Magazine | Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka | Egyptian Workers Impose a New Agenda: "Now, however, the workers' struggle has made a new approach possible, neither national nor Islamic. It is opening a third, internationalist alternative. Since the start of the awakening, the labor movement has provided the Left with its natural environment, and there is the feeling that leftist forces are again on their feet.

The new labor movement in Egypt has put the working class on the map, both locally and in the wider Arab world, which suffers from similar economic, social and political conditions. The echoes from Mahalla have penetrated the world as a whole. That is the movement's most important achievement to date. It has shown that the choices in the Arab world need not be confined to Islamic fundamentalism or secular dictatorship"